Slashdot Mirror
Series on Wizard Of the Coast
Chanteuse writes "Salon is doing a several-part series on the corporate atmosphere of Wizards of the Coast, leading to it's eventual sellout to Hasbro. It's sad, in a nostalgic sort of way.
Part One is up on Salon." Part Two has come out as well - it's a piece that could come from any number of company, but the background of Wizards Of The Coast makes it more interesting. I played Magic religiously up until Fallen Empires, and then drifted in and out - but my favorite era was still Arabian Nights before the umpteen bazillion different cards. But I suppose all things change.
This is not meant to be a troll, but I'm sure people are going to take it that way. Please just read and decide for yourself. Mod'ing this post down only means you are squelching and refusing to consider an unpopular viewpoint which is a valid point for discussion and argument.
First of all, let me say that I am not a "religious nut." I regularly play violent video games, watch R-rated movies, and I am a big sci-fi fan. I don't agree with everything portrayed in those elements of our culture or try to emulate what I see, but I take them for what they're worth. I do, however, draw a sharp line when it comes to occult related elements and I believe that many RPG's, especially of the "D&D" variety, are heavily involved this.
Just so we're straight on definitions, "the occult" refers to any activity in which there is interaction with demonic spirits. The participant may directly observes this or may be oblivious to its presense. Some such activities include witchcraft, seances, fortune telling, ouija boards, levitation, games that include "spellcasting," etc. If you've never been exposed to such things or think they're not real, trust me, they are--and not in a cool, geeky, counterculture way. Such activities are insidiously evil and destructive to participants. They are traps set by satan to lure people in--out of interest in trying something "different." Once people are hooked or believe they've found something of truth or satisfaction, satan uses these activities to destroy peoples' lives and lead them astray. William Shakespeare had it right when he wrote Macbeth.
Fellow Slashdotters, please do not fall for this trap. I would not be writing this if I had not seen the destructive effects of the occult on people's lives with my own eyes.. or if I had not known people who were tormented by evil spirits or had their minds filled with twisted lies after getting involved with this stuff. These are not just games. Please consider what I have said, research the issue more if you like, and do not become involved. If you are one of the many people who feel like they are addicted or held hostage by these activities, please seek Christian counseling and prayer immediately. It is not to late to be set free from this crap.
Cheers!
I think what bothers them is the fact that you can resell it for a hundred times that. But maybe it's just me. Regardless of whatever YOU value the card at, other people value it far greater, and to them it's just like burning a $100 bill to light a cigar right in front of them. On eBay you could sell it and make actual cash, but you're just wasting it. You wanna crumple and toss money into the street? Fine by me.
I'm the most aggressive driver you've ever ridden with.
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Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
The thing that gets me is that the author of the article tries to pass it off as if it's (1) somehow unique to WOC and (2) a good thing. I've worked at or been around enough startups to see how godawful it is when people start hiring lovers (or ex-lovers) -- these tend to be people who would otherwise never have the position they get put into (they never just end up as secretaries anymore), and it's the other employees who suffer first.
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Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
The purpose of the *game* was to defeat an opponent via intelligent deck design, careful application of strategy, and more than a little luck.
The *game* was fun.
The purpose of the *collecting* was to make money for the Wizards of the Coast. It had little to do with the actual gameplay.
Collecting killed the game. The fact that the collecting aspect was designed in from the get go doesn't change that one iota.
Once the cards went from "gamepieces" to "priceless works of art at overvalued prices" the fun factor was dead.
Idiot.
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
I actually started playing this when it first came out - my roomate at the time would have his friends over all the time, and I picked it up from them.
The game was a lot of fun, and the math implicit behind building decks was a cool intellectual exercise.
I even entered a couple of tournements, and did reasonably well.
But soon after, it seemed that the "collectible" part of the game took over from the "fun" part of the game, and when that happened, I sold my cards to my brother in law (for like $50) and left the game.
Imagine my shock when 6 months later I saw an internet price list showing the Black Lotus card at $500.00 each! I had had 2 of them....
Bleah. Capitalism sure knows how to suck the fun out of games.
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
The Alpha and Beta editions being the exception, really.
For someone who came around 3rd Edition with all of the Alpha/Beta cards being ridiculously priced, every new edition after that had progressively more powerful cards.
At least, that was my experience. I'm still glad I stopped playing. Now if only I could get rid of all of those damned cards.
Wizards of the Coast constantly set high prices on Magic cards. With kids who were addicted and had nothing better to do, they were glad to pay $4/pack for 12 cards.
They had the damned nerve to keep upping the prices while they became more and more popular. Yeah, supply and demand and all that, but we were such damn suckers for it.
Not to mention every new edition had cards more powerful than the last, which meant that if you wanted to keep playing, you had to keep paying. I sure am glad I realized what a waste of money it all was when I started seriously considering paying $180 for a Black Lotus.
My son has Pokemon Monopoly.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Should we throw out the part where Pi=3?
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
No, it's God's perfect and unerring Word. It doesn't say "about 30 cubits".
What I'm doing is pointing out the most obvious flaw. One that exposes the folly of Biblical literalism. And I would characterize it as more than "some" Christians. I'd say MOST Christians (who actually take the time to read the Bible) make that mistake.
It's my personaly belief that God put this passage in the Bible in exactly this way as a signal: Hey, it's my Word, but it's written on imperfect paper, in imperfect ink, transcribed by VERY imperfect humans. Don't take it all THAT seriously.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
I'm pretty sure there is a Pokemonopoly, right next to NFL Monopoly, NASCAR Monopoly, internet Monopoly, and all the rest.
The issue, though, is that you _can't_ be commiitted to a certain product... Products change. MtG will be gone, some day, and maybe D&D will be long gone, as well. You can build a sustainable company whose only purpose for existing is a single "product."
VIsionary companies that survive build themselves around a corporate culture such that no matter what the product the company is selling, the employees will buy into the overall culture and vision. After all, products come and go.
-Dean
Except for that little bit at the end there ;-)
sPh
"Finally, I think that equating simplified with dumbed-down is absolutely backwards. Yes, younger children can play the new D but it's also a cleaner, better game (I'd still rather play messy shadowrun, but nonetheless.)"
This is a matter of opinion, so there is no absolute answer. I would just like to note that in making my original original post, I did take into account the difference between simplified and dumbed down. Chess and checkers are two of the "simplest" games ever devised, yet also two of the most challenging and long-lasting.
When I said dumbed down, I did actually mean dumbed down. Sorry if you disagree.
sPh
As far as I can tell, Hasbro's business model is as follows:
* Identify reasonably profitable gaming company
* Purchase said company
* Identify 20/80 products - that is, the 20% of that company's products that are the most profitable.
* Terminate all products not in the top 20%
* Kill original version of the 20% products, then release a dumbed down version with (a) any complex rule removed (b) simplified, glaring graphics that appeal to (unsophisticated) 2 year olds. In other words, fast-food-ize the games.
* Sit back and rake in the bucks.
When they acquired Avalon Hill it was a sad day.
sPh
Dude, it's just paper. There's no reason for anyone to pay even 1 cent for a mass-produced piece of paper that says that the owner is entitled to a portion of a company that is not profitable and never will be.
But people paid nosebleed prices for these pieces of paper because *other* people would pay nosebleed prices for these pieces of paper.
Can you say, 'lemming'?
If you pulled out $100,000 each year you could report much better results to stockholders... for 10 years plus some change.
The capitalist approach to resources is consumption -- the second company would do far better and the owners would make a great deal more money. If everyone does this for too long, we all starve.
This truth is simple and inescapable but people deny it and consume, consume, consume anyway.
A good real life example is the Icelandic cod. At one time they were available in such huge numbers that it seemed we would never run out. The cod have been wiped out -- because there was no overall control on consumption, it was in each individual's interest to extract as much fish as possible every year to feed his family and consume, consume, consume. We could have pulled cod out of the ocean forever but instead there may never again be a cod population.
If we are this stupid on an individual basis it is hard to expect corporations to be any smarter.
Skillz, dude. :-) Check out the Champions/Hero system for a very well-done non-level system. GURPS is probably the best-known example, but I liked Hero better. More fun IMO.
In Champions/Hero you basically invent the rules to support the character, instead of envisioning a character to suit the rules. It takes a lot more work and thought, though -- you can't just blindly throw some dice, do some math, pick a few spells and have an evening's encounter. Not very hack and slashish -- but the combat system is fun and characters don't die too easily (comes from its superhero origins) -- though death is certainly a possibility.
GURPS is more 'realistic' -- combat is VERY dangerous. The characters are very mortal -- getting into a fight is not a good way to improve one's lifespan. In GURPS, if you take a sword through the chest you are almost certainly going to die -- a high-skill character will be much more adept at avoiding the sword but will die just as quickly when stabbed.
Character levels are a workable first attempt at a gaming system, but skills seem to be a closer approximation of how life really works.
I quit AD&D and vowed to never purchase another T$R product when T$R sued to shut down ftp sites like soda and other archives of excellent player contributed D&D material. However TSR of the 70s and early 80s did advance RPGS. I have been looking through some of my old TSR stuff and it is good stuff. I think it was around the time 2nd AD&D came out they switched from being TSR to T$R. The endless player's handbooks ("complete book of" etc), and useless boxed sets was the begining of the end. At the same time other companies were producing wonderfull game worlds with great new game machanics.
To the poster at the top of the tread. WotC has done a wonderfull job with 3rd ed D&D. I have not played yet, but the game looks to be much more modern while keeping the original feel of D&D and AD&D.
Thanks for the link! There is some great old stuff there. Some of those old modules bring back memories. Hediously horrible memories of torture and mayhem at the hands of a sadistic DM.
The OS rpg has been done atleast one. Search for FUDGE. There are others as well including a drop in replacement to AD&D or atleast the beginings of one. The only problem I saw is that everyone has very different ideas for game machanics.
I've met both Richard Garfield and Peter Adkison and I found the former much more interesting than the latter. Garfield created the game of Magic on a mandate that WOTC needed a portable game that could be played in 20 minutes. What WOTC got was a midas-like game that turned everything around it into gold, forcing the entire company to change form as well. I liked WOTC better when they were poor and happy.
