Etiquette Question

[Numsgil]

This disappears entirely once you hit low SDK. But it was pretty rampant among DDKs back when I was a DDK.

[speedchase]

I don't even remember this, except for one time. I think you'd be entitled to call an admin after the game

[Tofu]

Its not a big deal. Just kill the invasion. If you lose because of it, make it a learning experience and review how you could have done better.

It is poor etiquette, but it's not against the rules.

[Ellyster]

It's terrible etiquette violation to anyone's eyes.

It had never occurred to me something that rude... but as Tofu said, the only think that you can possibly do is to kill the invasion.

However... in order to avoid people go forward an overtime win, maybe the clock shouldn't tic again when you resume a game like that (unless both players agree in using the remaining time)... this way life and death conflicted opinions can be gently solved (they have actually finished the game in time, so overtime has no meaning here)... but if someone don't want to finish because they lose they will count as severe scapers.

This solution will avoid re-play to win by overtime (which in my opinion is unacceptable), but I there is no solution for a new desperate invasion... it's the lesser evil.

[BigDoug]

Hello,

I've generally found that there are three reasons why people behave in this manner.

1. The person is just starting to play go and his or her self-esteem takes a hit whenever a game is lost. Generally people grow out of this behaviour pretty quickly and it's not unusual for people to apologise later for their behaviour. I often speak with the person in private later to explain the spirit of the game and why one game won or lost really doesn't matter. These discussions usually have a positive outcome.

2. The person wasn't given an undo earlier and is just trying to irritate the opponent into leaving. I believe this behaviour is against the spirit of the game and will usually take an active role in trying to resolve this situation.

3. It's an absolute time game and at least one of the players doesn't have much time left. Absolute time games very often result in hurt feelings and unhappy opponents and I generally don't get involved.

[chaptern]

This is an interesting case. My thoughts:

1) It is cheating, but not a serious offense

2) It is bad etiquette

It is cheating because the player is using a computer to count. Counting is an important part of the endgame and a skill players try to develop, so I think it's fair to say that "ending" the game to see what KGS spits out as the final score and making a decision based on that is akin to using a program to estimate territory earlier in the endgame, which seems to me to be a clear case of cheating. Not a big deal, but a kind of cheating.

That this is bad etiquette, or at least very close to bad etiquette, is, I think, clearer. Some people are more open to having their opponents try desperate invasions late in the game, and it's probably the mark of good character to be able to shrug off this sort of thing and call it a learning experience, but it is nonetheless probably impolite. The boundary depends on who is playing, but I think the extreme example of the player who keeps playing stones that will clearly be captured to encourage the other player to resign out of frustration suggests that there's a point at which this kind of play would become infuriating to even the most patient and open player. Anyway, I'm sure this has been discussed in more detail elsewhere.