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Something that I find interesting is that, even in slow online tournaments with each player given an hour of thinking time, most players don't seem to use much of their time at all. When a player does use his time, the kibitzers will talk about how "slowly" he's playing! I'm not sure if this is psychological, or what--but Fischer timing, in which you often have about the same amount of time throughout the game, could be psychologically beneficial and allow the players to comfortably use more time.
I also notice that games at internet Go servers like KGS tend to be faster than real life games. I have played thousands of games at KGS, many of them very fast, and I am quite sure I'd never gathered such a record (and neither improved so fast) by offline play only.
Nevertheless, I'd regard "face to face" as the richer experience. In some sense, the lacking social quality of typical internet games then is partially compensated by more quantity. It is possible to play thoughtful games online, but that requires considerable discipline.
Even though I don't mind playing several moves within 10 seconds, I try to take my time when needed. Thinking for 5 or 10 minutes about a single important move should be ok as long as it complies with the time settings agreed on. Of course, it is somewhat understandable when the opponent feels a bit uneasy in such situations. A few words of chitchat may do wonders though.
Concerning time systems (as opposed to the settings used therein), I don't see a fundamental difference between over-the-board and computer games. The choice in real life games is traditionally limited by the mechanical clocks, but alternatives are available. As a minor difference, the physical "overhead" (what a word for something joyful) might be bigger with real stones and clocks than where play is commanded by some inches of mouse movement. Therefore, reasonable time settings should include slightly more time for activities that don't belong to the core go skills. I think, this mainly matters in speedy games only, though.
In Re: It is, and then again it isn't, edgy? wrote:
It occurs to me that one of the big advantages of real-life play is that you see your opponent reaching toward a part of the board to play his stone, and you can start recalling what your ideas in that area were even before your clock gets started.
Interesting thought! Up to now, I thought that it was play with real equipment that needs the greater increments, because of the longer delay resulting from placing a real stone on a physical board, compared with a mere mouse click. The early detection allowed by the opponent's hand movement and, even earlier, recognizing what area s/he is looking at, suggests the opposite. Both aspects might or might not cancel out. I guess we'd need to do some statistics to really know whether one effect is stronger.