Re: My Thoughts on Rules
Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 5:27 pm
And yet, ironically, it is the condition that makes Hex worse than Go.
I apologize for coming into this thread so late, and also I want to state that as a beginner to Go, I may not be the perfect person to offer opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of Go. That being said, like many, I have played board games my entire life.
The first thought on this whole thread is that there is no "perfect" game, or even a better game. There are the games we like, and the games other people like. We like Go, others like chess, shogi, xian-qi, stratego, etc. Heck, I expect that many people who play Go, like and enjoy other games as well (I know my wife and I have recently been enjoying cribbage which isn't a board game at all...). Thus any "rules" that are posted must by necessity be personal rules. The only real exception is that, for adults, there must be enough depth (either in variety of play or strategic depth) to keep the game interesting over a long period of time. Thus British Draughts/American Checkers, with simple rules and compared to Go or Chess simple positions, can and is a subject of deep study for its fans. At the same time, there are numerous people who love war games that violate every rule posted here as well as including random elements as well. All games that find people who love them are good games.
That being said, I think Komi and scoring are actually potentially weak areas in Go as a game. These two aspects of the game can make the game hard to understand for people who are new to it. Checkers and chess have clear, easy to understand end points. In Go, the final outcome of a match may not be decided until several minutes after play has ended.
Final thought, comparing hex and Go... I think each has their own advantages. I have never played Hex, and I suspect that the amount of analysis that has been done, while more than many games, is far too small to really appreciate what complexity and depth is in the game.
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Bill
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