TurnBasedGoServers/TBP

Turn-based playing (TBP) seems to have inconveniences when played via web servers, such as not having the full context when coming back to a game; you find more strong players on "real time" than on turn-based servers. To give turn-based servers a more prominent place in the Go community, it could be interesting to review pros and cons. (Please discuss in the forum page, resume here.)

Turn-based play versus "live" playing

Advantages

• play when you have time
• play with people from other time zones
• play when little "real Internet time" available

Inconveniences

• less concentrated on every game?
• teaching beginners is more difficult
• the possibility to undo a move before submitting it is not good for reading skills: a placed stone is an extra aid (similar to the ghost stone following the mouse on some servers), that is not available otherwise.
• "I used to like Turn-based games but discovered I spent too much time on an individual game and didn't move quickly enough or often enough." (dixit Hu in 2004)

Questions open to discussion

• slow (is this a valid argument - as TBP is slow per definition?)
• TBP would be addictive
• if you can spend time on TBP, why not do this on on-line Go servers?
• are stronger players less inclined to play TBP?
• a recurring point of discussion is the use of external aids. (see also Use of SGF editors and Computer Go programs during games)

Warfreak2: I think people playing on turn-based servers do so because it's slow. If you play one game over the course of a few months, you can spend a few minutes per day on your move, which wouldn't be long enough to play a real-time game. As for strength and the use of external aids, I don't know.

General observations

• TBP becomes really interesting when you have many ongoing games, as there is almost always a game waiting for a move, anytime during the day.
• I've observed some people stop TBP because they don't have time, are too busy, ... Seems to me there must be other reasons why they stopped playing; I can't imagine someone not being able to spend a few minutes once a week (just as an example - time limits are very flexible in TBP) to submit a move.
• If you have the time, devote it to online play rather than on turn-based play.
• Newcomers sometimes tend to open many simultaneous games, and might end up with a bad habit Following The Opponent Around
• ko deserves some extra attention: for example, on DGS, there is no ko indication as on KGS. So it is a good idea to open games notes to remember yourself that a ko is ongoing.