Greg Strong wrote on Tue, Sep 27, 2005 05:00 AM UTC:
Christine Bagley-Jones says:
so, SRC is funny and on the level
No. Not by a longshot is it 'on the level.' There are rules that the inventors know, the people who call themselves SRC grand-masters know, and the editors of the site know. But we are forbidden from knowing. In no way, shape, or form is this 'on the level.' In fact, the playing field is very un-level. It's not hard to be a grand-master when you are the player who knows the rules. It isn't two blind people fighting, as in Kriegspiel, but one blind player fighting another with perfect vision.
As for the idea of a limited-information game where the rules are what is in question, that is a terrible idea. This eliminates all strategy and all tactics. Period. If you don't even know which pieces are safe from capture, then you can't even think about forming a plan. It is all the randomness of Poker without any of the strategy. So, even in the case that neither player knows the rules, it is basically like the card game 'War' (which no one older than about 8 years old plays.)
And what about all this nonsense about it being older than Chess, and indeed the original form of Chess from which Orthodox Chess is supposedly derived? Preposterous! And the authors have also denied that that aspect is a joke. Promoting a bad game is one thing; there are lots of bad games around here. Deliberately pushing bald-faced lies to promote your own game is quite another.
Since the game can and is being played, the pages should not be deleted. However, the author(s) should clarify what it is and what it isn't, and remove all outright lies. As for the positive ratings the game has gotten by master-level and grand-master-level players, (the only positive ratings from anyone who has actually played it,) it only stands to reason that they would want to premote the game that they understand but refuse to enlighten us about.
Christine Bagley-Jones says:
No. Not by a longshot is it 'on the level.' There are rules that the inventors know, the people who call themselves SRC grand-masters know, and the editors of the site know. But we are forbidden from knowing. In no way, shape, or form is this 'on the level.' In fact, the playing field is very un-level. It's not hard to be a grand-master when you are the player who knows the rules. It isn't two blind people fighting, as in Kriegspiel, but one blind player fighting another with perfect vision.As for the idea of a limited-information game where the rules are what is in question, that is a terrible idea. This eliminates all strategy and all tactics. Period. If you don't even know which pieces are safe from capture, then you can't even think about forming a plan. It is all the randomness of Poker without any of the strategy. So, even in the case that neither player knows the rules, it is basically like the card game 'War' (which no one older than about 8 years old plays.)
And what about all this nonsense about it being older than Chess, and indeed the original form of Chess from which Orthodox Chess is supposedly derived? Preposterous! And the authors have also denied that that aspect is a joke. Promoting a bad game is one thing; there are lots of bad games around here. Deliberately pushing bald-faced lies to promote your own game is quite another.
Since the game can and is being played, the pages should not be deleted. However, the author(s) should clarify what it is and what it isn't, and remove all outright lies. As for the positive ratings the game has gotten by master-level and grand-master-level players, (the only positive ratings from anyone who has actually played it,) it only stands to reason that they would want to premote the game that they understand but refuse to enlighten us about.