Empty Triangle webcomics

#057 compendium II

Let's continue the collection! Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas in the comments to compendium I, many of the mentioned player types I already had planned, even drawn, many didn't occur to me originally but struck me as types I might even have met myself at tournaments. Here are three more types of players you might run into; I certainly have. Did you? Please share your sightings of these particular species in the comments with me! the MANOWAR MAKES ME PLAY BETTER Having many subspecies largely depending on taste in music, this is a very widespread type. Taste and opinions may vary here, but I am not very fond of opponents who spend their tournament game against me with earphones plugged in, listening to whatever makes them play/concentrate/calm themselves better, as they tend to claim when asked about it. the CREEPY STARE Probably a rare species, and I do not hesitate to say, rightfully so. They come in all ages and genders - my first experience with this particularly unnerving type of opponent behavior was in a tournament game against a little boy, who seemed to be trying to strangle me with the sheer force of his stare during the entire game. Sometimes it helps to stare back. When it doesn't, well, there isn't much you can do. the ARCHITECT Another common species - also quite variable in reference to both their building skill and imagination. Some settle with repeating simple patterns all over their part of the table, some build entire multi-dimensional structures out of most of their bowls content, sometimes incorporating captured stones into the structure. Either way, they can be annoying sometimes, especially if their hands get shaky during the game progress.

#056 got one what now

The initial seed for this idea was provided by Ilfuria, a KGS fellow, during a discussion in the empty triangle room on the server. He was wondering about not improving and got the (quite sensibly common) advice to "get himself a dan, then". Which is, I guess, for some people not so easy as it was for me, I had someone who didn't only teach me go but continued to guide me continuously throughout my slow steps towards becoming a decent player. But what about others? Where do other players "get their dan" from? I hope noone has to succumb to such drastic measures as pictured here :)

#055 compendium I

There are various types of people. And therefore, it naturally follows that there are various types of go players, too. Everyone who attends tournaments regularly, like I did for the past three years, will, after some time, notice that there even are some certain types of players that seem to occur again and again. It's quite compelling (especially for me and my love for the scientific method) to try and make a small catalog, a compendium of the most common player types that you may, in one form or another, already played against at some tournament. I will need your help for this! Now that the comments are enabled, please leave ideas for particular types of players for me to incorporate in the compendium. I will probably not be able to use all of them, but I am really curious what others have observed. The ONLINE PLAYER I have encountered just two or three of this very easy to spot species, but a bit asking around always led to the same reason for these players to occasionally climb onto their chair in the middle of a tournament game to survey it attentively from above. They claim to be used to see the board that way, since that's the point of view one gets accustomed to when playing online a lot. the LATECOMER A very widespread species with many subgroups, depending on the various reasons for their lack of presence when the round is starting. There are some specimen who made this into a true mastery, some managing to sleep in for two rounds straight. Can become quite annoying especially for congress organizers :) the CONTORTIONIST Fascinating species. These players redefine the simple act of sitting on a chair into something that equals yoga practice. I did not made up the pose you can see on the picture, I actually saw someone sitting like this at the last tournament I visited. Wether these peculiar sitting patterns have some effect on playing strength has yet to be investigated.

Artwork: Potsdamer panda (2010-01-23)

A commission work I did for the organizers of the Potsdamer Panda tournament. Quite a challenge, I am not used to drawing realistic animals.

Artwork: tewari (2010-01-23)

A friend sent me a breautiful short story she has written, about a girl discovering go through her older brother. It stirred so many nice memories in me about how I myself made my first steps in discovering the game through rei, so I made a small sketch to the story.

Artwork: pachi (2010-01-23)

the first picture of pachi the bot, which pasky is developing and which is slowly becoming a member in the e3a crew.