I'm only speculating, and my reference is Japanese Go. I know next to nothing about the rest.CDavis7M wrote:Long games are fun but in the moment I really appreciate the short games because I can (and will) watch the entire game. I try to not watch Day 1 of the 2 day Japanese matches because it's too much commitment. Sponsors must feel the same.
I suspect multi-day competitions are holding by their teeth to the cliffs at Dodo's Island. They had to be bad enough to organise, but the electronics sweep & blackout they must keep these days? That must be prohibitive. And, frankly, I could live with a single day marathon. The recent Gosei... semifinals? was good enough for me. Spruce if up a bit, and that's it.
On both sides of it, there's flash games... I tend to dislike them, BUT I also find some of their games easier to understand. I also seem to find more... I can't recall the term, just learnt it a few days ago... those games without opening, but an avalanche of stones filling up the board from a single corner. I dislike those games. But if we could get good, non-rushy games...
But I still kind of miss "leisure" games, extended to the point where the player could explore the limits of his Go. This might be out of reach of sponsors, unless they were sunk-cost sponsors. Maybe it's just to soon to see this, but I kinda miss innovations, "trade secrets" and such. It's been a while since I read anything about a new way of playing that opened new ideas. One that was personal, not AI-led.
We'll see. Things can get very interesting... or stultifyingly boring.
Take care