Curiously the writer ignores what became of Garfield and his wife... but I guess there's still time for another story.
You are wrong on two points:
First, the booster packs never cost $4 a pack. If they were priced this way then your local retailer was ripping you off and you bought into it. The prices were consistently less than $2.50.
Second, it's clear that the early cards were the most powerful. This is due to the fact that Garfield never invisioned the game being as popular was it became. When people started buying huge amounts of cards, the play balance went out the window. Later editions were designed to deal with this issue.
Before that first GenCon where they showed Magic I had what was later called a plague rat deck. Basically the card was broken because you could keep stacking this card and they made all the others more powerful. None my friends would trade rats to me, because my deck was pretty much killing all theirs.
At the convention, I got to play various people from WOTC. I beat a couple of people at the booth and they suggested I play Peter Adkison, who waiting for players in a demo area.
After playing him a couple of games he suggest that we trade. He mentions that he's looking for Moxes for his wife who wants to build a landless deck.
I have a couple and I decide that what I want are plague rats, since no one will trade them to me. He seems perplexed at first (Rats were common cards, and moxes were rare.) I ended up trading the Moxes for a few plague rats.
Shortly after that, they restrict the decks to four cards of any one type, which destroyed the deck I had and made the extra 12 plague rats useless. Later the Moxes are worth nearly $150 each.
I wanted to make a shirt that said "I traded Magic cards with Peter Adkison and all I got were these lousy plague rats."
Yeah, I've read about Boggs before. He rocks. A little odd, but very cool stuff. I hope one day to have an excuse to sell him something :)
~luge
IAAL,BIANLY
According to this page from the US Senate, it costs four cents to print a dollar bill. Look in the section on "seigniorage."
BTW, the reason no one forges a dollar bill is because the risk of getting caught is the same and the payoff is much, much lower. In other words, if you can pass one fake $100 bill, you have something worth $100 bucks and your risk of being caught was low- you only had to pass one bill. Passing 100 one dollar bills is much more difficult (greater odds of being caught) for the same payoff.
~luge
IAAL,BIANLY
Dude. It's just paper. There's no reason that a mass-produced little sheet of green paper that costs $0.01 to print should ever be worth $1 just because it has a picture of George Washington on it. That's insanity.
Just a little reality check on supply and demand...
IAAL,BIANLY
I wouldn't have described purchasing TSR as "cherry picking." TSR was clearly on its way out and without Wizards of the Coast (WotC) would have gone under. WotC had previously failed to turn a profit on role-playing games, and TSR's sad state was more evidence that role-playing games were a bad idea. It took alot of faith to buy TSR.
I was working for Evermore Entertainment in 1997. Evermore was developing for TSR the concisely named Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Core Rules CD-ROM 2.0. I met a number of TSR and WotC employees over the course of my employment. I got to hear, first and second hand, about the problems inside the company. I visited TSR's headquarters in Lake Geneva during the WotC purchase. I even met, as part of a larger group, with Peter Adkison.
I can vouch that Peter was still a huge gaming geek in 1997. It was clear that he wanted TSR because he loved it too much to let it die. Whenever Evermore met with him, he reinforced that he wanted our software to support as many quirk home-brew rules as possible, after all, it needed to work with his game. I got to hear about his plans for the Game Centers, a gamer's home away from home. It would have computers built into the tables to store and refernce notes; projector screens to show maps and monster pictures. While he hoped to make a profit, it was clear that he just wanted to share great things with all of the gamers of the world. (I also discovered that he is the most aggressive driver I have ever riden with, and that he likes lots of ketchup on his burgers.) He would be completely welcome at my gaming table, and I suspect most gamers would be happy to game with him.
Just before the purchase, TSR looked doomed. The previous owners had run the company into the ground. I later learned that the previous owners had detested gamers and the entire hobby. They had simply bought in for the money. They viewed gamers as cattle to be milked and treated as poorly as possible. Garbage like Spellfire (A tarted up version of the card game War with badly recycled art) was released with the belief if you make it, gamers will buy it. Games were kept bland and safe. Older gamers felt abandoned by the company and stopped purchasing products. No real effort to draw new blood was made, so new gamers ended up playing hipper, newer, edgier games like Vampire: the Masquerade. There was no new blood. Sales were dropping every quarter. Debts were piling up, thier printer refused further work until existing debt was paid. After the buyout, employees openly cursed the previous owners.
TSR's continued existance was an embarrassment. I would never had guessed that it could be saved, that its bad name could be salvaged. It was brave of WotC to purchase it under these conditions. Beyond the initial buyout of the company, WotC had to pay off TSR's creditors. Significant time, effort, and money were spent revitalizing the TSR product lines. The rescue of Dungeons & Dragons was amazing. D&D went from a has been contender that gamers looked down their noses at to relatively new and hip. Suddenly friends who haven't played D&D in years were back and enjoying the heck out of it. It was alot of effort to recover the D&D name, and I believe Peter Adkison's love of the game was responsible.
Search 2010 Gen Con events
> The Black Lotus was this mythical thing kind of like the lost continent of Atlantis or something. A few years later, every card dealer at the Con had at least 5 for sale and no one was buying.
I remember hearing rumours of people counterfeiting Magic cards because it was much easier and safer than banknotes.
--
rant
If you're interested in small, imaginative companies that publish small, imaginative games, then you'd be well-served to check out wonderfully named Cheapass Games.
Don't let the name -- or the packaging -- fool you. It is their very simplicity that makes Cheapass Games so enjoyable. The concepts are ludicrous, the artwork often hilarious, and the game fun due in no small part to a handful of simple rules.
Some offerings of note:
Really good stuff.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Run, don't walk. These guys rule. So the games aren't all perfect - who cares? They're cheap and huge amounts of fun fun for a while.
-- Jeff Paulsen
I stopped playing a bit after the artifact expansion sets came out, cause the rules were in flux, and it seemed like every game I played turned ito a rule bickering nightmare.
I think I'll get flamed for this, but there are some corporations that can work outside the box of the formal corporate culture we see in large companies based on the East Coast and still survive extremely well.
I mean, look at the corporate culture of companies like Microsoft, Amazon.com and eBay--much of it is the food and soda filled, T-shirt and Nerf office geek culture you mentioned. Yet, Microsoft and eBay are still around and actually making a profit. The reason is simple: eBay and MS made the decision early to be profitable as soon as possible, not to mention the luck of getting there first in regards to their respective markets.
Indeed, look at the way Jack Welch completely overhauled General Electric; he got the company to be one of the first to have a massive presence on the Internet and also use the Internet to have direct dealings with customers. A good example of GE's use of the Internet is how the GE Aero Engines division uses extranet connections to monitor the performance of the GE90 jet engines installed on Boeing 777 airplanes with customers' approval; this allows GE to quickly identify any potential faults in the engine that can be quickly addressed with service bulletins, engine control software updates, and new parts.
In short, a company not only needs a visionary leader, but one that will not end up turning the company into a money sinkhole. I think the founder of Wizards of the Coast lost that vision and that's why the culture of WoTC changed so rapidly.
Raymond in Mountain View, CA
For all those mourning magic, there is a better solution! Adopt a game that's not being produced anymore. For example, me and about 6-8 other people now play Middle Earth: The Wizards regularly. You can pick up cards on Ebay dirt cheap, and it's the closest thing to real gaming for any card game out there.
Best of all, since it's no longer produced you don't have to worry about the "card race" that exists in games like MTG. With about 2000 cards across all sets, it will be a long time before you get bored.
Note: METW is made by I.C.E (RIP), so except a level of complexity unheard of in card games.
Ted
Yeah, back in the day before everyone started playing with tournament legal decks. My roommate would play Green with his 4 Forces of Nature, 8 Berserks, and 12 Giant Growths and I would fend him off with my 6 Sengir Vampires, 12 Terrors, and 10 Unholy Strengths.
Of course, we played for ante, too. I lost a Black Lotus once on ante. I got it back a few weeks later on another ante, not that I ever found the card all that useful.
I always found my Goblin deck superior to any white weenie deck. It got a bit pathetic, though; even for a gamer.
I found myself sneering at a friend because he had fireballs and lightning bolts in what he called a goblin deck, and I spent many a sleepless night wondering whether the Goblin Rock Sled - not a goblin card - should be allowed in my pure goblin deck.
It won most games, but I still cringe at the zeal with which I defended the deck.
On another topic: netrunner was and still is the best CCG ever. No, really. Ever. It's great. it's beyond great. If only I had people against whom to play.
was BethMo hot? I remember her dispensing wisdom on the CompuServe forums back in the day, and with the company's rampant sexual freedom... WOWZA!
I was into the magic scene pretty heavily for a while, knew some people very close to people @ WOTC and know some people who work/worked there, and I never heard anything about the sex romps or all the goths who worked there.
That's some pretty fucked up stuff, and it's very shocking to hear..
Magic died with the Pro Tour anyway. All of the rules lawyers and professional cheaters came out of the woodwork and took the fun out of the game.. the first couple tournaments were ok, had a good time, but after that, I feel the game rapidly degenerated. Everyone geared up for the next "money" tournament. There were no more fun/free play days at the local comic shops, as no one went. Everyone was too busy practicing with their playtest group for the next big tournament, the next big cash prize.
And if you weren't on the inside of these cliques, you were pretty fucked. Newbies aka "scrubs" were looked down on with an incredible amount of scorn, and viewed as easy targets to cheat against, get your easy 2-0 win, and move to the next round. I was on the inside of a clique, and we pretty much played by the rules, but I admit I cheated a couple times. Not so much as drawing extra cards, but allowing my opponent to do something illegal/wrong to my advantage (forgetting to draw a card, things along those lines), and not tell them. Technically by the rules, that IS cheating.
I got out of the game a couple years ago, as did most of my friends. One of them still plays, still going across the country for tournaments every month, practicing most weekends. He's going to Detroit for a tournament this weekend. And yes, he has a successful career and until very recently, a significant other.
And no, he has never won the big money, and likely never will.
BilldaCat
I bet about 5000 horny slashdot geeks are fantasising about getting a time machine and heading back to Seattle in 1994 to pick up a Wizards of the Coast job application form.
So, was Dalmuti's named after the game or vice versa? Just curious.
