'Status' problems

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morten
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:18 am

'Status' problems

Post by morten »

Hi all,

I quite like 'status' type problems, because they don't give you the answer - i.e. "Black to kill", which sort of spoils the fun.

My first attempt at one was here: http://www.goproblems.com/16431

One problem with status problems is that one of the answers is normally easier than the others. I.e. it may be obvious that black can be killed, but less so that he can live. Those who initially select the 'easy' option never get to try the hard one.
There are at least 2 ways around this:
1- put just the 'hard' path up there with an instruction to e.g. 'black to live'
2- try to let the user play all possible solutions

Of course, the SGF format and the java applet are not really designed to do the last one, but there seems to be a (clumsy) way around this.

I have tried to do this in the sandbox in http://www.goproblems.com/prob.php3?id=16449&undead=1. (I'll leave it in the sandbox in case someone finds something very wrong with it...)

There may still be some variations which are missing, but I would appreciate people's feedback on whether a structure like this appeals to anyone.
This sort off thing would probably only be suitable for a few problems, but...

Or would we rather just have 2 problems?

Or is the whole thing a waste of effort?

Thanks!

Morten
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adum
Site Admin
Posts: 422
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2008 5:09 pm

Re: 'Status' problems

Post by adum »

personally i prefer multiple problems. one thing to remember is that we're targeting multiple environments now -- Java, Javascript, and soon mobile. so it's nice to keep the format simple. also, it nice for users to be able to have different ratings on different problems.

adum
morten
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:18 am

Re: 'Status' problems

Post by morten »

Fair enough. Will keep things simple and not try to outsmart the client :-)
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