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Date: 06 Apr 2008 12:24:37
From:
Subject: Anyone interested in working on an open-source "Chess of Tomorrow"
This is a follow up post to my prior "Unsticking Chess" one. To the
end, the purpose of the project is to come up with perhaps a bit of
standardization in names, terminology, equipment look and feel,
equipment needed, classification/taxonomy, and so on, relating to
chess and its variants. These standards would act as a community
agreed to consensus, to provide a base upon which people can be able
to more effectively communicate with one another, and be able to share
their experience. It is not meant to impose restrictive rules, but
provide a way to pragmatically facilitate change. A possible end
result could be a development path chess can take, that would involve
variants in a more relevant way, and enable variants to be taken more
seriously, not just as some gimmick, but something that can contribute
to the discussion.

If this project seems irrelevant to you, and you question why it would
be needed, then it wouldn't be for you. But I am putting it out there
for people to consider, and of interest, to say yes to, and get
involved. I personally believe the whole thing should be treated in
an open-source manner, where what is developed from this is usable by
the community, but also has a way for people to plug their own
proprietary creations, and they lend to the conversation, without them
losing the rights to them. For example, say the Omega Chess people
would want to get their pieces into the conversation. They would
still retain the rights, and the project would have a way to
accomodate their pieces and rules into the conversation.

If this is of interest, please say so. Also, please pop into this
thread on the Chess Variants wiki and sign in:
http://chessvariants.wikidot.com/forum/t-51667/chess-of-tomorrow-project-who-is-interested

Thank you for your time...
- Rich




 
Date: 06 Apr 2008 21:09:25
From:
Subject: Re: Anyone interested in working on an open-source "Chess of
On Apr 6, 6:14 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected] >
wrote:
> On Apr 6, 12:24 pm, [email protected] wrote:
>
> > If this project seems irrelevant to you, and you question why it would
> > be needed, then it wouldn't be for you.
>
> If Chess is fading from its former glory then just let it fade. Let
> the process of natural selection play itself out. The good Chess
> variants will take hold, the bad ones will fall by the wayside, and
> standard Chess will lumber ahead under its own momentum.
>
> There's so much going on in the field of abstract games now. Why put
> all this energy into rejuvenating a relic?

Mark, chess is the first word in "Chess variants" as is the base word
for games that represent an abstraction of war in a boardgame form,
following the conventions of abstract strategy games. So, on that
note, that is where this comes from. And, if it isn't for you, it
isn't for you. This project isn't for everyone out there, just those
who want to think about the future of chess, and have it develop in a
way that creates standards and so on, to facilitate communications. A
key part is having the ability to buy variant equipment, which is
really not doable now, in a meaningful way. New pieces have like a
$5000 or so ramp up cost associated with them.

As for why doing this? An idea is to get chess back to its roots as
an evolutionary design that evolved over time. Also, the idea is to
have variants be integrated into the fullness of the chess experience,
so that what works and what doesn't, can be found, and integrated. In
this also would be dealing with such issues as developing a
handicapping system that works to.

Again, if someone doesn't feel the project is for them, it isn't for
them.

- Rich


 
Date: 06 Apr 2008 15:14:24
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Anyone interested in working on an open-source "Chess of
On Apr 6, 12:24 pm, [email protected] wrote:

>
> If this project seems irrelevant to you, and you question why it would
> be needed, then it wouldn't be for you.
>

If Chess is fading from its former glory then just let it fade. Let
the process of natural selection play itself out. The good Chess
variants will take hold, the bad ones will fall by the wayside, and
standard Chess will lumber ahead under its own momentum.

There's so much going on in the field of abstract games now. Why put
all this energy into rejuvenating a relic?