I know from personal experience that that's what DIDN'T happen at Origin. (You know, Ultima, Wing Commander, those games)
As the screws tightened on the working environment, the politically naive were axed, regardless of their talent and dedication, and the politically savvy were kept on, because they didn't make waves. This is not the way to run a creative venture. Over time, the creative geniuses who WON'T wear suits and punch a clock from 9-5 either leave or are fired. Then the games suck, and people stop buying them, and you don't have a company anymore.
Origin was not profitable when they got bought by EA in the late 80's/early 90's (I don't remember exactly when it was). Origin began showing profits with UO, and EA then scrubbed the entire company, destroying any vestiges of the Origin corporate identity (which at that time was horribly atrophied). It was almost inevitable, but that doesn't make it any less sad.
By definition, suits can not make video games. Any suit that tells you he can, is lying.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
I played MTG a lot in school, but does anybody remembered the rest of their products that got dumped? I miss Primal Order. Of course, I also loved Spelljammer...(anybody got a SJA1?)
Fudge is available at http://www.fudgerpg.com
It's worth looking up the author of the Ravenloft series. He is a baptist, (I think), and I recall reading a few things he has written defending D&D.
I don't have any links right now though. Your argument reminded me of a few things he had said about self determination and role playing. Look for his work.
cheers Andrew
In case, you're one of many like me who collected magic cards, but doesn't play much anymore; someone just forwarded me this link to a Cheapass Game that can be played with Magic Cards. If you're not familliar with Cheapass Games, they produce very low-cost games with simple rules. Their best known include: "Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond", "Give Me the Brain", "Kill Dr. Lucky" and many, many others.
My personal favorite and recommendation is "Kill Dr. Lucky" for it's deceptively simple strategy, including the infamous "lucky train".
Landyland and it's sister game Mana Burn are only a buck each, which is the low-end of Cheapass games. The high end is around $8-10, but I usually expect to pay around $2-5 for a Cheapass game.
The other great thing about Cheapass is the art. Many of the games are drawn by such artists as Phil Phoglio and John Kovalic. It may be on paper cut-outs, but it's very nicely done.
NOTE: I'm advocating Cheapass games, but have no vested interest in their financial future. I'd love to see more people play them, but that's just for my gaming fun.
This article was a real eye-opener. It really showed what was going on in the company at this time. Everything that seemed so odd about the nearly monthly changes in the rules and cards reflected what was going on with the company itself. As what I had experienced as a new game, that was unattached to anything before it, began to die, so was the company in the form of the orginal people leaving, new manement styles changed by the week, etc. No, it makes sense now. Sad really.
Sensory Deprivation Deck
Blue/Colorless (Artifacts)
Counterspells, Vesuvian Dopplegangers, and other anti-magic cards
Four of each Urza's Lands. Relic Barriers, Winter Orbs, Black Vises
Deck took a few turns to get moving, so it was incredibly suseptible to fast weenie decks. But, when it got moving, it was killer. Counterspells would prevent opponent from casting anything. Controls and Doppleganger pretty much negated any creatures he played. Winter Orbs would block usage of land. Before the end of opponent's turn, use relic barrier to tap Winter Orb. Allows me to untap all land. Opponent can't cast anything, Black Vises would bleed opponent life.
I won a few major tourney's with this deck. Then, I got tired of MtG and sold my entire collection. Got back every dime I put into it.
And immediately after I got out, tourney rules were changed, that would have made my deck illegal. Still, it was fun as hell to see the looks on players faces.
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
A friend of mine owns a store which specialized in selling Magic cards. One day she got a call from WotC marketing asking, for purely survey reasons, how many boxes she was selling. (Since she bought them through a 3rd party, they couldn't find out how much she was buying directly). She told them the truth, and one month later, right before Christmas, A WotC booth and game store popped up in the mall right before Christmas. My friend had a terrible Christmas because of this.
Yeah, it's legal, and it might even be a coincidence. I doubt it though. What we believe is that this was a calculated attempt by WotC to bolster it's bottom line. What a crappy way to learn that the company you sell wants to steal the customers you've gained.
> I lost a Black Lotus once on ante
/me faints.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
*Sigh*
Nothing like a picking up the first 7 cards and having two Savanah Lion and two Swords To Plowshares and three plains.
/me daydreams about past youth.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
There's no reason that a mass-produced little cardboard card that costs $0.15 to print
...should ever be for sale for $30. That's insanity.
Nitpick: The cards sold for about $0.16333 retail ($2.45 for a 15 card pack), so I very much doubt they cost $0.15 to print.
No, it's supply and demand.
Big corporations generally cannot maintain unprofitable and "frivolous" expenditures, no matter how much idealism lies behind the scene.
The bottom line always wins out in the end.
Idealistic eccesses are reserved for the small scale business, like mom & pop stores that tolerate inefficient practices merely because they want to. The reason, I suppose, is that these places are still under the direct control of the person with the idealism.
A coporate entity, on the other hand, gives up its idealism as it places its control in the hands of many people, especially investors, who generally have absolutely no motive other than profit. Maybe that's the next stage in the evolution of our business models, but frankly I doubt it.
Let's remember that we as common stock investors share blame for forcing this mentality on corporations.
My friends first saw MTG at a local con when it first came out. We scoffed at these guys carrying around thousands of cards and called their game a silly thing.
We persisted in our aloof dismissal of Magic as a poser game until I was isolated from the pack for a summer. At that time, another friend had me play a few games with him, and that was it. I took the game back to my friends at school 2 months later and infected them. It spread like smallpox and stayed with us for years.
We're over it now, but every now and then I find someone who plays it and sits down for a game. Lots of fond memories about Magic, and I'm glad I succumbed to it.
Rather, they cannot easily tolerate things that are obvious and appear frivolous. A game Mecca as described in the article is just the sort of thing that makes for a juicy budget cut when times get tight.
Of course inefficiency of a much greater sort often lurks inside every cubicle.
I never heard of the Black Lotus...? My favorite card was always the Breeding Pit. I played a mixture of black and blue, the "Mind Fsck" deck. *sigh* I miss my college homeys...
"Smear'd with gumms of glutenous heat, I touch..." - Comus, John Milton
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
So what's going on with Neverwinter Nights and BG2: Throne of bhaal?
Excellent game. And until recently it was a "dead game". Dead in the sense of not being currently marketed.
That was good because it meant no move towards 1 million+ cards. And not going infinite on the cards meant you could remember them all and thus build decks efficiently.
But even Jyhad was flawed. All those fucking idiotic rules posted on the web. And now new releases, which have been good so far but begin to threaten an infinite number of different cards.
Ah well.
Absimiliard
Damn straight
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 Race
12112
As a DCI certified Judge, I can attest that they've made huge advances against the rules lawyering and cheating. Judges are allowed to given penalties against players who are trying to rules lawyer their opponents. If the offense isn't serious, then it's probably rules lawyering. The penalty for rules lawyering (minor unsportsmanlike conduct) is generally worse than the opponent's infraction-- so the person who tries to get a cheap game win generally ends worse off.
Anyway, the point is that tournament magic isn't for everyone. I enjoy the competition, but some people just like to play with their friends. Don't let someone else tell you how you can or can't have fun with the game.
-Ted
You know what also gets me? The Bible is an old work that has been translated many times. I work on little bits of translation myself and I can tell you that things do get lost in translation. What's worse is most currently used versions are translations of translations so who knows how mucked up it is. I would think that if anyone is serious about this that they would learn the original languages as this is the word of God here and you don't want to fuck around. There are some faiths (I think some Jewish does this as an example [Hebrew]) that learn the original language and for that reason alone I have a tiny bit more respect for them.
Same thing happened when all the holo-foil, super great covers came to comics and the specualtors grabbed those "all-new" X-Men #1 by Jim Lee, that are now in the 5c bin at your local comic store (if there's still one left)...
--
OliverWillis.Com
OliverWillis.Com
An Operative with an Agenda
I still haven't forgiven WotC for forcing the itis.com/deckmaster/ site to shut down a few years ago. That site was awesome as a resouce for the game.
Stupid copyright lawyers.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons... From Hasbro!
EEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!
And the brethren went away edified.
I prefered fastbond, 4 stone rain, 4 ice storm 4 each of the other land destruction cards, strip mines, stormseekers howling mines, black vises, timetwister, wheel of fortune and a legend enchantment I forget what was called that made you have to pay 3 extra mana for any spell.
People freaking hated that deck.
Best first turn:sol ring 2 black vises done. your turn 6 damage before you can even play a card.
One guy spent the 3 mana he actually managed to get on the board to bring out his black lotus and then I crumbled it giving him mana equal to the BL's casting cost: 0
he had ball lightning berzerk and a fork in his hand.
I played from beta until ice age came out bought a few of those packs, but the appeal was gone. All the cool cards were gone.
---CONFLICT!!---
Character levels are just a way to measure the increase in ability that experience gives you. Someone who's been a soldier for 20 years is going to be better at combat than someone who's just started. How else can you reflect that without using character levels?
--
Lord Nimon
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Dude, that was brilliant! Kudos for providing real evidence that RPGs are not "anti-Christian".
--
Lord Nimon
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
I can't help thinking of WOTC as a brash newcomer. I mean, they weren't even around when I more or less burned out on gaming.
Me, I'm nostalgic for companies like Metagaming Concepts and Eon, which barely made it into the 80s.
True Story
About 94, maybe 93, I'm wandering around C.E.S. The two head WOTC guys are at the Microprose (?) booth, looking like they're setting up for a demo of the card game.
"You guys!" I say, shaking my head and wagging my finger, "Are pushers!"
They exchange glances, then say, in unison:
"We're not pushers. We're just giving people something to do while they're waiting to die."
Honest!
Stefan
Oh my god, I have never productivity lower than what I've seen working in large companies. Have some dot-com's suffered from professional slackers who hide behind the lifestyle so nobody can tell they're not working ? Sure. But they probably never suffered from being so disorganized that they can't efficiently use their staff. I know plenty of people in large companies who talk about work getting heavy when you have to actually work eight hours per day, cutting out the paid lunch and the water cooler time is a bitch.
