At the end of the game, groups that cannot avoid being captured during normal play are removed as captures. These stones are "dead". Groups can reach this state much earlier during play; a group of stones can quickly run out of options so that further play to save them is fruitless, or even detrimental. Similarly, further play to capture such a group is often of no benefit (except when securing liberties for an adjacent group), since if it remains on the board at the end of the game it is captured anyway. Thus groups can be considered "dead as they stand", or just "dead", by both sides during the course of the game.