identifying source of online go anxiety

[PeterN]

Protecting that rank graph is the thing that produces the most stress for me, never been too bothered about the misclick thing, doesn't happen too often and I don't think I've ever had anyone so no to the undo request when it was come up.

PeterN

Rank graphs are only approximations of relative strengths. They are not absolute. If everyone else is improving around you then your graph can go down, even if you are improving. If it bothers you so much then don't look at it. Or turn the screen upside down before you do.

You can't go being rational now, not in a thread about anxiety

Regardless of their limitations, I don't think I'm alone in not liking to see that graph go down.

PeterN

[DrStraw]

You can't go being rational now, not in a thread about anxiety

Regardless of their limitations, I don't think I'm alone in not liking to see that graph go down.

PeterN

How about this then? How would you react to it? I am not at all bothered as I play purely for fun.

http://www.dragongoserver.net/ratinggraph.php?uid=42143

[PeterN]

How about this then? How would you react to it? I am not at all bothered as I play purely for fun.

http://www.dragongoserver.net/ratinggraph.php?uid=42143

That rank graph would make me sad, wouldn't bother me that much though.

PeterN

[Elom]

If it's okay to drop in, when the purpose of playing changed from winning to experimenting, anxiety fell significantly for me. In other words, for example, if you count the game and find yourself winning by a safe margin, going for the interesting/challenging line of play changes the purpose from seeking victory in points to seeking victory in learning. When you play in other games you don't worry about rank as much .

[Bonobo]

I‘d like to suggest something I’ve thought of for a long time: an OGA league, or a playing group “OGA Anonymous” or something

[Fedya]

I'm always watching the clock, not because I'm worried about running out of time but because I'm worried that I'm irritating the other player. Not being able to see my opponent takes away a meter of sorts: the player's response.

I don't have that problem at all. I had a game yesterday where I spent 20-30 seconds per move in fuseki trying to figure out what I should play, and after I played , my opponent resigned!

He complained that if I was going to spend 20 seconds on a move that early, what was I going to do in the middle game, to which I rather irritatedly responded that he accepted a challenge with my time controls (20 min + 5 one-minute byo-yomi periods). If those are the terms, I'm going to use the time if I feel I need it. (Most of the time, I wind up playing a move every 12-15 seconds, except when I'm trying to count score.)

For me, any anxiety is over the fact that I plan to put a fair block of time into a game, only to find that everything is going pear-shaped early on again, especially if my opponent is playing at blitz speed. Every now and then, I'll get a game against somebody a stone stronger than I am who uses as much time as I do, and I find those tend to be the most engrossing games, even if I tend to lose many of those games by a small margin.

[joellercoaster]

WE are judging ourselves … All. The. Time.

On what basis, though?

[DrStraw]

[
He complained that if I was going to spend 20 seconds on a move that early, what was I going to do in the middle game,

Doesn't he know that you are supposed to take most of your time in the fuseki. Pros have been know to almost go into byo yomi in the early middle game.

[Bill Spight]

I had a game yesterday where I spent 20-30 seconds per move in fuseki trying to figure out what I should play, and after I played , my opponent resigned!

Such rudeness!

He complained that if I was going to spend 20 seconds on a move that early, what was I going to do in the middle game, to which I rather irritatedly responded that he accepted a challenge with my time controls (20 min + 5 one-minute byo-yomi periods). If those are the terms, I'm going to use the time if I feel I need it.

Well, at least you had the courtesy not to point out that he was a {fill in the blank} who does not appreciate either the value of opening moves or the depth of your thought.

Next time tell him that you know someone who finishes a game in around one hour but who often takes one minute per move in the fuseki.

[Bonobo]

WE are judging ourselves … All. The. Time.

On what basis, though?

Yes, good question. Good to question this. I think it has to do with perfcuktionism, with the delusion that one has to be “better” or something. For me at least this fits in “nicely” with depression.

[Fedya]

Well, at least you had the courtesy not to point out that he was a {fill in the blank} who does not appreciate either the value of opening moves or the depth of your thought.

To be fair, I wish my time spent thinking produced better moves.

[Bill Spight]

Well, at least you had the courtesy not to point out that he was a {fill in the blank} who does not appreciate either the value of opening moves or the depth of your thought.

To be fair, I wish my time spent thinking produced better moves.

Don't we all.

[Kirby]

Well, at least you had the courtesy not to point out that he was a {fill in the blank} who does not appreciate either the value of opening moves or the depth of your thought.

To be fair, I wish my time spent thinking produced better moves.

Sometimes, I think a well-thought out bad move is more gratifying than a good move played without thought. You have experienced the game through thinking deeply, even if the game result is a loss.

The worst, though, are bad moves played with little to no thought. When you play such moves, you've gotta ask yourself, "Why am I even doing this?"

[Bki]

[
He complained that if I was going to spend 20 seconds on a move that early, what was I going to do in the middle game,

Doesn't he know that you are supposed to take most of your time in the fuseki. Pros have been know to almost go into byo yomi in the early middle game.

But pro understand the strategic depth of the fuseki. Kyu level amateurs don't. I have no reason to spend even a second on because I usually have an idea on what I will play on the first corner as black before I play the game. can be different, obviously, because you have to adapt to whatever strategy you think black is used. can deserve some thinking time, but there's not much options : you approach a corner, or play whatever special strategy you want to use for the game. Though if was an approach, it may deserve more time to be spent on.

On the other hand, resigning because the opponent take too much time on his move is stupid : you should be happy that he give you so much additional free time to use!

[Fedya]

For the record, here's the game in question:

$$c 11 at a
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 9 . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 8 0 a . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 , . 6 . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c 11 at a
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 9 . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 8 0 a . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 , . 6 . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I spent 24 seconds on trying to figure out if it would be bad if I let White play there and get a good moyo with and , or whether it would be worse if White approached me from the top and followed up around K16, getting a good moyo on the top.

surprised me, so I spent another 15 seconds thinking about whether to extend or hane.

After , I began to wonder whether I was going to be letting White get too much territory if I just kept extending, or whether I approached and let White hane. I didn't particularly like , but felt it was the best option. I spent a whopping 20 seconds on the move.