Big companies are full of suits on autopilot, doing just enough to get that middle-of-the-road job evaluation, picking up their cheque every two weeks and counting down their 13.5 years to retirement. If I had to bet on which company was producing more $/employee, I would take Wizards over Hasbro any day.
The problem with this kind of argument, and the argument presented in the post above, is twofold. First, it is based on what I believe to be a flawed reading of the Bible. Second, it ignores the extremely important doctrine of free will.
A lot of the Bible is misinterpreted. Because it is a received text, and the time during which it was written is long, long gone, people who take a literalist approach to the Bible are saddled with a lot of things that simply do not hold. Christians who point to teachings from Leviticus and Deutoronomy are attempting to follow rules that Christ himself mocked. They read the Bible, but do not understand it--Christ mocked the Pharisees for excessively strict adherence to Temple law. See The Humor of Christ by Elton Trueblood. It is entirely possible, even probable, that Christ was making fun of Pharisees in the verse on adultery that I paraphrase above.
But I think the real argument against the AC's post, troll though it may be, is that it completely ignores the doctrine of free will, specifically as it relates to RPGs.
If you accept that man has free will, which most branches of Christianity do, then you accept that God gave man free will so that mankind would freely choose to be in relationship with God, because God loved mankind enough that he would not force us into a relationship with him. People give lip service to this idea, but rarely follow it to its logical conclusion, which is this: in order to make a choice, you must be cognizant of the fact that there IS a choice, and you must know what you are choosing between. You must be able to imagine the consequences of making a wrong choice: "If I punch this jerk in the face, he'll hit me back and we'll probably end up getting arrested." Clearly, the Lord gave us our imaginations to USE, not to shut away. Just as clearly, thought CANNOT equal deed--if it did, then you would suffer spiritual consequences every time you made a decision of any kind, no matter what your ultimate choice.
I strongly believe that using your imagination is not and cannot be wrong, even from a spiritual point of view. It is patently obvious that you do not cast magic spells when you play an RPG that has magic, just as you do not actually shoot the border guards in a spy RPG, or pilot a spaceship in a sci-fi RPG. Satan does not lurk between the covers of RPGs. Satan hides behind those who twist the word of God into a message of hatred and intolerance. Remember this: John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life," and John 3:17 doesn't say "unless you're gay or not white or a woman." That's the word of man, my friends. That's what you have to watch out for.
Richard is still doing work for Wizards. He is the lead designer on the next upcoming stand-alone set for Magic, entitled 'Odyssey'. Peter left when Hasbro made them make a whole bunch of crappy games (NBA, Looney Tunes, etc.) and then was shocked when they lost money on them.
Personally, I thought the place was a hole. Yes, I have several good memories of years spent in the downstairs, meeting up with friends for games of all sorts, but once I moved out of the "heavy scene," and lost my rosy glasses, I saw the place for what it was - the previously mentioned hole. They hired my brother - treated him like crap. They operated a restaurant - which sold ridiculously overpriced food complete with surly service. The Ave rats darting in and out were a much bigger detractor to the "atmosphere" than the lighting; it was a sad day when I saw them lined up in the store, buying their allotment of Pokemon packs to pass them to the frothing parents outside in exchange for a buck. I'm glad it's closed; I was mightily tired of having to defend that place just because it was a gaming establishment. The place served as a poster child for the world-at-large to point at and say "That's what's Wrong with gaming, darnit!" That's not the kind of image that we gamers, geeks and nerds want to be putting forth; here's to the small community gaming store coming back into vogue in Seattle - the places where we can take our parents/friends/significant others and show them that gamers don't have to be dirty and Satanic.
;)
No offence to the Satanists.
Beyond the shores of imagination lies the Emerald City of Seattle, a perfect
training ground for wizards. Here, you'll believe in the impossible when you
see giant birds of steel learning to fly and mermaids of java on every
corner. Here, the sun shines only for those who have cultivated the art of
patience.
Just outside of Seattle is a little town called Renton, where the "Wizards
of the Coast" work and practice and play. Each wizard has a magical story to
tell, for the miles of yellow brick roads that brought them to the Emerald
City are crooked and rocky ones. But the wizards' favorite story of all is
the one about the great wizard Peter and his friends, who never gave up on
their dream to make magic, and who taught the rest of us to believe.
One night in the small college town of Walla Walla, Washington, four friends
gathered, as they often did, to talk and play games. On this particular
night, however, a dream was planted in their hearts when one of the friends
suggested that they make games of their very own. Not just any games, but
the finest games around. They even came up with a name for their game
company, so sure that their dream would someday come true. They would call
themselves Wizards of the Coast.
Several years later, a circle of eager wizards had gathered under the name
Wizards of the Coast. The wizard Peter had met a game-maker and
mathematician wizard named Richard and magic happened. The wizards created a
game that would come to be loved by thousands of people and it would also
make the wizards' dreams come true.
Dragons and samurai aligned with the wizards in 1997 to create the largest
adventure game company in the world. In fact, the wizards became so popular
that Mr. Potato Head and his friends at Hasbro, Inc. asked the wizards to
join their family. Currently, the wizards develop and publish trading card
games, tabletop roleplaying games, novels, magazines, family card and board
games, and electronic media products. The wizards have many friends,
including relationships with Warner Bros., Lucasfilm, and Marvel Comics.
Magic is still made every day at Wizards of the Coast, for if we have
learned anything at all, it is this: when people with dreams and diligence
get together, anything is possible.
Magic was created to fund another venture they had, called Robo Rally. Any Slashdotten worth his mettle should check this game out.
It's a game about programming!
Unfortunately (or fortunately) MtG took off in a big way, becoming their primary focus.
PS: Anyone want to buy my TimeWalk? I want to buy a complete set of robo rally, and have food for the month...
I love some of their games... Magic is cool and I can't stop buying anything put out on Krynn no matter how hard I try to hate Wizards. But they managed to purchase the most critical company in modern gaming history, TSR. Without them so many other people would never have been inspired to start other games, so many great fantasy novels wouldn't be out, many classic computer games literally could not have existed. The role playing hobby would be at least a decade behind where it is now if it existed at all. Wizards bought it and rather than letting some dignity remain and use the TSR name as a subline(like White Wolf and ArtHaus or Black Dog)they relabeled it all and in a short time knowledge of TSR's existence at all will mark you as an old schooler in the gaming community... I don't like what they did. Kinda serves them right to get swallowed up themselves.
With that said, I would be much more upset if White Wolf got purchased away. It was sad that TSR went, but I doubt any company that would purchase White Wolf would have the balls to publish some of the stuff they have, even on the Black Dog label. If it happens though, as it is rumoured Hasbro wants white wolf(being easily the second most popular gaming company) I hope they simply provide the budget to produce more cool books(at higher quality of proofreading), take some of the increased profits from those books, and let white wolf do its thing. Kinda like the Slashdot/Andover thing. Provide money to run, take the profits, and let you guys handle other details.
Red-Green-White, with four earthquakes, four hurricanes, some wild growth, some healing, some Gaea's Touch, a desert twister and tranquilities, etc. Heavy on the mana and able to get it out fast. For people who'd never seen it before it was devastating because it just looked like I had a bad shuffle with nothing but mana and a couple of COPs that I played instead of discarding them. Then the earthquakes came.
As long as nobody could kill me by the next turn I was in great shape from then on, because by that point I usually had two or three more mass damage or healing cards in my hand. With one or two Gaea's Touches out I was also able to drop two or three lands in a turn, so I was all set by five or six turns in - not too long in a multiplayer game.-- fencepost
fencepost
just a little off
Interplay only had (and has) the rights to Forgotten Realms (and Planescape I think) games. That's why other companies have put out other D&D games. I'm a bit out of date on that department, but I am very sure Interplay still retains the rights to Forgotten Realms (which includes Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, Menzoberranzan, Kara-Tur, Neverwinter, and many other places).
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
The article's trying to be a portrait of Peter, but it doesn't paint a very clear picture of him...
Most of the time I find that these two questions are actually one question. . . But generally I put the priority on "enjoy what I do". Usually if I enjoy the work I'm doing then I (almost) automatically enjoy where I work.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
So you're saying that if I believed in Hotmail's product, I should have stayed on even after they were bought by Microsoft - even though Microsoft itself doesn't believe in the product, only the revenue?
And you're saying that I should do this even if the new corporate culture thinks what I wear to work is more important than the work I do? Even if the new culture features top-down management that totally devalues my experience and ability? That I'm twice as evil if the new culture doesn't fit my lifestyle preferences?
Or are you just trolling?
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
I prefered Jyhad. With no expansions.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
salon.com .... slashdotted!! :-)
The Bible doesn't say that Pi = 3. What the Bible says, in 1 Kings, is that Solomon created a bath measuring 10 cubits in diameter and 30 in circumference.
So of course 30 divided by 10 doesn't equal Pi, but then I bet it wasn't exactly 10 x 30 cubits, either. It's a story, dammit, and the point of the story is not to derive mathematical constants from incidental details. You're making the same mistake that some Christians do - taking the Bible literally - and you're wrong for the same reasons.
question: is control controlled by its need to control?
answer: yes
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
One could equally well argue that the people who insist that employees dress a particular way aren't committed to the product but rather to a certain lifestyle. After all, they seem to value a particular mode of dress and behavior over keeping the people who developed and understand the product. Equally, the employees who stayed on might not be the ones who value the product but rather the ones who are unable to find a job elsewhere. Dumping the top performers to keep the guys your competitors won't touch is hardly a way to improve the company.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm personally very happy that my employer doesn't demand formal dress. They're perfectly happy to allow employees who don't come into contact with outsiders to dress any way that complies with the needs of safety and modesty. I'd be very worried about management that cared more about the way I dress than the amount that I contribute to my projects, since it represents a focus on perception rather than reality.
There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.
I remember getting hooked rather early in the MtG beginnings. At one point I realized that it had all the earmarks of something else.
;-)
1600's. Holland. Tulips.
Yup, that frenzied and frenetic, glassed-eyed look of the masses trying to accumulate coloured peices of paper. Sort of like the dot gone IPO frenzy.
The amount of money being spent on *cough* collectible cards was truly staggering. These things are going to hold value in 50 years times? Can I bank on retiring on a box full of Alpha Black Lotuses? Not likely.
