Author: Matthew Hull
Date: 07:28:08 08/08/02
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On August 08, 2002 at 09:53:22, Sune Fischer wrote: >On August 08, 2002 at 09:12:29, Slater Wold wrote: > >>>2) Registering on FICS was not very fast, but straightforward. Unfortunately >>>people seem to have lost interest in it. >> >>FICS is horrible. It took me 6 months to get my account, and then they nuked it >>when I didn't play a game in over 8 months. HOWEVER, I had logged in several >>times in those 8 months, could just never get a game! They told me I had to >>apply for another (C) account before they can give me another. > >I don't recognize these problems with FICS. >Always lot's of people willing to help in channel 1 and people don't mind >playing computers. >I was online for 13 hours yesterday and got 43 games against 23 different human >opponents. I think only 4 of those were unrated against a guest. > >I had a great time, and will be right back after a few more enhancements... :) > >Frankly I see no reason to pay for playing on ICC, when FICS is so great and >totally for free! > >-S. I agree. From what I've seen on FICS, if a computer account posts seeks, it gets played plenty by both computers and folks. Also, any chess server has to offer freedom of options, just like you would get at a regular walk-in chess club. People choose the opponents they like to play. Even if their motives in choosing seem "corrupt", you still must offer that freedom. As for ratings, FICS has modified their rating formulas to make abuse less attractive. Established ratings will not change as much if you've played many games. Besides, who cares? If some chump has an inflated rating, it doesn't mean he can beat you. If he's cheating, what does it matter? Just count it as a computer. (Crafty has a feature that allows you to specify known computer accounts as well as GMs, IMs, and "blockers".) If computer accounts only want to play people, that's fine and good, especially for programmers who want to improve their performance angainst strong humans. Lot's of people have modified (weakened) free chess programs running, purely for the fun of having an opponents out there that weaker players have a chance against and to gauge their progress against. I thinks that's great. The only drawback that I can see on FICS is the relative lack of strong human players. Not that I could play them, but it's fun and interesting to watch them play. I'm sure that more of the top programmers would have active accounts there if it was frequented more by top humans. That has to be the main advantage of ICC. Regards, Matt
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