we need more players

To popularize Shogi among Euros and Americans, maybe we need a greater variety of chess-like Shogi sets? I have no issues with kanji, but it’s a major thing that scares people off.

411

Yeah I agree with the idea that the variety of Shogi set (which does not include kanji) is needed.
I like this set.
www.shogi.or.jp/amp/column/2017/03/post_117.html
www-shogi-or-jp.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w820/s/www.shogi.or.jp/column/entry_images/taimeikoma_01.jpg

But I don’t think that the moving sign(like Gold↑↖︎↗︎←→↓) is needed in the design of each piece. Because these moving sign spoil stylish designability in my opinion.

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I agree that moving signs are ugly. I was actually thinking of total adaptation similar to luffykudo.wordpress.com/2021/05/10/chess-themed-shogi-westernized-shogi-japanese-chess/ , maybe with a little more bling.

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These weBistes are really excellent and very user-friendly ,no so much hard like c*ess.com , and really it need some advertisement to spread the popularity among all japanese shogi players and shogi lovers . This website is very well developed in its early stage with basics ,puzzles etc
.One thing is needed is it's promotion ,i thing it's only way to popular this website .

pratically, you can see that there s people on this site that block it... we need more admins...

#21

I think kanji isn't the problem here (there are only 10 different kanji to learn). A person who knows the Latin alphabet, the numbers and other common symbols will need little time to learn the kanji if he uses Anki and spends 15 minutes per day solving puzzles.

Refusing to learn the kanji is the problem. Wikipedia, shogidb2.com and other resources use plain-text kanji. If the player doesn't learn kanji, he won't be able to use anything outside Lishogi.

As for the popularity of the game, we need more English-speaking streamers, youtubers and commentators. As far as I know, there are no English-speaking equivalents of agadmator, Nakamura, Gotham Chess, Kingcrusher, etc. (the only I know is Shogi Harbour).

Language is the biggest problem, I think. I could not find the English version of shogidb2.com, but the same site has a go database in English: godb.shogidb2.com/en

It seems like they don't care about making shogi more accessible for non-Japanese.

41

While I like the aesthetics of kanji, and easily remembered the pieces after a couple of games, they do scare people off. It’s probably one of the reasons why I can buy Go boards and pieces in my town, but not Shogi ones.

I have a hypothesis that Shogi - at first glance, looks too intimidating / complex. Let's imagine that people coming here know how to play chess, but have never played or heard of shogi before. Open this site in anonymous mode and what do you see?

A screen full of strange characters and strange movements. You're immediately intimidated.

Perhaps a mechanism to detect if someone is new to shogi - and to direct them to the rules and how to play would be an idea to try. Basically - what I propose is a way to help the first time visitor to lishogi to feel less overwhelmed.

Something that can be done to build on that is to implement mini-shogi. Even with Kanji, mini-shogi is less intimidating than regular shogi. Perhaps directing beginners / new visitors to play games of mini-shogi would be a friendly way to introduce them to real shogi.

I think that lishogi has a complexity problem. The game looks too intimidating to a foreigner. If you want more players, you have to make the game look more inviting and user friendly.

After you've done these changes, maybe reach out to Thibault and ask him to promote lishogi one more time. This round might lead to increased user retention.

From my own experiences, I remember how I learned shogi. First I started with mini-shogi (on pychess), using westernized pieces. Then once I got the hang of those, I switched to using kanji pieces playing mini-shogi. After playing some of that, I was easily able to make the jump to real shogi (because you only need to learn two more kanji).

I think that simply putting a lichess skin over shogi is not enough to increase player retention. Shogi has a complexity image problem that it needs to overcome, in order to draw in players.

4

I stream, it will help populate lishogi right? :)
we still beta tho

#29 I think you might not know what the meaning "beta" really is. "beta" does not mean less players. Beta stage in a software refers to computer software that is undergoing testing and/or has not yet been officially released.

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