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.
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.
----
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
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.
I know Christians who believe that D&D is evil. In fact, some of them believe that ANYTHING that distracts one from worship of God is EVIL.
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.
"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
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.
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
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
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 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 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!
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.
*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.
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
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
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 personally don't know any Christian who views D&D as "evil" in any way. You make it sound as if just thinking about spellcasting will cause you to be tempted by Satan, and that's just plain absurd. I play D&D regularly, and I have never known or even heard of anyone being drawn to Satan because of it.
I hate to break it to you, but D&D really is just a game. If you can point to any evidence otherwise, please do so. But until then, all you're doing is giving Christianity a bad name.
--
Lord Nimon
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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...
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.
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
--
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.
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
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.
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
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
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.
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.
-Jason