Initiatives for a Professional System in the West

[RobertJasiek]

If there's a better, more lucrative job elsewhere, there's little reason to become pro.

Financially sure. As a teaching professional, I can tell you another reason though: the joy of discovering and spreading go theory.

[yithril]

Having read this thread, I saw some pretty interesting ideas. I don't know about a reality show featuring Go. I mean, I'm no fan of reality shows, and it is a clever idea to use a format that most people are already familiar with, I think it would just be weird I'm excited about the prospect of having a professional league and really taking the time to spread Go in the U.S. I really don't think the AGA does enough to bridge the gap with the main culture and make Go more mainstream. I mean, Hikaru no Go did a pretty good job reaching out to younger players. I was excited to see it on Toonami.

I just think that we need to think more about the grassroots level for in trying to spread Go. I sort of fear that the KBA will essentially feel that they can just translate Go culture from Korea to the U.S. whole cloth, and that strategy will ultimately fail. Personally, given the nature of the game and the amount of time it would take to be competitive with Asian countries, it feels that having American pros now feels backwards. It's like a reverse wedding cake. We don't have the enthusiasm as a culture for the game because we have yet to find the right way to sell it to our fellow countrymen. I think about this sort of thing a lot, as I try my best to get people interested in the game and have experimented with an "elevator speech" for trying to get people who don't play strategy games per-se into the game.

Of course, I could be misreading the force behind Go. I think because its in so many countries, it might appear bigger than it actually is.