Online chess in danger?

Hi,

I've read several articles stating that PC computers are in serious decline. How will that affect the futur of online chess?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2053344/pc-sales-continue-to-plunge-but-the-drop-is-less-steep.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23251285

Will the average internet user play on tablet and smartphone? That doesn't seem apealing for playing on a regular bases.

To me, playing online chess seriously require to be on front of a computer screen with a good mouse to be able see the board properly and not screwing up the game with a bad move.

Come on, do you really think so called computer decline will affect online chess the slightest bit? You can't add apples to oranges.

I'm sure back then people that were playing OTB said the same thing about playing in front of a computer screen.

I see the so-called decline in PC sales to reflect the fact that CPUs have reached a level of stabilization that discourages purchase of new machines.  CPU speeds have remained below 4GHz and additional cores don't help most programs run any better.  I do not like playing on tiny screens and small tablets and I only use a laptop when I'm away from home.  My own PC is a home built 4-core that is over 5 years old and it works very well.  I will build another one if and when the specifications give me a reason to do so, but until something comes along that is much better than what I have, I won't spend the money.

I didn't say people didn't welcome computer chess. My point is, there were people who were not used to playing on the computer. Having to look at a 2D screen felt at least a little different than a real board. That changed, and people became comfortable with playing chess on a computer. The same applies to this. People will become accustomed to playing on a tablet.

I remember when I had an i7 950 and then Sandy and Ivy Bridge came out, didn't seem worth the upgrade as most of what they emphasized was laptop exclusive.  Why the heck would I care about graphics power when I have a dedicated graphics card?!  I finally upgraded to Haswell, which would not be worth it at all if you have Sandy or Ivy. 

Even now, i'm sure there are people still making mouse slips and thinking that they would never have screwed up the game by making a bad move like that on a real chess board.

Tablets are a bit larger.

Migrating from a real board and pieces to a 2D screen wasn't so much of a trick for serious players because they were used to analyzing positions from diagrams.

Yeah Iphone games feel too cheap and casual, like Angry Birds, which you can download for a dollar, like, literally. 

Besides desktops are better since you can play real games on them, watch and download movies, have monster storage (even SSD prices are coming down), and I have a board that supports 4k HD but need a monitor for it my screen only goes up to 1080. You also get far more work done, can create a RAM drive to load certain programs faster, and other people don't own where your data is stored like with the cloud, where stuff is stored on servers owned by people who aren't you. 

Please a tablet is just an oversized Ipod Touch.  At least a Touch is small enough to run and play music with and even that blows compared to real MP3 players. 

That might be true for some or even many serious players, but would a transfer from a computer screen to a tablet screen be that much of a problem either?

True, but that has little to do with the OP or my point.

No, it hardly has anything to do with what was said. His point is emphasizing how much better a Touch is over a tablet, while attempting to trivialize my point on the tablet.

The OP mentions both tablets and smartphones. I'm estimating the tablet screen size is about the size of the boards i use on this site. If i can do it here with no problems, then a tablet should be no different. I haven't tried it on a smartphone, so i can't say how that'd work.

So you presume to speak for everybody when you say a smartphone is too small?

Oddly enough, the inverse seems more difficult.  I learned to play in 2d and 99.99% of my games have been 2d.  When I play on a real board, I sometimes miss things - or possiblyr see things wrong - that I'd never miss in 2d.

I am not worried about PC decline. Serious chess players will continue to use a computer. Boards and pieces aren't going out of style anytime soon, either.

Tablets and smartphones are not for serious chess. Nor is Chess.com. :)

You can complain here till the cows come home, or you can go out and do something about it.

It is estimated that in 10 years from now, most people will use tablets and smartphones to go online and that means instead of buying a computer, one will go for a cheap tablet.

That will greatly put in jeopardize the quality of the play here, since a fair amount of players will play on the go with 8 inches android tablets. The condition of the play can have an influence on the ratings and the outcome of tournaments for instance.

The thread is already going on, just look at the front page of chess.com where a tablet and a smartphone have the front page.

In my view this will greatly cheapen the play on web based chess site.

It is unfortunate because chess.com can have the potential to be a place for serious chess. GM's play here at times. One can pay for subscribtion and get all the way into it.

But aside from cheating, the ''cheaping'' of the game might as well become a serious issue. The future of online chess might be in danger.

The reason for pc-sales declining most likely is that everyone already has one.

I almost always play on my iphone. Whether you are playing on your computer or your phone, of course, doesn't make any difference at all (you suddenly go from being a good player to a shitty player because you're playing on a smaller screen? Is your play that sensitive? If you are playing on the wrong kind of chess set at a tournament, do you suddenly lose every game??) More significant is the fact that it's online chess, and nobody really cares about their rating online as contrasted to OTB tournaments where there is money or (more important, REAL!) ratings points on the line. It's online chess, really, who gives a shit??