> ring totally hollow I think to anyone who plays it regularly
Obviously for a hobbyist player the experience is very different from people learning the ropes. Think the "kid playing against his dad at the cottage" experience. The kind of people who don't know any named openings other than the scholar's mate. The kind of players that don't know their own ELO.
Idk I picked it up for the first time basically just 6 months ago and had a blast from the start. I'd say 99% of people play rapid or faster time controls and never get into slogs, it's one of the least sloggy games I've played. Catan for example is like 10x more prone to annoying endgames.
Obviously for a hobbyist player the experience is very different from people learning the ropes. Think the "kid playing against his dad at the cottage" experience. The kind of people who don't know any named openings other than the scholar's mate. The kind of players that don't know their own ELO.
This is the onboarding experience.