So I bailed, sold 'em off at insanely inflated prices and put the money where it would actually have some worth.
Like the game but don't like the amount of money it costs? Type out the text, mana cost, etc. and tape it to a card. Use them instead. All the fun at a fraction of the cost.
You want pretty pictures? alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.* has tons of them to keep you amused while playing the game
Bullshit. Does anyone actually find a buck off soda and a Nerf game once in a while critical to where they're employed? You've got to be kidding me... in all the dot-com hype pieces I've ever seen, no one's ever been quoted as saying "I work here for the free food".
All that stuff is just peripheral, and merely complimentary with an institution which empowers it's employees, lets them be creative, and makes them responsible for solving problems (and dressing themselves, and arranging their schedule) on their own.
On the other hand, I don't really want to buy a game from a place whose employees aren't allowed to play games, you know?
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
Good point, but just a minor nitpick: IIRC it costs slightly more than a dollar to produce a $1 note. That's why you'll never see a forged one.
Much as it pains me to admit this, I may have vectored an urban legend. Shame on me for not doing my research.
Which implies, to my mind, that there really wasn't a corporate culture saturated with sex - it was just a small clique of well-placed people who all knew each other, didn't really know very many other people in the company, and were all sleeping with each other. So, naturally, the whole company "must" have been doing it, right?
The author of these articles has made the same mistake as Washington reporters who live in the Beltway and naturally assume that, because they give a crap about the latest government scandal, the whole world must be just as enthralled.
If you're a journalist, you can't just check your facts; you've got to check your whole view of reality.
If you don't pretend to be anyone, are you?
TSR was bought by WOTC a while back.
And now D&D will be a Hasbro company.
The only good thing I can see coming out of this is main stream acceptance of D&D by the crowd who think that it causes kids to kill each other.
And maybe if we are lucky a new cartoon.
I played Tragic the Addiction back 3rd -> 4th editions.
I am now 6 years clean.
I played D&D befor that. I am now 8 years clean.
I enjoyed both of these games as an addalcent.
I still have $2000 worth of books siting in my closet in case I ever play again.
Ascii artist &
Bummer. I sold my cards and bought a house.
(I was a playtester for... uh... whatever the early-on mostly-artifacts set was. They ignored our suggestions, but paid us in cases of cards. Woohoo.)
Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
I used to go to the gamecenter every couple of months when it was in Renton. When it moved to the U district my friends and I would ride the ferry over every couple of weekends and hop a bus to it. Its sad to see it go. Even after I stopped playing magic I would take a trip over there occassionaly. Those battle tech simulators kicked ass, and I will miss the whine of the chump kids as I hand them their asses at WarCraft II. Ah the memories.
- WeaselGod
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet turbines
First, I say that the author is a bit on the bitter side, or the stupid side of things. As fun as company Orgies can be, they are simply a dangerous and bad idea. If one Asshole had chosen to sue WotC at that time, they could have probably managed to clean it out. The CEO simply managed to make good, and as often happens, he is told that he sold out.
On the other end of things, one thing that always suprises/pisses me off is the following scenario. Company A lisences out a product to Company B. Comany B uses that liscense effectively, and manages to make a shitload of money. Company A tires to use its liscence to do the same thing, failing to realize they are too fucking stupid to have the same success doing that same thing.
Rare made GoldenEye for the N64. That game is legendary. MGM then chose to have its internal dev teams follow up, or liscened out the property to other companies on terms undoubtedly more favorable to its self. Those games are not legendary.
It is my one profound hope that the people who run Hasbro realize that WotC knows a whole hell of alot more about D&D then they do, and simply give them a budget, and otherwise turn their backs on the process. I also hope that the statements made in the article are false, and that BioWare will continue to develop D&D based games. Hasbro is big and it has alot of money, but having more money then someone else does not mean you know more then they do.
END COMMUNICATION
I wonder what old "Dr. Fad" is up to these days.
-Tommy
"I got a half gallon of Jack, and 2 dozen Ant Traps. I'm about to get wild." -me
If anyone cares, I'm still playing battletech with 3025 stuff. Much better that way.
Me too... anything afterward is waaay to powerful. You should see the Assault Clan Mech's.
Just gimmie a platoon of Atlases, baby!
--
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell Recieved or not this is pretty straightforward. if you are telling me that people shouldn't follow this part of the bible than we need to throw the whole thing out. not dismiss the parts we are uncomfortable with.
So, for all future D&D software, Bioware will have to re-noegotiate the licensing rights with Mattel rather than Black Isle, which they will likely do, if NWN is the big hit the everyone expects it to be.
Magic became popular during my high school days. I went to a very small high school in the Midwest, and the Magic bug struck there just before the release of The Dark. Overnight, everyone had a deck, it seemed. Study halls were cluttered with tables full of people playing Magic. Many a Saturday afternoon was spent in the basement of someone's house, tapping Prodigal Sorcerers, summoning Serra Angels, and casting Drain Lifes. It stayed pretty strong until the release of Homelands. The expansion set was really awful and didn't add anything interesting to the game, and after that no new expansions were released for a while. That time frame is about when the "bad things" in this article happened at Wizards of the Coast. After that, it was never the same. I went to college and played some Magic there, but most people I found playing Magic were obsessive about playing in tournaments and using strict rules. Once in a while now, I'll pick up a pack or two and play with my significant other, mostly for the memories. She played Magic back in those halcyon days as well. Reading this article made me think about those days long past... and made me see them from a different angle. It makes me dread the thought of joining such a soul-less corporate world. It also makes me want to cast a huge Fireball on the Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro of today.
Devolver's Homepage... more fun than a box of crackerjacks.
Some people are on crack then. I remember when Magic came out (and helped ruined GenCon). The Black Lotus was this mythical thing kind of like the lost continent of Atlantis or something. A few years later, every card dealer at the Con had at least 5 for sale and no one was buying.
I watched a couple games of Magic and couldn't see what all the fuss was about. To each his own I guess.
Do you want to enjoy where you work or enjoy what you do?
Its a hideous question that people have to ask themselves every day..
:(
I think you got it backwards. I've always found that the folks who have options and are wanted by other companies are the first to bail if they dislike the new corp. The first wave of deserters also tend to pull away the others who have talent. The less than mediocre ones who stay are usually the ones who are just thankful they still have a job and aren't worth much to anyone else anyways.
Also, I'm pretty sure if you asked your "PR Rat" friends what synergy actually means they'll just stare at you like you rubbed their nose in shaving cream; I doubt they'll will start quoting Buckminster Fuller. It's hardly worth mentioning what they mean; it's just a word they use as fashion accessory.
We used to say of MtG: "It's cheaper than crack!"
It does make me sort of nostalgic to think about the old days of WotC, even though I was never involved with the company. My spouse worked at White Wolf from 91-95; there was a lot of crossover, especially after Tweet joined WotC. (He was cocreator of ArsMagica, which became a White Wolf property when they bought Lion Rampant.)
In those days, if you left or got canned by White Wolf, you went to WotC; it was as if there was a standing job offer. My spouse left WW and considered WotC, but I whined so much about not wanting to move to Seattle, he decided against it. (Stupid! Stupid! *grin*)
Certainly we were aware of the sexual/relationship antics; they were fairly prevalent throughout the "independent" gaming industry. The Chaosium guys were famous for their free-wheeling ways, for example. Many people in the industry were pagan; many were non-monogamous. There was a fair amount of recreational drug use, as well. (As one would expect.)
Now that I work in 'net industry in Silicon Valley, I certainly see a lot of stuff that's familar from gaming industry days. A great deal of gaming industry culture revolved around the idea that people were getting paid to do what they loved and felt a very emotional attachment to their companies and products. My spouse had been one of the first kids playing original D when he was a young teen, he told his parents he wanted to write role-playing games when he grew up. It was the early 80's, and they thought he was crazy. Ten years later, he was doing just that -- writing supplements and working on games. In the same way, guys I work with every day tell me they dreamed of being able to play with computers all day when they grew up.
The Salon article alludes to this, to an extent. What I see happening in the .com industry as well as the gaming industry is that kids grew up playing, went to work still playing -- but eventually get pushed by marketing and economic factors into being "adult" about their work, which kills a lot of the love. I can imagine the feelings Atkinson had on resigning WotC are similar to those my most recent .com boss had when he had to lay off college buddies to keep his company alive -- the "play" part is eclipsed by the harsh realities of the "work".
Imagine my shock when 6 months later I saw an internet price list showing the Black Lotus card at $500.00 each! I had had 2 of them....
Yeah, the black lotus and the mox(es) were ungodly expensive. I quit playing before Fallen Empires was released. I had atleast one of every red and black card up until Fallen Empires (not counting the alpha run). I sold all of my cards to a local dealer, and actually made quite a profit when it was all said and done. Then I blew most of the money on a 3DO and games. Even though the console tanked, Return Fire was/is the best multiplayer game ever IMHO.
Stupider like a fox! - H.S.
Hey, quit trying to make it look like you got a rough life. You're using one of these damned computers too!
I can't be karma whoring - I've already hit 50!
SIG: HUP
It's the sobs of millions of kids crying out in sorrow at the disappearance of their Pokemon cards!
I can't be karma whoring - I've already hit 50!
SIG: HUP
The real fun was playing partners Magic (2vs2 or 3vs3). We wasted many a thursday night when I was in university in London, playing until the wee hours of the morning. There were quite a few 6am drives home back in those days.
Of course, we also played in most of the Ontario tournaments back in those days. Our core group of players pretty much won all of those for a couple of years.
We always played for ante, I still remember some of the huge games we had. I lost an alpha Timewalk and Black Lotus in one evening once (and won them back the next week).
The big burn was the hyper-inflation of card prices. That pretty much ruined the game IMHO. I sold off my cards when I finished university and needed the money to move across the country. Some of the guys hung on to theirs and sold them later. One fellow we knew sold of his collection and opened a store with the profits.
I still get a bit nostalgic when I think back on some of the good times we had playing.
I find in pretty amazing that the game is still going so strong. I dropped into a games store in Calgary a few months back and there were dozens of people playing. Once the prices began to sky rocket I thought that the game would collapse, boy was I wrong. I hate to think of what my collection would have been worth if I hadn't sold it back in 1995.
