so Every card pack could potentially have the 1 card you need,
so you buy 4000 card packs and still don't get the 1 card you need,
so you buy 4000 more packs of cards and still missing that 1 card hahah
MaGIC definitely takes advantage of the people who cant help but Overspend ^__^
it is the exact same as buying chests for Real money in online games...Hopeing you get that 1 rare of Masterfull beauty
Its not like that at all. You are forgetting that in every single pack there is a card that is equal in value to the one you are looking for. So if you don't get the one you are looking for then surely you have a ton of cards you can trade for it very easily.
What's funny is that I know a couple of folks who have spent all their savings on MTG cards.
The problem is poeple who don't have a way of controlling their impulsive spending - no game or publisher can fix that.
MTG is designed to have players spend a LOT on cards, so maybe he should apply his own manifesto in practice to his own game?
Well when it first started you could compete in any tournament with 200$ quite easily. But with each expansion comes more and more that can add value to those decks. When looking at current builds you don't need all the cards in the next expansion you could easily improve your current deck with 10-40$ depending on the deck of course. And the stuff you have is actually valuable and tradeable. Unlike mmo's you just have something you are stuck with and cannot sell or trade it.
What's funny is that I know a couple of folks who have spent all their savings on MTG cards.
The problem is poeple who don't have a way of controlling their impulsive spending - no game or publisher can fix that.
MTG is designed to have players spend a LOT on cards, so maybe he should apply his own manifesto in practice to his own game?
I haven't played MTG for years, but i did get in on the game through friends, pretty much when it first began, lot of fun, even entered into a small tournament, official rules, and discovered that older card sets were banned and that you could only use the newer sets. I never bothered with it again. MTG, when TCG's are about chuck out the old and bring in the new, all the time, i have a problem with that, because half the time it looks like they are just reskinning old cards artwork and names etc. not that old cards are OP or anything.
If you are thinking around 1995 then the reason they didn't allow the older cards is because it made the game unfair and more p2w then it did enjoy to play. They had cards worth over 300$ back then you could get from the old sets but not in the new sets and they made the game completely unfair. That is why they had tournament rules for different styles. National tournaments allowed 1 black lotus per deck. Other tournaments wouldn't allow the black lotus at all. It all depended on the level of competetion on what decks were allowed.
Although I tend to agree with what he's saying, it's an odd source considering how MTG is sort of the model for loot boxes lol.
ESO even gives you a "card game" cutscene with theirs:
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Developers have taken the joy from progression and used it in the exact same way casino's use jackpots. They lure you in to spend money you really can't afford to lose in hopes of hitting it big. They know this because it's a proving fact that gambling addiction is a disease. In all honesty, game companies have legalized gambling and I'm surprised they have gotten away with it for as long as they have.
You don't even have to get into a discussion about gambling addiction. Gambling is just the most common and codified way of being lured into trying to get "something for nothing." It's what con men have been relying on since there have been cons and why casinos are so lucrative. And most of their earnings are not coming from addicts... it's a temptation for just about everyone.
Hell I buy lottery tickets now and then. Don't most of us do that?
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Well, something that needs to be cleared up here. Richard Garfield designed the game of Magic the Gathering and that's it. Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro are behind the business model and how the game is distributed. So people saying "This is funny coming from the guy who make cardboard crack" when he only made the game and not the business model on how the cards are sold nor is he even still with WotC to change how the game is nowadays. Most game designers help make the game and then move on which usually has no influence in card design later in the games life. Richard Garfield especially has moved on to make and consult on a bunch of different games. So you can't blame him on how a business handles something he help make.
Pretty much what i and many others are well aware of and talk about often.We didn't really need to hear from someone who knows well how to EXPLOIT gamer's. I don't like to flat out use the term "addiction"because although often true,not always true.
Example i spent a boatload on MTG,i found it a FUN game,however when i started to feel like the business model was getting out of hand,i abruptly quit and for good.I did the exact same thing with Hearthstone,i still play a bit but i refuse to give them any more money.I actually am a bit peeved at how many people cannot see the obvious abuse of gamer's that Blizzard is pulling over their eyes.
