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GoServers

 

Go Server Discussion
   

Dieter: I repeat that on the informative page, there should not be a statement on which servers seem to be the favourites of SL deshis.


Go Server reviews and reports:

DGS

I prefer playing on turn-based Go Servers like Dragon. It prevents me from making too silly moves due to time limits that rule real-time Go Servers. The simultaneous games teach me to review whole board situations over and over again. Which is a skill I use at IGS and my local club afterwards. About 8 games enable similiar sessions as on real-time servers, because some of my opponents are online at that time too, playing several moves within a few minutes. -- Frs (Jan 2003)

DaveSigaty: I have also started playing on DGS recently (Feb. 2003). It has almost replaced regular on-line servers for me. There are two main reasons:

  • The practical day-to-day reason is that I do not have to worry about whether I have enough time to play. There is always time to click over to the status page and see what some or all of my opponents have come up with next. (The other practical reason that some people might find of interest is that DGS, being completely browser based, works through the firewall at work :-)
  • The more fundamental reason is the ability to spend as much time as you want to study a situation. So far I find that a game typically takes about a month to play. Since the usual time limits are about 90 days each, there is no time pressure to speak of. Since I play at one or another Go club on weekends, playing on DGS provides a forum for more intense study than is possible over the board. I highly recommend it if you enjoy trying to read more deeply into positions.

IGS

I rather like the double click for a move feature in IGS, but I feel that the default client is pretty horrible. IGS does seem to have the bulk of the strongest Internet Go players though. -- exswoo

No problem to find nice opponents within a few minutes (after checking their "stats" for equal strength, prefered time limits, and IGS expierence.) My convienence with IGS resulted in a "short help FAQ" for IGS beginners. -- Frs (Jan 2003)

KGS

This is where I play the most often. The interface is really clean and there are actually some conversations going on in KGS, which is a lot more than I can say for the other two servers. I think this is the ideal server for teaching or experimental games. -- exswoo

Plus: KGS deserves enormous credit for breaking the mold of the older servers (IGS and the NNGS-sourced family). By changing the basic operation of looking for a game, from challenging one person, to offering a game to anyone, it made a large improvement in the community feeling. -- JohnAspinall

Minus: A closed-source client means you can't get rid of annoying features. My pet peeve: the constant stream of adolescent drivel in the "chat" pane, and I can't get rid of that pane. -- JohnAspinall

The chat pane can be closed down by grabbing the bar between it and the games listing and pulling it down all the way to the bottom.
Um, no. It can't. At least not with the UI components used by Java 1.3.1 on Unix. The scrollbar refuses to go below a certain fixed height.
The height it goes to on my client is about one line high, meaning that the game list completely dominates the view. The reason that the client is closed-source for now is because the client protocol is still under very active development (for features like tournaments, persistent messages, buddy lists, and different room structures). By keeping the protocol spec closed for now, wms? doesn't have to worry about breaking popular clients over which he has no control when he introduces new features. -- PatrickB

NNGS

Fewer users than on IGS, thus more problems to find nice opponents of equal strength. I prefer IGS. -- Frs (Jan 2003)

NNGS has always had a very friendly, club-like atmosphere that makes it a very pleasant place to play. Rank-scumming, sandbagging, escaping, and other unpleasant behavior has generally been rare on NNGS. Unfortunately, attendance has gone down in attendance with the rise of KGS, but it's still a nice place. -- PatrickB

Yahoo

Horrible. Many players are rude and will either:
A) Cheat so that the game won't end no matter what you do.
B) Boot you if you're winning a game. AVOID AT ALL COSTS! -- exswoo
C) Constantly escape from the server...I had a game (my last) where I won vs. what appeared to be 6 different players on time.--TimBrent

MSN Gaming Zone

Can play timed or untimed,and has a fair range of players. You do need to download their software and get a MSN .NET passport,but the games are fair and they do have some tournaments.--Tim Brent

Dashn

Dashn ([ext] http://www.dashn.com/) is a korean go server. Don't expect people understanding much english, bugfree software, mathematically sound rating system or good manuals. It is a great server to practice as there are many strong players wanting to play against lower rated players. Moreover, the style adopted by koreans is quite different from what most people are used to in my country. I think one can learn more by playing in different places where different knowledge is present. -- JanRamon

Just to mention that I signed up with dashn as knotwilg. Dieter

Misc

TimBrent: I myself prefer the slower pace of Turn Based Go Servers in that I like taking my time and not being on one game for a long period.

JG: Terri Schurter wrote some excellent articles about Go servers in 2000. You can find them on the BGA web-site at [ext] http://www.britgo.org/gopcres/agaart/index.html. The articles begin in 2000, but the most recent articles there are from 2002. Two years is a long time in the evolution of servers, especially KGS.


Discussion: Which Go server is suitable for whom?

Frs: What is the focus or concept of the Go servers? What culture (e.g. of communication) "rules" that Go server? Are most of the other players interested to increase their rank? Or do they communicate hints to weaker opponents? Or do Go servers support features for special-interest groups? Thus my proposal is: Separating Go servers into "recommended and acknowledged" and "other".

SAS: I don't follow this argument at all. By all means add some information to answer questions such as those you mention - but what has that got to do with separating into "recommended and acknowledged" and "other"?

Dieter: I think it is OK for deshi to give their opinion as below but SL as such should remain unbiased. List alphabetically or according to average number of users.

... and, simultaneously ...

Andrew Walkingshaw: I couldn't agree more. It's not SL's place, I feel, to have some kind of "official opinion" on what Go servers people should play on. I like KGS, I'm sure many other people like IGS, and I'd be surprised if NNGS and dashn didn't have advocates here, too. This isn't to say people shouldn't express their opinion - but I believe it should be clearly expressed as a personal opinion. I've hence returned GoServers to something nearer its former form, with a note to state the popularity of IGS, NNGS and KGS. (Dec 2002)

amc: I have a question to put here. How many of you, and for what reasons, have an account in more than one server? (of the same style, one real-time and one turn-based does not count) I've seen people with accounts both in IGS and KGS, why?

Stefan: Some days I like hanging out at the "Crazy Horse", other days I feel more like joining my friends in the "Blue Oyster Bar". Just mingling with a different crowd every now and then.

Dieter: Yesss ! The Blue Oyster Bar, where White begins ! Kinky ...



This is a copy of the living page "Go Server Discussion" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.