These 2 suggestions would affect only reversi games, but there they might give a big time gain.
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Auto-passing, is a nice way to speed up games... it means that if the player has no moves available he passes automatically. This is only used in Reversi (in Amazon it decides the game). TO give the player the gameboard back to pass is painful rather then fun..
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Auto-move when only one move is available (Chess, Reversi ((last move of GWG and one but last in amazon)), is considered dangerous by some, since on some game sites, the computer doesn't recognize all legal moves. I think it is no problem here since all the legal moves seem to be available.
I agree as well on that last comment. Auto pass surely would speed up play (yes yes we know its a turn based site and if I want fast play go to Yahoo)
But in reversi games you could show that the player 'lost' his turn due to a pass and the other player kept playing until he had no more moves left with out waiting for the opponent to keep passing.
I don't agree on an auto move play tho
Computers are meant to make things easier. I would welcome an auto move feature. If I only have ONE move, I'm more than happy to let the system make that move for me. It's a nice feeling to know I can be lying out by the pool while any forced moves I have are being made.
Rose, what do you mean with automove-play? Auto-force-move or auto-preprogrammed-move? I can't think of any disadvantage of a auto-force-move feature...
I didn't mention the auto-program-move idea (you declare your moves in advance, possibily only for certain 'predicted' counter moves of your opponent), because I would like to have implemented the ideas I posted now, and the auto-program-move idea is not excepted by a lot of players. The auto-forces-move stays on however, since I didn't see any good argument against yet (in my humble opinion).
klaas reread what I wrote..I do not favour auto move.. But I want to see the auto-pass feature implemented.. when a player hasnt a turn we have to wait for them to come back to the computer to hit pass so we can continue on playing.. I like how GT or IYT has it set up that you can keep playing with out waiting for the opponent to pass as he has no move to make.
I think everyone agrees with you about the auto-pass. My question was about the auto-move. There are two kinds of auto-moves mentioned at this forum: preprogrammed-auto-moves and forcedmoves-auto-moves (are you still there :-). I'm talking about the latter here.- - - - - - - Can you (or someone else) tell me why it's okay for the system to pass for you, but it's not okay for the system to make a move for you in situations where you have only one move (one option, no intelligence can be (ab)used, just like passing)? To me, situations where you have one option (either passing or one possible move) are equal.
Exactly. That's how I feel about it. NO moves and ONE move are the same thing. There is no thought or decision making involved. There is nothing else to do. Thus, let the 'computer' make the move. That's one of the things are computers are for... to make things easier on us humans.
Some players are not comfortable with the system making moves for them. It may not be logical, but it can be somewhat overwhelming to a player, especially if the opponent was able to make several moves in a row. For example, a sacrifice in chess might lead to a sequence of moves with only one response, leading to checkmate. There are many chess puzzles, in fact, that have this feature. Some players cannot see that far ahead. They capture the opponent's queen, and the next they know, the board shows a very different board position with their King in checkmate. Is that fair? I agree that auto-pass is desirable.
Clearly if auto-pass and auto-move appears, the different consecutive moves should be shown (by giving them a differnet move number). The unease for certain players could be overcome by setting auto-pass and auto-move as options.
I wondered about this in the game go...I way ahead and then the player passed every move til the board was full of my men except one move then he moved and cleared the board...I guess it was legal but no fun playing that way.
This is a different matter. Auto-pass would not be useful in go. What happened in your game (http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/game/png.jsp?gid=4954) only happened because neither of you understood the basics of the game (e.g., the concept of two eyes).
If you had passed in reply to his pass you would have won by more than 80 points.
Earlier in the game you were losing by a similar amount.
This sort of thing doesn't happen in a normal game of 9x9 go.
hi steve...well i was one hundred and thirty six points to his thirty three then he started passing and i kept moving...so your saying i should have passed after his first pass to me and i would have won the game then...I didn't understand why he would do that,of course to win i suppose,but sure wasn't fun playing the game that way.
Hi gabby. You dont seem to catch Steve's point. The game of Go usually ends with both players passing when nothing more is to be achieved. If you continue playing after an opponent has passed then you will only be filling either unvaluable points (dame) or playing inside your own area and thereby losing points. Read the rules carefully and you will see this. This has nothing to do with auto-pass or automove. In Go there are no such situations with no or only one legal move.
The following link is to a site that will help with the basics of the game of go. It is a very good site for a person just starting to learn the game. I think you will understand what Steve and Tore are saying after the brief interactive lesson.
To get back to the tread.................
Auto pass (If only a 'pass' move is available) is suggested be an option you can set in your user profile, and would be 'on' by default. .................
Auto move (If only one move is available) is suggested to be an option as well, and would be 'off' by default.
auto-pass fastens only reversi. (In all other games, this situation ends the game) ...............
auto-move is already done in the very beginning of the Go-moku game, and effects mostly reversi (and 4 in a row only one line is open), and the last move in Amazon and gwg. It also would trigger some rare moves in chess...........
The moves made by the computer, should get a distinct input in the list of moves, and messages of the last move really made by both players should be still there, I guess
Little Golem