Category of Game Software

[Jojoyee]

Personally I felt ... initially at least ... that chess and go could be a stimulating coupling (despite their fundamental differences) because people might find themselves enjoying something new. And besides, I just fancied the sound of "Chess and Go"!

However, the original concept of the page wasn't really a "Best Free..." and that's changed now. At present, I feel undecided whether to split the page into two separate ones ... sniff! ... My excuse is that some folks doing a "casual" search for Chess might miss stumbling upon Go. Might ask Gizmo's advice on this one.

My 2 cents is that the main reason Go isn't more popular in the West is that it isn't traditionally played here. But the internet has already made a difference.

And Gizmo himself says he likes playing it! ;>)

I think Xiangqi could be more difficult to "sell" because of: 1) the ideograms, which are unfamiliar outside the Far East 2) paradoxically, because of its similarity to chess...

PS. Perhaps we should be posting this conversation as a forum topic so that others can have their say.

Bob

-- Quoted from the email of Feb 22 as suggested.

[Jojoyee]

This is a most interesting conversation Robin and I think it should be moved to the Forum so others can join in. I'd put it in the public "Debating Chamber" area so everyone can contribute not just editors.

Here's my 2 cents worth:

The amazing success of the Chess and Go article underscores the high interest in the area so we should expand our coverage.

The problem is that "board games" is a massive topic. So how do we handle it? One review section per game, that is a page for Chess, a page for Go, a page for Xiangqi etc, or a single page covering the most popular games.

We currently have exactly the same problem with computer games. And I think the solution we have adopted there is applicable for board games as well.

The idea is to start with one review page covering all computer games with the page divided into categories such as arcade games, strategy games, classic games etc.

The idea is to keep expanding this page and when a section gets too big, to split it off into its own page.

Now I think we have already reached this point with the Chess and Go page.

My suggestion is that we have separate pages for Chess and Go and a separate page again for all other board games. We can then gradually expand the latter and split offer further pages in due course, for example a Backgammon page.

I'd include Chinese chess in the chess review and GoMoku in the Go page. The latter could also cover other encirclement games such as Reversi (AKA Othello)

All board game pages should link to each other using the Related Items section. It could also be done in the text. For example you might like to conclude the Chess page with a paragraph like "If you enjoy chess you really should try Go" and then give a link to the Go page.

Just my thoughts.

Gizmo

-- Quoted from the email of Feb 22 as suggested.

[Jojoyee]

To keep an article page from too long, I agree with Gizmo that editors can try to use the features of Related Products and Links, or add a few words with links at the end of the article page. I also agree with Bob that Chinese Chess (or Xiangqi in Mandarin) could be more difficult to sell as it is mostly played in the Far East. Perhaps, with more people moving around in the world with internet connections, this game can sell better than before :>)

Here are my 2 cents worth, personally I think we should not get confused between "Chinese Chess" and Go. There're not in the same family, whereas Chinese Chess and (Western or International) Chess are. If you're interested, there's an interesting writeup about Chinese Chess with links added for further reading. "It is commonly believed that Chinese Chess derives from the original Indian game of Chaturanga , which scientists generally assume it is the oldest known form of Chess..."

Jojoyee

-- Quoted from the email of Feb 22 as suggested.

[Jojoyee]

I appreciate your point about the fact that Go and Chess belong to different families whereas Chess and Xiangqi seem to have a common ancestor (plausibly in Chaturanga). Personally I think Xiangqi deserves to be considered more than just a “variant” form of Western chess! And I do like your idea of working up a page on it. Kind of exciting…

Yes, as Gizmo and you both rightly say, we clearly need to restructure (progressively) to avoid bloat...

I hope we can shift this conversation into the forum Debating Chamber, as Gizmo suggests.

Bob

-- Quoted from the email of Feb 22 as suggested.

[Lassar]

I think most computer games are as bad as drugs.

But the game of go does not strike me as being addicting.

May one could play it without getting addicted to it.

-

[wildman]

When ever I have encountered spyware, malware or other bad undesirable things showing up on my machine it has been after visiting a game site. I now have WOT in conjunction with Firefox, and a good deal of the RED warnings are for game sites.

Thanks
Wildman

[chris.p]

Yeah, this is inevitable, because if you look at the perfect method for getting malware onto your PC it would be: a website that you go to and then allow processes from that site to run on your PC. Couldn't be better!

I guess I'd score the perfect trojan insert method like this:

1. A game site - you go there and say "OK run this stuff on my machine"
2. IM - you turn on instant messenger and open your PC up to the entire Net. Excellent. Using IM + bad firewall and bad a/s = botnet slave.
3. Screensavers - you download an executable and run it. Made in who knows where. It runs when the PC is idle and you're not on the machine. Perfect.

So like you say, online games need A1 security before you go there.

[wdhpr]

Originally Posted by Jojoyee

-- Quoted from the email of Feb 22 as suggested.

Free games are many.......... Good free games. Well I believe most people have them by now.
If you do not. A good starting place to look is: HERE

There is a wealth of old DOS games for free I recommend DOSBox as a front end for running these games for windows ME and later.

I think geeks (I'm not one) started computers by playing games.
My personal favorites include the EOB series and Masters of Magic.

I believe this category needs to be started here in the forum. Most free games are easy to find. BUT Please read the post from Chris.p Dated 2-24-09 11:21 pm. You Risk getting infected at these site. Be prudent


Utilities for games would be a good start maybe.

Cheers
Wdhpr

[chris.p]

Check our Complete Waste Of Time page for some free online mini-games.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/comp...te-of-time.htm

[Rizar]

I found another charity game online in addition to FreeRice, called Charitii. It is a multiple choice puzzle word game. I added it to Best Free Volunteer, Charity, and Donation Technology.