I have been playing on Tygem lately to check out the server. I have noticed a few things I would like some opinions on.

They have an opening guide that tells you good or bad moves for situations, and even guides you through josekis. This feels lazy to me and I feel I am not thinking during the opening, which would slow learning. Or maybe it helps beginner players learn joseki faster? Not sure.

Also the score estimator throughout the game feels like I am getting an unfair advantage. Knowing the approximate score at all times is extremely helpful in making decisions, but also feels lazy.

I am still undecided whether these features are helpful or harmful when learning go but I am leaning towards harmful, which is why it is going to stay my casual game server.

Thanks!

How is it unfair? Both players have the same feature.

More interesting is whether it is harmful. Probably, but I'm not as certain as I once was. Yes, you will need to learn to count manually for your over the board games (or KGS games), but on the other hand, it can also be useful to get a quick feel for the balance of territory, and this tool *may* be useful in that regard, being of such a visual nature.

I guess unfair is the wrong word... Against the spirit of the game maybe?

It just feels like it changes the game too much.

In my experience the scrore estimator is sometimes completely wrong, sometimes it tells you that you win by 40 points but then you sart wondering: "Why did I lose by 20 points?"

I stopped using the score estimator, about the opening and joseki guide: I never used them, I didn't even knew they existed.
If you want to use these helps you can do so, but for me it ruins the fun.

I think calling it the approximate score puts way too much stock in the score estimator. Even on Tygem (the score estimator is still better than KGS), the score estimator is way usually way off. you do have an option during game negotiation to say no use of score estimator if it really bothers you

A majority of people I know play with a joseki dictionary open, so at least it puts everyone on a level playing field including that feature.

The estimator has been useful to me. I don't always use it, but when I do, I can usually "fix" the score estimate in my head. ("SE has that wrong, that wrong, and that wrong, so that adjusts the score by ...")

It's really only useful in blitz games, in longer games I trust my own count better.

I don't think it's detrimental, it leads to people making more interesting decisions. I like the games it creates.

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I always turn off the score estimator feature when playing on tygem, i'd rather push myself to count. As for the opening dictionary i thought that only worked for people who have at least a "plus" account !