Life In 19x19

I wondered about the Go activities of some posters... got the impression that a lot of people start talking about Go instead of playing it. Please prove me wrong

This forum doesn't affect my overall play frequency.

No, but l19 led to me joining the ASR League this month and that, weirdly, has led to my playing much less.

I don't play less, despite my high post count. The thing with browsing/talking on a forum is that it can be done even when you don't know how much time you will have before something comes up, whereas playing a game requires finding an hour of time where nothing else will be happening and I have nothing more important to do. As well, talking on a forum is a whole lot easier than playing a game of Go, and is something I can do even if I'm not in the mood to play online Go.

I guess you normally spend more time on L19 reading the posts than actually posting yourself. This reading is like reading a magazine or newspaper, you always have a little time for that, helps me relax. Gerenally this forum definitely makes me play more Go.

I've played more, though that's correlative not causative.

There is a lot more to Go than just playing it. To me, the most important metric is - are we still enjoying Go? Do we still want to deepen our own understanding? Or did we abandon the game, just another former hobby?

The first time I found Go in the 1990s, I was in isolation. I didn't connect with the local group of players. I didn't find a way to play online. I just had an obtuse book to learn from and a travel sized board. I quickly lost interest.

The second time around, GoDiscussions and Lifein19x19 (and also KGS and a small local club) have all worked together so that I've sustained interest this time. Specifically, the online forums helped me connect with the larger community of players. The forums also helped me find the sources of study material and sources of Go history and Go Culture.

I play less (but not because I post), which gives me time to post more.

I play less when I post more. I study less when I post more. I feel more worthless when I post more... I guess I'm half kidding.

I don't play more or less, since I am on a playing hiatus anyway. The forum gives me an opportunity to stay connected with go playing people.

rubin427 wrote:There is a lot more to Go than just playing it.

That's a very good point which I too often forget. Even though I rarely find time recently, whenever I do have some time to spend with go, I almost exclusively play.

It is like you are interested in poetry but the only thing you do therefor is trying to write poems (the result being horrible, of course ). It may still be enjoyable but it is too shallow, it doesn't show to the game the respect it deserves.

These forums are nice places to exchange ideas, get some news etc. A useful addition to mere playing.

entropi wrote:

rubin427 wrote:There is a lot more to Go than just playing it.

That's a very good point which I too often forget. Even though I rarely find time recently, whenever I do have some time to spend with go, I almost exclusively play.

It is like you are interested in poetry but the only thing you do therefor is trying to write poems (the result being horrible, of course ). It may still be enjoyable but it is too shallow, it doesn't show to the game the respect it deserves.

These forums are nice places to exchange ideas, get some news etc. A useful addition to mere playing.

It is funny how some answer look like - no surely i don't play less but playing isn't very important anyway.

I play the same amount. Some of the progress on here makes me want to play more rather than less though. A supportive community is nice to have.

karaklis wrote:The forum gives me an opportunity to stay connected with go playing people.

I agree with this a lot as well.

tapir wrote:

entropi wrote:

rubin427 wrote:There is a lot more to Go than just playing it.

That's a very good point which I too often forget. Even though I rarely find time recently, whenever I do have some time to spend with go, I almost exclusively play.

It is like you are interested in poetry but the only thing you do therefor is trying to write poems (the result being horrible, of course ). It may still be enjoyable but it is too shallow, it doesn't show to the game the respect it deserves.

These forums are nice places to exchange ideas, get some news etc. A useful addition to mere playing.

It is funny how some answer look like - no surely i don't play less but playing isn't very important anyway.

I don't know if you refer to my post but I assume so since you quoted it.

I don't think "playing isn't very important anyway" is a valid interpretation of what I wrote. Neither is it what I intended to say. Or maybe it depends on what you mean by "important". Playing is (or is not) important for what?

entropi wrote:I don't know if you refer to my post but I assume so since you quoted it.

I don't think "playing isn't very important anyway" is a valid interpretation of what I wrote. Neither is it what I intended to say. Or maybe it depends on what you mean by "important". Playing is (or is not) important for what?

To be honest I answered no change, but only for the reason that the amount of actual game play decreased with my activity on Sensei's Library already. And I feel people are uncomfortable to address this.