H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Dec 16, 2017 10:25 AM UTC:
That computers can play games better than humans should not be a deterrent for playing those games. Motorcycles also can transport us faster than the fastest athlete can run, and we still have track and field competitions.
I see computer involvement more as an opportunity to help us design better games. E.g. games like Spartan Chess, or Chess with Different Armies, would be very hard to balance without computer help. I would also have had much more difficulty desiging a variant like Team-Mate Chess when I would ot have had the opportunity to easily judge the mating potential of pairs of pieces through generatig 3+1-men End-Game Tables. Computers can also be very useful for extracting simple strategic concepts, like piece values, which help us humans to play newly designed games better, but otherwise would oly have been available if the game had bee played for a long time by a large player base.
I admit that computer cheating is an adverse effect. For instance, I now have a dilemma what to do with my Tenjiku Shogi engine. There is a yearly correspondence competition for Tenjiku Shogi, and it seems the engine is at least on par with the top player. So I am afraid that releasing the engine would completely spoil that competition. OTOH, the engine is a great research tool for developing opening theory (which is very tactical in Tenjiku Shogi). I don't know a good way to allow one, ad prevent the other. Perhaps I should release an engine that is date-aware, and would refuse to run during the correspondence competition. But I am sure hackers could easily bypass such locking.
That computers can play games better than humans should not be a deterrent for playing those games. Motorcycles also can transport us faster than the fastest athlete can run, and we still have track and field competitions.
I see computer involvement more as an opportunity to help us design better games. E.g. games like Spartan Chess, or Chess with Different Armies, would be very hard to balance without computer help. I would also have had much more difficulty desiging a variant like Team-Mate Chess when I would ot have had the opportunity to easily judge the mating potential of pairs of pieces through generatig 3+1-men End-Game Tables. Computers can also be very useful for extracting simple strategic concepts, like piece values, which help us humans to play newly designed games better, but otherwise would oly have been available if the game had bee played for a long time by a large player base.
I admit that computer cheating is an adverse effect. For instance, I now have a dilemma what to do with my Tenjiku Shogi engine. There is a yearly correspondence competition for Tenjiku Shogi, and it seems the engine is at least on par with the top player. So I am afraid that releasing the engine would completely spoil that competition. OTOH, the engine is a great research tool for developing opening theory (which is very tactical in Tenjiku Shogi). I don't know a good way to allow one, ad prevent the other. Perhaps I should release an engine that is date-aware, and would refuse to run during the correspondence competition. But I am sure hackers could easily bypass such locking.