Look also at a so called kids game,Wizard 101 and even P101,both are extremely abusive of addicted spenders.
One area i always look at is what i consider FAIR versus greed.I have almost never,perhaps 99% of the time, i see abuse and ripping gamer's off.The few games/models that i consider fair most often are also very shallow some what boring games,so as always,you get what you pay for.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Well, something that needs to be cleared up here. Richard Garfield designed the game of Magic the Gathering and that's it. Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro are behind the business model and how the game is distributed. So people saying "This is funny coming from the guy who make cardboard crack" when he only made the game and not the business model on how the cards are sold nor is he even still with WotC to change how the game is nowadays. Most game designers help make the game and then move on which usually has no influence in card design later in the games life. Richard Garfield especially has moved on to make and consult on a bunch of different games. So you can't blame him on how a business handles something he help make.
Oh come on. He designed a COLLECTIBLE card game. Or do you think he designed a game where you get all the cards for a set price and there would never be any new cards?
RNG card packs are an integral part of what he designed.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
I go to a steak house and they make a great steak. So good I want to go there on a regular basis. Have I been skinnerboxed?
The steak house next door serves a bad steak. Should I prefer that because I am not being skinnerboxed?
Did they give you your steak in small portions which were incrementally more expensive? Were some portions not as good as they were made out to be? Did they have a steak eating competition were you felt compelled to eat yours as fast as possible, get out and return to eat another as fast as possible again? Did you have countless side dishes distracting from the steak which you were forced to eat?
The cash shop/casino model being talked about is now common in some way or another to the baulk of games with multiplayer. It is not about having the best of anything other than revenue for the company.
That said Garfield helped push what was the cash/casino model of its time, trading cards. So there is a certain amount of irony here. To be fair trading card games meant paying up front, no putting the burden of revenue on relatively a small proportion of players. But its just a matter of finding what player scam will work in any particular era. Gotta have them all!
As a serious card MTG player in the local community for a few years, I found it funny to read him say that.
First some back ground:
I no longer play due to time commitments but for the few years I played I spent $50 to $100 every week on cards. Every quarter I would buy $500 to $750 on the day the new set was released. (It was disposable income so it did not affect me in a negative way financially) There were a few of us like that at the local shop. I had not thought of it until now but I guess we were the "whales."
The only boosters I purchased were the big buy each quarter so I could get all the commons and uncommons. After that my weekly purchases were to fill out my collection or pick up specific cards for a deck I was working on. Again I only spent money that was allocated to "fun." I was also a collector so I did not trade anything until I had 4 of that card. (when I quit I sold off my collection)
What I did see that bothered me were the people who were tight on money. They could not just buy the card or cards they needed for a deck. So they would spend their $5 or $10 of disposable income on packs each week hoping to get the rare they wanted. Things were so tight for them and they did not have extra cards of value to trade. It is just like buying loot boxes. VERY rarely did it ever work out for them.
Maybe MTG is not exactly like loot boxes but it is pretty darn close! People who can't afford to just buy what they want for the game gamble hoping to pull it out of a random pack.
There is a clear difference here that a lot of people are ignoring. Yes it required you to purchase quite a few rng packs of cards. But you nearly always got something worth having. And you could trade it for something else if you needed to. The mmo rng world gives you a bunch of crap you can hardly ever use and most of the time you cannot do anything with it other then stuff it in a bank somewhere. And the good thing is the cards hold their value over the years whereas the digital loot goods are pretty much worthless the moment you buy them.
I go to a steak house and they make a great steak. So good I want to go there on a regular basis. Have I been skinnerboxed?
The steak house next door serves a bad steak. Should I prefer that because I am not being skinnerboxed?
Well, your analogy was close, but not quite. It would go more like this in regards to the article.
You go to a steak house and they make a great steak. So good that you want to go there on a regular basis. However, in order to enjoy that juicy steak, you need to buy the table, the chair, the plate, the silverware and everything else normally needed to enjoy the steak. If you don't, you can't really enjoy the steak to the fullest extent now can you? Sure, you don't need all those things to eat the steak, but it does make it much more enjoyable.
