Over The Board Competitions

More and more people seem to be playing and enjoying chess on-line but the number of members of over-the-board chess clubs and participants in face-to-face tournaments is on the decline. Okay, it's very convenient to play chess without having to venture beyond you front door, and you can play lots of games in a very short time if you wish, but the real test of your chess comes in "proper" competitions. Calling on otb tournament players: why do you play in face-to-face competition and what arguments do you have to encourage more net players to participate? 

My answer holds for both of your questions: to get a rating which actually means something.

There is a greater reality IMO to OTB games. I always feel I'm practicing online and don't take it so seriously. Of course there is a social (unlooked for) element to OTB chess as well. Club and county chess often mean shared car journeys. I have had more belly laughs travelling to and from chess than watching comedy on TV.

I also play OTB draughts (checkers). A seriously underrated game.

otb gives ... 

1.  the reliably measured rating,

2.  new friends with faces,

3.  genuine touch to chess,

4.  motivation to play online,

5.  the feeling, that games online are easier after every otb-tournament / division match,

6.  etc.

I play otb but I think online ratings are much more reliable. In OTB you are playing in a small pool of local players that could be very over or under rated comparend to small pools elsewhere. Rating floors on older players in small pools (clubs of 10-20) quickly inflate all ratings.

One thing that I dislike about OTB is the 3d display. My board vision is not a good on a real board and I miss things that I immediatly see when I analyze on a 2d screen. I think a lot of players that haven't touched a physical board in years would also find this to be true.

I prefer playing OTB. I don't agree with addison's view of playing in a small pool of local players as you can just participate in big tournaments with some very intensive weekends. Furthermore, playing in a club where you represent a team is really enjoyable and makes chess a tiny bit less individualistic...

I agree.

Addison is only commenting here to explain his USCF-rating, I suppose.  

Whilst I agree that some chess communities can be a little insular which causes the local ratings to be unreliable, I don't think that's the case across the system which, while not perfect, does give a reasonable indication of relarive form of players during a rating period. Online ratings can be quite easily manipulated and I quite often find players online whose rating seems to bear little relation to their actual strength.