KGS Pledge

I would like to thank WMS for the contribution he has made to the go community by providing KGS. I love KGS and use it every day, and have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it. Over the last few years I have been asking for some changes and additions to the client; these were not meant to diminish the value of the work already put into the project. In order to support the development of KGS, I will sign up for KGS Plus if the following features are implemented:

1. Mouse Wheel Navigation

Now, the only way to control nav is to click the buttons, or use the keyboard left/right after setting focus to the buttons. This feature would allow the mouse wheel to control forward/back of the game, and the focus would be set correctly by default.This is great, cause you don't have to keep switching from mouse to keyboard when watching a game.

2. Mouseover Coordinates in Kibitz

Now, when someone kibitzes a coordinate, you have to count out where it is. For long variations, this is really confusing. With this feature, whenever coordinate-like things are kibitzed, you can mouse-over them and that spot on the board will be highlighted. It's brilliant for saving time, encouraging substantive conversation, and it also allows people to talk about longer variations. Overall, it's great.

3. Game Info Colors

On the game results screen, the marker for the winner of a game should change colors to show who won the game. So if you are looking at a person's game history, you can quickly see whether they have won or lost games recently.

This is the current appearnce of darkhorse's info. Can you tell how he has been playing lately?

This should be changed to:

Isn't the second one much easier to read?

The following video demonstrates these 3 features:

4. Fischer Timing

Fischer timing is a timing method where you start with a set amount of time, and your clock goes up every time you play a move. Typical setting would be 5 minutes to start, plus 20 seconds added to your clock every move you play. In real life games I much prefer this way, and it is sometimes used in the chess world. It is also quite nice to play blitz games on, without constantly being at risk of losing the entire game. A blitz fischer setting of 1m + 5s/move gives you about the same average rate as a 1m + 1x10s byo yomi game, but you are almost never at risk of losing the entire game. So it has the exact same thinking characteristics, while removing the huge arbitrary game loss (or loss of a byo yomi) that suddently takes effect at 10s.

I also believe it is theoretically better; here are several ideas for proposed studies that I believe would demonstrate its superiority.

• Examining time loss games under various timing mechanisms. I believe time losses in Fischer games will overwhelmingly go to the person who was already losing on the board. This is not the case for other timing mechanisms, particularly Canadian.
• Examining games in progress once time goes under a certain level: With Fischer settings of 5 min + 20s/move, I predict that the person who first goes under 1 minute will lose the game at a higher rate.
• Speaking theoretically, one way to characterize timing methods is to examine which ones are good for humans, and which are good for machines. Because of human nature, we usually waste time in byo-yomi and canadian by playing sooner than at the last second. Computers don't have this problem, and a well-programmed computer would use all of this time. Byo-yomi removes choice about when to think from the game; since that is a human advantage, it helps computers. Many of us like go because it is a game humans can play well. Consistently applying this rule would lead us to choose variants of go which humans are better at, such as Fischer. This can also be tested.

5. Unequal Timing

This would allow the time settings for both players can be different, for free games only. I think timing-handicap instead of stone handicap makes for much more interesting games; playing Fischer time, 30s/move, minus 5s/move for every stone stronger you are would be great; there would exist timing settings where you could play every game without handi stones, and still have a roughly 50% win rate.

Pledges

If you are interested in the features above, please send me an email and I will add you (ernestfrench@gmail.com). Please indicate which features you are pledging for, and how many years of KGS plus you will sign up for.

Ernest French

1. If Mouse Wheel Navigation, Mouseover Coordinates, and Game Info Colors are implemented, I will sign up for one year of KGS plus.
2. If Fischer Timing is implemented, I will sign up for one year of KGS plus.
3. If Unequal Timing is implemented, I will sign up for one year of KGS plus.

I am: Ernest French
ernestfrench@gmail.com

of The Beijing Go Club
beijinggoclub.com

KGS Account: "requires"

Christopher Day

1. If Fischer Timing is implemented, I will sign up for one year of KGS plus.

I am: Christopher Day
christopher.day1@gmail.com

of The Beijing Go Club
beijinggoclub.com

KGS Account: "cdybeijing"

Juan Felipe Samper

1. If Mouse Wheel Navigation, Mouseover Coordinates, and Game Info Colors are implemented, I will sign up for one year of KGS plus.

I am: Juan Felipe Samper
kalaka@gmail.com

KGS Account: "Kyuss"

Pledge Totals

Wheel Navigation, Mouseover Coordinates, and Game Info Colors: 120$ US
Fischer Timing: 120$ US
Unequal Timing: 60$ US

updated April 6th, 2010