Life In 19x19

Pick the category you believe Go / Weiqi / Baduk belongs to

As much as I would like to pick "Art", go is ultimately just a contest of raw reading power with not much depth to it. This is why children can be so successful at go - it's pretty rare to see world-class child composers, or pianists, or painters. Any esthetic merit is only a by-product - there's esthetic merit to anything when it's done really really well. You can argue over whether go is a game or a sport (I went with game as the least contentious option), but it's definitely not yoghurt, and not art.

I feel like, if it was just a game, I wouldn't have to work so hard at it.

It's a game that can be played as a mindsport, and like every complex activity, can be considered by some people as an art.

I don't see how anyone can classify Goe as a yogurt.

go...gurt?

I think that is a game. I live it as a game and enjoy it as a game. A strategy game for sure, but nevertheless a game!

art, because while reading is one necessary trait, shape is another.

mw42 wrote:I don't see how anyone can classify Goe as a yogurt.

There are a lot of persuasive reasons. Many theorists classify it as a yoghurt.

I kind of dislike labels like mind-sport. They feel like trying to borrow the esteem of traditional sports for something else. Go itself is undoubtedly a game. A great game, no doubt, but still just a game of stones on a grid. I think a kind of art could be said to be found in playing any interesting game well. But as far as this poll is concerned, there is only one proper option.

Zombie wrote:I kind of dislike labels like mind-sport. They feel like trying to borrow the esteem of traditional sports for something else. Go itself is undoubtedly a game. A great game, no doubt, but still just a game of stones on a grid. I think a kind of art could be said to be found in playing any interesting game well. But as far as this poll is concerned, there is only one proper option.

We're of one mind, and that mind thinks of yogurt.