Re: computer-go: Number of Go players in the world

[David Fotland <fotland@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The english language numbers are way too low, if you just count people
who know the rules and have played a few games.  The igowin download
page has been visited over 60,000 times in the last 6 months.  I'm certain
there have been at least 100,000 igowin downloads, and most of those
people played a least a few games against it.

Regards,

David

At 12:32 PM 1/16/2003 +0000, Jon Diamond wrote:
> The attached was written a little while ago:
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
From: "Måns Ullerstam" <mans@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <computer-go@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 10:34 AM
> Subject: computer-go: Number of Go players in the world
>
>
> > Is there anyone who has any figures on the number of Go players in the
> > world. How is it compared to Chess? I also wonder if the number of
> > players are decreasing or increasing. I get the feeling that the number
> > of young players are decreasing rapidly in both Japan and Korea. In
> > favor of computer games I guess. I am going to Japan this fall and I
> > have heard that the normal Japanese hardly knows about Go anymore, or
> > sees it as something strange and traditional that their grandfather
> > might play. Is this true? I have been to Korea before, where there are
> > Go clubs all over Seoul, but when I entered I was definitely the
> > youngest player around. Most people were over 60 years old.
> >
> > The same question goes for researchers in the area of Go and Computer
> > Go. As it seems like the number of Computer Go tournaments are
> > decreasing, I am getting worried.
> >
> > Sorry if this is the wrong list for questions like this, but I think it
> > is important for our field as well if people are actually playing the
> > game anymore.
> > / Mans Ullerstam
> >