BilldaCat is none other than Chad(the bad) Day, co founder of e-league. He was one of the first to help capitalize on the internet playing of MtG. He's pretty much right about the state of Magic for most players. They're pretty sick of having the pro tour and professional Magic get all the attention where the games in our kitchens are still the way most play. Chad is just one of the many who got burned out on tournament Magic, but for a while he was one of the internet MtG communities brightest stars. Well, until that nasty incident with Psylum and e-league.
Steven
-- I have marked myself unwilling to moderate-- I don't have other accounts to artificially inflate the karma of
I'd really like to map this guy's stories to the releases of MtG. It looks like the rude awakening for Adkinson came right around the time of Fallen Empires. I'd really like to have some kind of matchup of the internal state of WotC lined up against their released products. I well remember the terrible time for MtG around Fallen Empires/Ice Age/Homelands and I'd really like to know if the really crappy cards and late release times could be tracked back to unrest in the Batcave. If it meant that we could get some more sets like Alliances(it rocked!) then I'd be willing to take up a collection to help some of the Wizards geeks get laid again.
Steven
King of Casual Play
The One and Only Defender of Cards that Blow(and it's a BIG job!)
-- I have marked myself unwilling to moderate-- I don't have other accounts to artificially inflate the karma of
Evolution of rules. It's an evil that occurs over time. Small companies run on the function of talent & successful products. Without the talent to drive it, the company goes nowhere. But what about the people who work there, as a job...they end up with rules and guidelines to direct them towards a goal. For the rules to be 'fair' they get applied to everyone...even the creative ones who don't need the rules to guide them. (The successful-product companies eventually get bigger needing more rules, of course...I mean, more people is less stress for everyone else...right?) What happens? The creative ones will eventually leave due to the rules that get set down. (We're not looking at it as 'necessary' or 'unnecessary' at this time.) In the Salon article, it mentions Peter getting docked pay. Whatever! A symptom of change - it doesn't really matter how hard you work, the PC environment rules can ruin the fun of hard work. (WotC's HR is pretty good as far as damage control goes, but it also promotes a strong-PC ideology.) Hasbro's purchase of WotC was a known evil. If you're a shareholder of stock, and you've had enough of being part of a gaming company, you want to sell. Who buys? Another game company, one bigger than yours. Not that there were many game companies larger than WotC, really. Hasbro's all about money. They don't want imagination, they want cash. And rules about making cash. -Jimmer
You can find the commons for .10 apiece in most major cities. It's still a very fun game this way, and more balanced since the really powerful cards are generally rare.
Bryguy
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
Terror
1B
Destroy target nonblack creature. That creature can not be regenerated this turn.
Ah, that's better. Wonder if I have enough swamps left for my lord of the pit...
:)
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
As far as I'm concerned, AD&D was ideal for WotC much like MtG. Every month a new book would come out with more powerful stuff, and contridicting the already published rules. It's just the books weren't collectable.
Personally I think I'll stick with my Champions and Mekton habit.
BTW Hasbro's newest release of D&D looks pretty good, and they threw out most or the stuff I really hated about T$R. But I think the idea of 'character' levels still sucks.
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
Here's some links:
Background of Boggs in the LA Weekly
Boggs' website, including an example of his art
Also, look into the book by Lawrence Weschler, "Boggs: a Comedy of Values"
Boggs doesn't argue that the value of $1 or $5 or $10,000 is arbitrary; he argues that the paper itself is worth no more than its value as a piece of art (bills are pretty artistic if you take the time to look at them). He finds it interesting that society has agreed to allocate a specific value to each bill without questioning its actual worth... why is a $5 bill worth more than a $1? Is Washington not as important as Lincoln? Is the art not as good?
As far as collecting, a 'complete' Boggs work is considered to be the following: the bill that paid for the exchange, the receipt for the transaction, and the change received by Boggs... I'm sure that Boggs is tickled pink by the fact that this collection is somehow worth more than the value of the bill (which has a value confirmed by the reciept), the value of the change, and a receipt...
I was attending the University of Washington during the Magic heyday. One summer, the University played host to a magic camp. Kids of all sorts filled the empty dorms to capacity. At any rate, the event was so big that they could not always find enough space to put all the kids. So at one point, one of the organizers said that a schedualed tournament hour would be set aside for "outside time". Play Magic outside, play soccer, do nothing. Whatever.
Well, this one parent found out and went ballistic. She screamed at the organisor ( I overheard this conversation ) for letting her kid play outside. Saying something like, "If I wanted him to play soccer, I would have sent him to soccer camp."
To this day I am not certain as to what I should think about this....
I saw some dudes in a store in Toronto a year or so ago with a pretty cool rule for keeping the "old Magic" alive - they didn't allow any cards later than The Dark. Pretty biased against late-joiners, but it beats trying to get your head around 5000 different cards for each colour!
From hell's heart I fstab at /dev/hdc
If you have a couple of like-minded friends, I think I disagree. On ebay you can pick up large collections of Magic cards for pretty cheap prices compared to buying them new. Discovering this game really is a positive experience. That and sealed-deck play which eliminates the "rich kid advantage" can make this game fun, just not in the way it was in '94
From hell's heart I fstab at /dev/hdc
Saudi Arabia has banned Pokemon games/cards...
. po kemon/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/03/26/saudi
Hmmm... Maybe WOTC made a good choice to sell finally...;)
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
- Once you realize you are sitting on gold:
1. Create artificial shortages (rare powerul cards)
2. Hype the great art you have on your cards
3. Sell like there's no tomorrow
4. Create new and better cards, advanced rules, etc.
5. Once it starts to cave, sell out
Sad to see when people think this sort of ride will last forever and don't see the end before they're deep in debt. Hasbro will do something with it, something which has more mass-market appeal. Probably try to get someone to do a crappy cartoon series tied into it (like TSR did with D&D) Next thing you know, it'll be on glasses at McD's
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
4-5 years ago I saw cards for sale, $30 on up, at a Comic/Game shop. Not unlike when I bought First print of Dark Knight, for $45. Now it's all so much waste paper, because re-issues, new issues, flooding the market wiped it all out. (By the way, Beanie Babies have done the same thing recently.) I've got boxes of this stuff I can't even get rid of, so I pull it out and look at it now and then (actually did just that this weekend. Santa Clara show this coming weekend, maybe I can dump some of it there, just to get floorspace back.)
If anyone cares, I'm still playing battletech with 3025 stuff. Much better that way.
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Remember?
Pogs
Baseball cards
Comics
Any classic RPG
Pokemon
Beanie Babies
Cabbage Patch Kids
Garbage Pail Kids
The Hunt Brother's Silver fiasco
Currently it's Harry Potter, but I think that star is already sagging. History repeating itself over and over, like no-one pays any attention. Don't buy high, get it because you like it, ignore the hype.
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Like you I started playing early, but eventually lost interest for various reasons. But about a year ago some friends of mine at work all got the bug and bought some cards. We do sealed deck environments (where everyone gets a small number of starter packs or boosters and must construct a deck from those cards alone), and have been playing at lunch and after work ever since. The rules are much better/clearer now, they use a stack and everything "makes sense" after you get used to it. I honestly think the current set and its first expansion ("Invasion" and "Planeshift") is the best set I've ever played. The sets have themes and just make for great play, and tons of combinations.
dynamo
> It's not like after playing you're going to
> suddenly go grab a knife and kill someone or
> something wierd like that. Its just that you
> don't want Satan to have any door of opportunity
> in your life
I do have to question your idea of what's really involved with D&D in particular, and with RPGs in general. Playing such a game does not tend to pull the player into the role (the point you made), but, to take it one step further, it also doesn't offer Satan any better entrance into your life than is already available. To extend the example presented by the original poster, that would be comparable to saying that playing the part of Macbeth in a stage production would offer the Devil a way into your life.
> Furthermore, there's plenty of real spiritual
> battles to be fought in real life. Why waste
> time on a fantastical game with twisted notions
> of these battles.
Well, for the same reason I'd go see a movie or read a book in the fantasy genre. I don't tend to fight real spiritual battles for fun, but in a session of D&D, I can face off against such beasts as suits my fancy, and then walk away from the table at the end of the night. In short, I waste time in the fantastical game for the same reason I'd go see a movie, or read a book. I do it for the entertainment value.
As a side note, you should be aware that not all D&D games are full of magic and the occult, anyway. My last long campaign was set in Historical Rome, with no (real) magic available to the characters at all. We spent most of our time (we were playing the part of centurions) in combat against other mundane humans, with the occasional fight against the (real world) elements and sometimes the hunt for lost items and relics. Even if I agreed with your original premise, you'd still be guilty of overextending your idea to call such a D&D game "satanic".
The simple idea is that it is, after all, just a game. As a wise man once said, Satan is in the heart.
Virg
I remember them well. Simple decks, fun social games. I could easily fit 2 or 3 games into a lunch hour at school. I carried a deck around with me. The cards had straightforward, useful effects. Then came the limitations...oh, now this effect only lasts during the same turn. Oh ok. Hmm...how 'bout that Snow-Covered Landwalk, or how 'bout shadow, phasing, tokens, cumulative upkeep, et cetera. Now you bloody well have to carry around a book of errata in order to play. Not to mention each card practically has an epic written on it. And then there's the beginner, intermediate, and advanced thing. What the hell is that all about? I played magic when I was 13. I was able to grasp the basic concepts easily enough. Oh yeah I know. It's so the mindless players of Pokemon would be able to make the transition without actually having to learn anything. I want my magic back. .
I send you this message in order to have your advice.
Magic was the best game I ever played.. I started just as Revised was coming in..I'll never forget the excitement of looking through those packs of cards, wondering what new and exciting cards I hadn't seen yet, playing with friends and getting half the rules wrong, but having a great time anyway. I'd go to the game shop and pay big bucks for cards from old expansions and put them in my 200-cards decks. I remember when a more knowledgeable friend took my deck and trimmed it to 60 cards.. suddenly I was winning every game! Who knew Serendib Efreet was actually a good card, even with the damage every turn!
