4 ms·

My measure of games is the feedback loop. I have a problem with activities that have a long feedback loop, and thus haven't been able to pick up chess. I just c

by aasasd 8y ago

My measure of games is the feedback loop. I have a problem with activities that have a long feedback loop, and thus haven't been able to pick up chess. I just couldn't make any inferences when the consequences are half an hour away, and dozens of other choices would mutate the course of the game beyond recognition in the meantime. Have I made the right decision on the fourth move? Who the hell knows anymore! FPS and racing games sat much better with me because the feedback loop is incredibly tight (and it's back to no when we're talking adjusting suspension in the garage). I guess I was like that fish, but give me instagib railgun, and it's time of split-second decisions for an hour. The irony, of course, is that I had to get good at making longer-term decisions to be able to apply such examination to myself and see why it's useful in the first place. Finally, I realized I need to pick big games apart into smaller exercises, to see which choices work and which don't. To make a playground with a shorter feedback loop where I could test my decisions before jumping into the real thing. You know, like a game.

ekianjo 8y ago
> I just couldn't make any inferences when the consequences are half an hour away, If you play chess fast it does not take half an hour to see the results of a bad decision. In a few turns you would see things fall apart after a bad move.
- aasasd 8y ago
  Yeah, I noticed how everyone who can play chess keeps saying that it's perfectly easy, you just move things around and immediately see though space and time, the garden of forking paths is laid out before you in its entirety, and every choice ever becomes clear as air on a winter morning in childhood. Notably, those who can't really play tend to not feel that way.
  - PavlovsCat 8y ago
    > immediately see though space and time, the garden of forking paths is laid out before you in its entirety, and every choice ever becomes clear as air on a winter morning in childhood I don't get that from chess, but I do get it from instagib railgun. The problem is, the other player see as clear as a falcon enhanced with some kind of alien nanotechnology, so I get owned, but I still often notice with amazement how many decisions and thoughts fit into a few seconds, it really does feel like time is slowing down by lot. I glance at some timer, a bunch of stuff happens, I glance at it again, and think "I can't believe only 4 seconds passed during all this".
    - aasasd 8y ago
      > it really does feel like time is slowing down by lot It does! Not only that, but after such a game the brain is working faster, so the feeling persists. No coffee can give that effect, and it's the thing I really miss from my FPS days. However, videogames aren't necessary for that: other activity that needs you to act way faster than usual works about the same. (That becomes easy to notice when your days consist of the same old stuff...) I guess some people use extreme sports for that, but personally I'll have to find something more forgiving.
  - yesenadam 8y ago
    Who ever said that? I've never heard that. Maybe you're joking (that would make more sense)
  - gpm 8y ago
    I think you might be missing the point here. A game of chess doesn't need to take half an hour. It can take 15s (7.5s/side for the entire game), e.g. https://youtu.be/G2AMN9tHSB0?t=503 https://youtu.be/G2AMN9tHSB0?t=503 Edit: Here's a bunch more games with that time constraint to show they don't all end by running out of time https://youtu.be/6ieWb3LLBmM?t=380 https://youtu.be/6ieWb3LLBmM?t=380 Don't start trying to play 15s games. But I find 4-6 minute games (2-3m/side) to be perfectly playable even at a low level.
yesenadam 8y ago
haven't been able to pick up chess. I just couldn't make any inferences when the consequences are half an hour away The most popular time controls to play chess online seem to be 1 0 and 3 0 - i.e. you have 1 or 3 minutes total to play every move in the game, so the game lasts 2 or 6 minutes maximum. That seems crazy fast to me, but e.g. watch grandmasters play banter blitz on chess24[0], and 3 0 seems quite leisurely, most of the time. (3 0 means 3 minutes to start, with 0 seconds added after each move.) I prefer 5 12, 15 10 or something where you have time to think, to plan. There's not a lot of planning in blitz chess, they mostly play by intuition, playing whatever move feels right. There's no time to think about complicated tactics or formulate a complex plan. [0] https://www.youtube.com/user/chess24media/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/user/chess24media/videos#top

by aasasd 8y ago

ekianjo 8y ago

> I just couldn't make any inferences when the consequences are half an hour away, If you play chess fast it does not take half an hour to see the results of a bad decision. In a few turns you would see things fall apart after a bad move.

aasasd 8y ago
Yeah, I noticed how everyone who can play chess keeps saying that it's perfectly easy, you just move things around and immediately see though space and time, the garden of forking paths is laid out before you in its entirety, and every choice ever becomes clear as air on a winter morning in childhood. Notably, those who can't really play tend to not feel that way.
- PavlovsCat 8y ago
  > immediately see though space and time, the garden of forking paths is laid out before you in its entirety, and every choice ever becomes clear as air on a winter morning in childhood I don't get that from chess, but I do get it from instagib railgun. The problem is, the other player see as clear as a falcon enhanced with some kind of alien nanotechnology, so I get owned, but I still often notice with amazement how many decisions and thoughts fit into a few seconds, it really does feel like time is slowing down by lot. I glance at some timer, a bunch of stuff happens, I glance at it again, and think "I can't believe only 4 seconds passed during all this".
  - aasasd 8y ago
    > it really does feel like time is slowing down by lot It does! Not only that, but after such a game the brain is working faster, so the feeling persists. No coffee can give that effect, and it's the thing I really miss from my FPS days. However, videogames aren't necessary for that: other activity that needs you to act way faster than usual works about the same. (That becomes easy to notice when your days consist of the same old stuff...) I guess some people use extreme sports for that, but personally I'll have to find something more forgiving.
- yesenadam 8y ago
  Who ever said that? I've never heard that. Maybe you're joking (that would make more sense)
- gpm 8y ago
  I think you might be missing the point here. A game of chess doesn't need to take half an hour. It can take 15s (7.5s/side for the entire game), e.g. https://youtu.be/G2AMN9tHSB0?t=503 https://youtu.be/G2AMN9tHSB0?t=503 Edit: Here's a bunch more games with that time constraint to show they don't all end by running out of time https://youtu.be/6ieWb3LLBmM?t=380 https://youtu.be/6ieWb3LLBmM?t=380 Don't start trying to play 15s games. But I find 4-6 minute games (2-3m/side) to be perfectly playable even at a low level.

yesenadam 8y ago

haven't been able to pick up chess. I just couldn't make any inferences when the consequences are half an hour away The most popular time controls to play chess online seem to be 1 0 and 3 0 - i.e. you have 1 or 3 minutes total to play every move in the game, so the game lasts 2 or 6 minutes maximum. That seems crazy fast to me, but e.g. watch grandmasters play banter blitz on chess24[0], and 3 0 seems quite leisurely, most of the time. (3 0 means 3 minutes to start, with 0 seconds added after each move.) I prefer 5 12, 15 10 or something where you have time to think, to plan. There's not a lot of planning in blitz chess, they mostly play by intuition, playing whatever move feels right. There's no time to think about complicated tactics or formulate a complex plan. [0] https://www.youtube.com/user/chess24media/videos#top https://www.youtube.com/user/chess24media/videos#top