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An Internet Go server is a server that allows players of the game of Go to play against opponents online. The two fundamental types of Go server are real-time servers and turn-based servers.
The first Go server that started operating is the Internet Go Server (IGS), which began service in 1992 [1] and is still active as of 2021. Several other servers, all with the same basic server-client architecture, followed. [2]
IGS was started on February 2, 1992, by Tim Casey, Chris Chisolm, and Mark Okada, working at the University of New Mexico, and until April 5, 1993, continued at the University of California, Berkeley, and UC San Francisco (with an additional server at The Pasteur Institute, France); it was the first server of its kind. [3] [4] [5] After its initial inception, some of its members helped to improve the server by writing software with a graphical interface; and thus IGS was born. IGS hosts up to 3,000 players at a time, depending on the time of day.
Leaving the UC servers in 1993, IGS continued at the University of Pennsylvania for a year until being bought by the Korean ISP nuri.net in 1994. In 1995, the Japanese company NKB Inc., a partner of nuri.net, acquired IGS, and created a separate department, named "Pandanet" in 1996, with Mark Okada as manager. Pandanet has managed IGS ever since; in 1998 renaming it to "IGS Pandanet," which was shortened to "Pandanet" in Japan.
Real-time Go servers allow players to play against other in real time when both are online at the same time. Generally, this involves a set-up where both players use a client program to connect to the server, which then relays the moves from player to player. The server also keeps track of time controls, calculates the score and, if applicable, calculates ratings for the players based on their results. Such servers require players to download a client program, and many such programs have been developed for a wide range of platforms. [2] Around 2000, Kiseido publishing started the Kiseido Go Server (KGS), which allowed players to play without downloading a client by utilizing a Java applet in the web browser. This server quickly became popular and still is as of 2015. IGS and KGS are currently (2014) the most popular servers for the English-speaking audience. [6] As of 2014, Online Go Server (OGS) handles both real-time and turn-based games [7] straight from one's web-browser.
Turn-based servers do not require opponents to be online at the same time. Instead, a player records a move with the server, and the server will present this move to the opponent the next time they connect to the server. This way, players need never be online simultaneously and can still play against each other. Turn-based servers also keep track of time controls, but these are generally measured in days, instead of minutes, as is customary on real-time servers. Dragon Go Server (DGS) (2001) and the newer Online Go Server (OGS) were, as of 2011, the most popular turn-based go servers. [8]
Freeciv is a single- and multiplayer turn-based strategy game for workstations and personal computers inspired by the proprietary Sid Meier's Civilization series. It is available for most desktop computer operating systems and available in an online browser version. Released under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later, Freeciv is free and open source software. The game's default settings are closest to Civilization II, in both gameplay and graphics, including the units and the isometric grid. However, with a lot of multiplayer games being played in longturn communities, rulesets and additional variants have evolved away from the original ruleset. Freeciv is playable online at Longturn.net, fciv.net, freecivweb.org and a number of temporary private servers that may or may not be listed on metaserver.
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.
Helix DNA was a project to produce computer software that can play audio and video media in various formats and aid in producing such media. It is intended as a largely free and open-source digital media framework that runs on numerous operating systems and processors and was started by RealNetworks which contributed much of the code. The Helix Community was an open collaborative effort to develop and extend the Helix DNA platform. The Helix Project has been discontinued.
Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day. A 2016 survey by the International Go Federation's 75 member nations found that there are over 46 million people worldwide who know how to play Go and over 20 million current players, the majority of whom live in East Asia.
Netrek is an Internet game for up to 16 players, written almost entirely in cross-platform open-source software. It combines features of multi-directional shooters and team-based real-time strategy games. Players attempt to disable or destroy their opponents' ships in real-time combat, while taking over enemy planets by bombing them and dropping off armies they pick up on friendly planets. The goal of the game is to capture all the opposing team's planets.
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system, on different computing systems via a local area network, or via a wide area network, most commonly the Internet. Multiplayer games usually require players to share a single game system or use networking technology to play together over a greater distance; players may compete against one or more human contestants, work cooperatively with a human partner to achieve a common goal, or supervise other players' activity. Due to multiplayer games allowing players to interact with other individuals, they provide an element of social communication absent from single-player games.