But like all good things, it came to an end. Somewhere between Garfield getting a patent on the game mechanics or WotC selling to Hasbro, it just became overproduced and too slick. I still buy a few cards from the new sets now and then, but the mechanics have gotten complicated, new cards have weird abilities, and it seems like the game doesn't have much more to go. I hope they give the game a graceful exit when the time comes.
And to all the original M:tG players out there. I remember what Magic was like back in '93 and '94 when it really ruled. There was this amazing sense of mystery and fantasy, you could really get INTO the game and be swept away by it. Nowadays, to forgive the cliched ranting, it's all become the slave of crass commercialism. Garfield was a hacker in the game inventing sense, a hacker of the first degree; Adkison was just an all around visionary and great guy.
The game they created will stand forever as a landmark of my life and many others my age. Despite the religious right's attempt to brand it as demonic or satan-worship, all it was was a chance for kids to make a fantastic world their playground for a few hours, in a fun and competetive game.
I don't really care what Hasbro does with it. They can hardly run it into the ground any worse than it already has been. So long WotC, twas good while it lasted.
-Kasreyn
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
Dude, it's just paper. There's no reason that a mass-produced little cardboard card that costs $0.15 to print should ever be for sale for $30. That's insanity. Instead of buying these cards as an investment, how about buying the company that MAKES the cards? Now THAT is a real investment.
I think Baldur's Gate II is one of the greatest RPGs ever made for the computer (if not the greatest). It surely is an instant "classic." To bad that, pursuant to Hasbro's purchase of WoTC, Black Isle (developer of BG, BG2, Icewind, NN) no longer has the license to develop DandD games.
Hasbro, with its ineptitude, will probably kill the genre... I guess I'll have to play the Black Isle/Bioware series' forever...
When marketing gets involved, everything else goes out the window...
Let's get drunk and delete production data!
Right on.
Moderators: perdida's post deserves a rating of "Funny", not "Insightful"
This might not be such a bad thing after all.
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Technoli
oddly enough (not really) something of note that was NOT mentioned .. was that in 1996 Peter (and I say Peter, becuase I wen't out drinking with him ..) Came to Games-Workshop HQ in Nottingham UK (I was working there at the time) and had a few days with Tom Kirby and John Stallard. Two of the up and ups in Games Workshop. (both great fellows)
Peter was curious how GW did it, they had a LOT of $$ , and 10 years later were still turning a profit. John and Tom proceeded to pop almost every bubble that he had with his 'ideas' of how to open his chain of retail store (and only 1 or 2 of them in the seattle area were the gaming 'meccas' that he planned to make them) (Games-Workshop has over 150 store worldwide .. and EACH one turns a profit. ) originally they were ALL going to be like that. .. ) were HORRIBLE ! there was NO management, no organization. I talked to an ex-employee after he left, who said that he routenely let his friends walk out with *BOXES* of cards .. BOXES !
Those stores (from talking to the managers in them
But they grilled Peter, and told him how GW did things, and (amazingly enough) Peter saw the light. (This was just before Pokemon, actually - the marketing stratagies for Pokemon and Magic reflect the results of this meeting.)
as for the coorporate environment, for a company that used to manufacutre knock-off roleplaying games in Peter's Garage, they went a long way, really fast. and wasted a lot of $$ enroute.
as another aside. Ironically enough, Peter came to the UK to talk to John and Tom, becuase Games-Workshop (pre-pokemon) was the best selling line *IN* his megga-store. (beating out magic sales) soley due to a US Sales Rep named Jim Kitchen, (and then Sean (last name eludes me) who replaced Jim when he went to Canada.) both these 2 gentlemen were able to help the store manager in the megga-store organize his inventory, and generate enough interest in the product to make it the store's #1 seller.. which, I guess, is how I know this story *grin*
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
It is cool to use "its" for possession, and "it's" as a contraction for "it is".
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
(Disclaimer - I played Magic from Ice Age to Urza's Legacy. I still kinda miss it...)
(reads article)... Those must really have been the days.
There seems to be a pretty consistent thread through this discussion of "M:TG became too hard to follow", and I strongly agree with this. The three-expansions-per-year release schedule was simply far, far too expensive/difficult to really keep up with. Although it was (and, AFAIK, still is) a great game, the logistics of keeping up to date are simply too much for many people.
However, this would (in theory, at least) make pretty good business sense. Keeping the release schedule packed would lead to more revenues - after all, the target audience for MTG tends to be heavy on disposable income. Ultimately, Wizards' duty was to its shareholders, so, this is the path they took.
This was exemplified better by Pokemon. The article is right when it calls Pokemon a "prefab fad" (in the context of the CCG, at least). For Wizards, snapping up the international rights was brilliant business sense, but it would have come at the cost of R&D expertise that could have gone toward other games - costing it loyalty.
Wizards was, I think, torn between maintaining old-hand gamers (M:TG, for example) and aiming for revenue (via Pokemon, and to a lesser extent, D&D). They made the best choice for shareholders, but the wrong choice in the eyes of their original customers.
I miss the old days.
Joshua Giersch
In my e-mail, it's not "whom", it's "hoo".
If you play for fun that is.....
The problem is with cards that KILL certain decks, and just plain Un-Fun cards.
I usally build decks that after a while become unbeatable, when that happens I literally toss the deck against my bedroom wall. Now THAT is fun. Seeing a deck that wins 90% of the dime be redused to cards on the floor is a great feeling, especially when you start to rebuild a deck that dominates. Or when a card that is so un-fun, like one I had that causes swamps to be sacrificed when used, gets ripped to sheds, never to be used again.
I can't see how people can have fun playing a deck that always wins, it really is fun to lose sometimes. It's also MUCH more fun to play with 5 people for fun than it is to play against anouther person in the final of a tournament for lots of $$$$.
Remember Magic and other games are meant to be FUN not to do anything else.
It's good for productivity that more of the innovative, flexible firms are being bought up by more traditional, "staid" firms, and that the culture inside of the smaller firms is changing.
If someone decides to stay on at the place even when they have to wear a suit and come in 9 to 5 instead of having a food and soda filled, T-shirt and Nerf office, that means that they are really committed to the place and the product that the place is selling.
The folks who drop out in the buyout process are the ones who aren't committed to the product but to a certain lifestyle. Over time, they would lose interest and motivation even if the smaller, "creative" firm weren't getting bought out. The ones who stick it out eventually combine the creativity of the smaller firm with the knowledge, power and reach of the larger one. I guess that's what PR rats mean when they talk about "synergy" in the merger process.
One outcome of this is that when the big fish eats the little fish it shouldn't lay people off- let the process happen by attrition. The ones who don't want to stay are the ones who couldn't cut the mustard anyway..
Goat sex free since 2001
Ok, let me set a stage for everyone:
the year, 1993. The place, Borders. The question, What to buy, a copy of 2600, or a pack of Alpha for 3.00?
I bought 2600. So sue me. I eventually found MtG. I thought it was cool. But I wanted the issue more. That's how it is. but enough preaching.
I have gone to schools where MTG is outlawed. I have been kicked out due to the fact I used a pestalence(sp), and vampire deck. I have made many a religous person cringe when they hear me talk. And that was part of the fun. Magic the Gathering was my game, and every geeks game that wanted to piss off the status quo.
I stopped playing the first time I saw a commercial for MTG on MTV. It was a fake game putting "the hammer" against some other guy. With Carson Daley giving the play by play, and screwing up the names. It was a message that I had lost my only means of being 'leet.
I went back in the day I saw Unglued. And it was worth it. I gave my money for a pure fun game. That was the last set I ever bought, and that's the reason I got out and am staying out. It's over folks. Sorry, but admit it. So don't buy boosters for an exorbanant amount of money. Play with what you got, and be happy with that.
MaRk
Alas, poor clippy, I loath him so.
I remember the good old, old, old days of Magic, because I grew up in the town where it was created, Walla Walla WA., where Garfield taught at the fine institution of Whitman College.
Growing up, I used to play games with playtesters, designers, art coordinators, people cards were modeled after, and Garfield himself all in the upstairs loft area of a downtown craft store just blocks from my house. It was fairly close-knit: at any one time I would know almost all of the people there, though it never was much bigger than 14 or 15 at the best. A family friend who worked for Wizards used to give my brother, my friend and me packs of Arabians, Alphas or Betas for doing yard work or other tasks.
My brother and I, and a few of our friends were hooked. We bought countless cards, boxes and boxes, back when they were only sold in a handful of shops, occasionally cleaning out the inventory between three or four of us. Cards were all we ever asked for. I have dozens of autographed cards; many that were signed because I won them on ante, most because the people who signed them didn't expect much to ever come out of the game. I didn't expect much either, and I have kicked my self on occasion for not capitalizing on it better by selling when the selling was good. Oh well. The point is, everyone was taken by surprise by the explosion of popularity.
Magic faded from the spotlight. Now all those cards are in boxes in my parents' house. The original crew has moved away (save for one very sketchy dude who I see at the Safeway every once in a while). The friendly old craft store... now a cold and corporate Starbucks. I am now a student (as is one of my best friends from those Magic days) at the wonderful Whitman College (Bio-physics Bio-chem combined major). I've told people here this story, kids who grew up elsewhere playing Magic, no one believes me. All the evidence has evaporated, and It isn't mentioned anywhere in the "history". One day, out of the blue, came vindication: my friend (whom I have know since those days) stumbled across one of Garfield's old tests, still on file.
"Cheeze it!" - Bender
Just recently what I believe WotC considered it's "Crown Jewel" store on the Ave in the University district of Seattle closed. It had a lot of things, full enclosure Battletech simulators (which doubled for another game, too), a huge arcade, PC games, retail store, large downstairs gaming area.... that was poorly lit and a general hang out for druggies. Kinda reflects on the culture just a teensy bit (hrm. PokeCrack, RealCrack). Other than the downstairs "stuff" it was a really cool place. If they had just added more lights I don't think it would have been such an issue. I miss the battletech pods ;(.
The ajoining resteraunt (Dalmuti's) wasn't so bad either, as a hangout anyway.
The actual situation is that Black Isle has a contract that gives them rights to make D&D games for the next year to two years. After that, Infogrames has exclusive rights to produce computer games based on Hasbro properties (including D&D) for 10 to 15 years. Though they can in turn, license those rights to another company - black isle for example, they won't because Interplay which Black Isle Studios is affiliated with is a direct competitior to Infogrames. For those interested in the issue, check out Desslock's RPG News. Recently he has had a lot of news/editorials regarding it.
