Review of FICS at 30: The Free Chess Graveyard
Strong players weren’t celebrated; they were suspected. They were driven out by the FICS ecosystem that punishes excellence as antisocial behavior.
Strong players weren’t celebrated; they were suspected. They were driven out by the FICS ecosystem that punishes excellence as antisocial behavior.
The system, when questioned about its own logic, does not engage. It censors.
We imagine apartheid as a brutal, visible machinery: walls, checkpoints, laws etched in ink. Its modern successor is neither brutal nor visible. It is smooth, engaging, and fun. It is apartheid as play—a regime of separation administered not by rifle-toting guards, but by algorithmic systems that use the psychological mechanics of games to sort, stratify,…
lichess.org: board game as digital dictatorship