Cheating in online games is the subversion of the rules or mechanics of online video games to gain an unfair advantage over other players, generally with the use of third-party software. What constitutes cheating is dependent on the game in question, its rules, and consensus opinion as to whether a particular activity is considered to be cheating.
There are various systems of Go ranks and ratings that measure the skill in the traditional board game Go. Traditionally, Go rankings have been measured using a system of dan and kyu ranks. Especially in amateur play, these ranks facilitate the handicapping system, with a difference of one rank roughly corresponding to one free move at the beginning of the game. This system is also commonly used in many East Asian martial arts, where it often corresponds with a belt color. With the ready availability of calculators and computers, rating systems have been introduced. In such systems, a rating is rigorously calculated on the basis of game results.
An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PCs, consoles and mobile devices, and span many genres, including first-person shooters, strategy games, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). In 2019, revenue in the online games segment reached $16.9 billion, with $4.2 billion generated by China and $3.5 billion in the United States. Since 2010s, a common trend among online games has been operating them as games as a service, using monetization schemes such as loot boxes and battle passes as purchasable items atop freely-offered games. Unlike purchased retail games, online games have the problem of not being permanently playable, as they require special servers in order to function.
In the game of Go, the empty triangle is the most fundamental example of the concept of bad shape.
The American Go Association (AGA) was founded in 1935, to promote the board game of Go in the United States.
The Glicko rating system and Glicko-2 rating system are methods of assessing a player's strength in games of skill, such as chess and Go. The Glicko rating system was invented by Mark Glickman in 1995 as an improvement on the Elo rating system, and initially intended for the primary use as a chess rating system. Glickman's principal contribution to measurement is "ratings reliability", called RD, for ratings deviation.
There are many variations of the simple rules of Go. Some are ancient digressions, while other are modern deviations. They are often side events at tournaments, for example, the U.S. Go Congress holds a "Crazy Go" event every year.
The KGS Go Server, known until 2006 as the Kiseido Go Server, is a game server first developed in 1999 and established in 2000 for people to play Go. The system was developed by William M. Shubert and its code is now written entirely in Java. In Spring of 2017, Shubert transferred ownership to the American Go Foundation.
The Pandanet Go European Cup was a Go competition played across Europe. The now defunct European Cup and European Go Tour merged to form this cup after Toyota's support of the Tour ended. Many of the games played during the Cup are broadcast on Pandanet's Internet Go Server (IGS) and the KGS Go Server. Since 2011, Pandanet decided to end the support of this competition and wanted to take care of the European Go Teams Championship. This competition is called now European Go Cup as previously.
There is an abundance of go software available to support players of the game of Go. This includes software programs that play Go themselves, programs that can be used to view and/or edit game records and diagrams, programs that allow the user to search for patterns in the games of strong players and programs that allow users to play against each other over the Internet.
Pandanet, located in Tokyo, Japan, is a server that allows players of the game of Go to observe and play against others over the Internet. Started February 2, 1992, by Tim Casey, Chris Chisolm, and Mark Okada, working out of the University of New Mexico, and until April 5, 1993, continued at the University of California, Berkeley, and UC San Francisco, it was the first server of its kind. After its initial inception some of its members helped to improve the server by writing software with a graphical interface; and thus IGS was born. Pandanet hosts up to 3,000 players at a time, depending on the time of day. Its PC client's name is GoPanda.
The European Go Federation (EGF) is a non-profit organization with the purpose of encouraging, regulating, co-ordinating, and disseminating the playing of the board game Go in Europe. The EGF was founded in 1957, the same year that the inaugural European Go Congress (EGC) took place in Cuxhaven, Germany. The Congress has been an annual event every year since then, held each time in a different European city. The European Go Championship takes place during the EGC, as well as the Annual General Meeting (AGM). In 2014, the European Professional System was established by the European Go Federation.
Jan Šimara is a Czech Go player. He placed first in the European Go Championship in 2012.
KataGo is a free and open-source computer Go program, capable of defeating top-level human players. First released on 27 February 2019, it is developed by David Wu.