I played magic since revised came out in blegium and keep playing until Tempest or smthg like that. At the end i wasn't buying as much cards as before. I was testing decks playing online games with apprentice (a soft to play online) and then, when i was comfortable with the deck, i just had to buy the few cards i needed to play on small local tournements...
Then i quit, having no more time to play as i was traveling. and more than that, WotC had made shut down apprentice site. smthg about copyright... A few month ago i find out that apprentice was still there, that WotC actually let them make the software (did they lost the trial?) and that many ppl where playing on-line magic. Now i'm a casual on-line player. i don't have to buy any cards and i can play any legal or ilegal deck i want, having virtually all the cards i want. i just have to find opponent on the IRC.
I also play casual games with friends with my 2000+ cards (enough to build several strong and funny deck).
It's fun and all in all i really think paying that much money when i was a kid was worth it. I mean, all my friend spend as much money in CD, other games,... and they don't enjoy it anymore. I still enjoy my cards and the rules and skills i learned...
Of course in typical geek fashion the loosers who write the game could probably succeed if they put a tenth the effort that they put into the game into setting up gang bangs. It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.
The games industry tends to be faddish, they come and go. These days even Pokemon is showing signs it has run its course.
The toy business is pretty cut throat and margins are pretty lousy. Consider the number of people you need to write and sell an RPG manual compared to a 'dummies guide' or the like, then think how many copies you are likely to sell.
I suspect that an open source RPG scene could be constructed. After all most of the fun of RPG is invented by the players anyway. The key would be to find some way to use the net to collaborate and to find someone who could keep the whole project together - making sure that the relative strengths of trolls, goblins and dragons was sensible.
It would also be a good plan for folk to work out some way of using a computer to do the druge work of managing the rules.
I think it would be eminently doable by someone with enough Perl hacking abilities and time.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
btw, i still got a buttload of old magic cards that're taking up space in my apartment. anyone interested, email me. i'll be glad to be rid of them.
In my opinion, Atkinson never felt the need to change himself, it was a need dictated from outside. After that, when he brought in numerous consultants, again because he didn't know what to do. In the case as presented, as least one cunsultant wasn't worth his salt.
With Atkinson having no clue where to lead the company to, and his employees increasingly frustrated by the large amount of fairly clueless consultants, the demise of WOTC was inevitable.
What Atkinson should have done was not listen to outsiders, but that is a: impractical and b: holds an inherent danger of becoming isolated from the corporate world. If he really felt a change in the corporate culture at WOTC was needed, he should have communicated it loud and clear to everyone in the company, make sure everyone supports it (by whatever means) and the clearly lead the way. His failure to do so cost him WOTC. We will see what Hasbro will make of it, but I am rather pessimistic.
That is really a sad story... I hate to see people's visions being blown to the wind. I studied Technical Business Managment for four years, but I never finshed it because I couldn't agree with the policies of modern companies. Is there ONE company that still cares more about people than money? If so, where can I sign up? Signed, a sad reader and devoted fanatsy-fan. By the way, I hated it when Wizards of the Coast bought TSR, but I know they may have died if they didn't. I always thought that TSR was one of those companies who cared about people and gaes and not money.
--- Life is what Happens while you Make other Plans ---
--- Life is what Happens while you Make other Plans ---
Rahvin
Man, that sounds so much like Furbies (except there are no advanced rules for Furbies; waitasec, I think I smell a marketing oppertunity.)
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www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
The game was really fun until you figured out that after you obtain a certain skill level, all that mattered was what cards you drew and if you drew them fast enough...... and then it became no fun.
The funnest was building a deck useing commons only and playing with your friends. That showed true skill, strategy, and inventiveness. In fact, it's the only reason I still keep my cards.
I was flat broke in school at the time MtG, and CCGs as a genre, made their move to displace board games (and even RPG). So I missed that boat completely.
At least WoTC started out correctly, but the articles tell of a CEO who fell into the trap of letting the ancillaries and externals (non-R&D, non-production, (external?) Board of Directors, etc) set the direction of the company.
Bad, bad, mistake.
I just hope Cheapass Games doesn't go the same route (or is produced by a similarly-styled company).
The American Dream went to hell in a handbasket when someone decided that "The Customer" was King, and the customer beli
www.ebayrp.bizland.com Thats my MMORPG I'll release... Since gaming companies have gotten so shitty, I can make a sucessful title and I don't even need money to back me.
God spoke to me
It sucks when you learn the instant kill you on the first turn move is suddenly allowed!!!! You knew about a killer deck but you heard an official statement that it was illegal... but just so happens the ruling changed. Guess what, turn 1, you're dead... Happens all the time, same with cheating players, whining players, and uber strict players... I almost fucking beat the shit out of the person I was playing against once because he was lying to a judge. I quit after that realizing how lame it was.
God spoke to me
Seriously, they never developed a space genre that was fun... It seemed like they had tons of good ideas, but no good rules to back em up.
God spoke to me
Tom Dusenberry, who was president of Hasbro Interactive and worked in Hasbro's aquisitions group before that, had been trying to buy WOTC for years before the deal was finally done. Around 95 Hasbro passed up a chance to buy WOTC for $5 million. Dusenberry wanted them to do it and they passed. Then WOTC became big, Tom got to say "I told you so" and got promoted. WOTC decided to sell itself beacuse all the investors had stock options they could not sell. They, quite understandably, wanted to turn their paper money into real money. Most of them, like Peter Adkinson, were ready to get out anyway. The layoffs at WOTC were part of a Hasbro wide layoff. When Alan Hassenfled tells your business unit to lose X number of people, you lose X number of people. The reason they were in such trouble was the giant failure of the Star Wars: Phantom Menace line. They paid a BILLION dollars for rights, and it tanked. Hasbro sold off Hasbro Interactive because the toy industry execs just did not get the computer game industry. They did okay when they were small and did just a few well choosen products, but got the idea than any Hasbro brand would make a good computer game. They also got seduced by wacky ideas like their line of E-mail games, which were fun but had no market. I do not know for sure if this influenced Hasbro's decision to sell the computer rights to WOTC's games, but the WOTC guy in charge of their computer division royally pissed off some Hasbro Interactive decision makers. They also showed less grasp of the computer game industry than the Hasbro Interactive Execs, which was scary. While I only knew a few WOTC employees, they were very nice people.
It's good to see someone post a long religious rant on Slashdot. Unexpected. And diversity you know, I like that.
It's even better when it isn't moderated to hell.
And I pretty much agree with you that using ones imagination is not sin. I do not however believe Jesus was making a cryptic joke in the adultery passage. Rather, I think he was talking about thinking as in wanting to. If you imagine being unfaithful, or killing someone, or worshipping alien gods (We used to do such things a lot in our roleplaying sessions. Ahhh, the nostalgia!), you aren't sinning (according to Christ as I understand him that is) unless you actually _want_ to do those things.
And that's a whole different biscuit.
xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
Wizards has been around for quite a while now producing excellent games, and single handedly saving a well loved industry. Without Wizards, a lot of the local comic book and game stores would be out of business. Let's face it, a store owner can't make a lot of money selling $1.99 comics, especially with the dirth of crap that gets published today. These types of stores are getting increasingly reliant on CCGs (Collectable Card Games) which Wizards pioneered. Magic and Pokemon provide a steady source of income for store owners, since every three months, and sometimes more frequently, a new set gets released. The players have to purchase loads of packs, at $3.29 each, to get the best cards to play.
Then comes the tournament level of play. Wizards of the Coast gives away over over 3 million dollars a year through its Pro Tour and Gran Prix system for Magic. To get invited to a Pro Tour, a player must compete and win a Pro Tour Qualifier. Usually these qualifiers are usually held in local comic book/game stores. Depending on locale, these qualifiers can attract anywhere from 30-200 people at $20-25 a head. Add this to the various side events at $10-15 a head, and the day ends up being a profitable one for the organizer, and for the player. A chance to qualify for the "Big Time" and compete in a single tournamet with a $25,000 prize is enough of a draw for most players to come a spend a few bucks. It is this system that continues to move cards for Wizards and singles dealers.
Pokemon almost destroyed Wizards, at least from my standpoint. When Pokemon hit big in the US, it was decided that the first run of all the sets would be placed in various chain stores before they got to the local game stores. When the supplies ran out, and a lot of stores did not get their ordered shipments...you can guess what happened. Hopefully now that Pokemon is dead, and Wizards shed most of its Pokemon related budget, this will not happen again. At the game store I worked at we had a few incidents of kids and parents getting into fistfights over our very limited supply of Pokemon cards. Pissed off customers tend to not hang around and buy a new copy of Settlers of Cataan, or the latest Heavy Metal issue.
Magic singles are still a pretty hot commodity, so everyone with old collections, you may be able to get quite a little payday for your old cards. Old cards are frequently auctioned on Ebay, and there are a lot of places on the web that buy and sell cards. Try visiting here or here. Both of these sites will pay decent amounts for the more powerful older cards, and will pay a premium for cards in mint or near mint condition. Or you can mail them to me, and I will keep and cherish them forever.
Wizards also produces dozens of other CCGs and board games, some really bad (WWF Raw Deal and BattleTech CCG for example), and some very, very good. Do yourself a favor, and visit your local game store and pick up a copy of RoboRally, or get back into Magic! It's still just as fun as it was when you started playing, only now it's a bit more expensive and tour friends are a little more likely to make fun of you, now that they have seen those dumb !ss commercials.
-JasonI've never played M:TG and I guess that now's not a good time to start, according to what I've heard anyways.
I know this is a little off topic, but I play the Pokémon CCG for fun with my friends, and I think it's pretty much the same that's going on with Magic with what I have heard.
Players just take decks off the internet and play the game with no strategy and also pick on the newbies.
Not only that, but translation problems and crybabies.
I think these problems came faster with Pokémon than with M:TG since Magic has been around for much longer.
Oh well, now I gotta find another good CCG to play with I guess.
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I miss those days that you could use a light gun playing video games and people won't think you're a killer