It wasn't an analogy although it easily could confuse you into thinking it was. Product should be made in a way that is desirable rather than the opposite. That includes addictive things.
What is really objectionable to this whole addiction approach is that it really absolves people of their choices. People should find that offensive.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
The guy is just telling it like it is. He's not claiming any kind of moral superiority. He's been doing this kind of shit for a long time, he knows what he's talking about. Don't discount what he's saying because you think he's just as bad. He is just as bad, it's the type of thing that's inspired these payment models.
The guy is just telling it like it is. He's not claiming any kind of moral superiority. He's been doing this kind of shit for a long time, he knows what he's talking about. Don't discount what he's saying because you think he's just as bad. He is just as bad, it's the type of thing that's inspired these payment models.
In a sense he's a great speaker on the matter since he's got firsthand experience even!
Joking aside, whether or not he does something himself and even if it's a case of pot calling the kettle black, as Laserit said it doesn't really invalidate the point that is being made.
It's not like it's a new phenomena either. It's something that's been harped about for quite a while now.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
If you were opening packs of magic cards to get 1 particular card then you were doing it wrong. You were suppose to build decks out of the cards you had and when you needed something you just buy that 1 card for like 4$ or trade someone for it.
so Every card pack could potentially have the 1 card you need,
so you buy 4000 card packs and still don't get the 1 card you need,
so you buy 4000 more packs of cards and still missing that 1 card hahah
MaGIC definitely takes advantage of the people who cant help but Overspend ^__^
it is the exact same as buying chests for Real money in online games...Hopeing you get that 1 rare of Masterfull beauty
Magic is in a way worse, you wont get a black lotus no matter how many boxes you open but for the really tough formats you need the lotus and 5 mox cards if you want the chance to win and those cards have been out of print since '94 and the cheapest Lotus you can find is around $4000 unless you go for Collectors edition (which is banned in most tournaments and still is $500).
But the thing with Magic is that it is a very simple game to learn but hard to master and it is fun both for 2 players and in multiplayer, or the game would have been dead 20 years ago like Spellfire.
I think the real lesson from Magic is that you can get away with charging players a lot if the game is fun enough. Many magicplayers have been in since 93-94 and still plays while MMO players tend to quit fast so I think there are things MMOs can learn from Magic but not stealing direct mechanics, more the principle behind them (even though a MMO where your skills comes from a deck so you get random attacks from a list you built could have some potential).
The guy is just telling it like it is. He's not claiming any kind of moral superiority. He's been doing this kind of shit for a long time, he knows what he's talking about. Don't discount what he's saying because you think he's just as bad. He is just as bad, it's the type of thing that's inspired these payment models.
In a sense he's a great speaker on the matter since he's got firsthand experience even!
Joking aside, whether or not he does something himself and even if it's a case of pot calling the kettle black, as Laserit said it doesn't really invalidate the point that is being made.
It's not like it's a new phenomena either. It's something that's been harped about for quite a while now.
Then again he's not telling us something we don't already know. So why even post the obvious as if we need validation from the source of poke. "Hey, someone's been pissing on you!", said the guy zipping up his fly.
Kinda, but at the same time it's an admission that there is something wrong with the practices of an industry from someone who is associated with those practices. It's of value at least for the fact that it shows a growing self awareness of the situation.
Because of that, it's more like a glimmer of hope that other figureheads of the industry that drives such behavior will also meet the same revelation and things will improve/evolve more. So it's nothing new, but the more that chime in the better, and that goes doubly when it's such a person as him.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
so Every card pack could potentially have the 1 card you need,
so you buy 4000 card packs and still don't get the 1 card you need,
so you buy 4000 more packs of cards and still missing that 1 card hahah
MaGIC definitely takes advantage of the people who cant help but Overspend ^__^
it is the exact same as buying chests for Real money in online games...Hopeing you get that 1 rare of Masterfull beauty
Magic is in a way worse, you wont get a black lotus no matter how many boxes you open but for the really tough formats you need the lotus and 5 mox cards if you want the chance to win and those cards have been out of print since '94 and the cheapest Lotus you can find is around $4000 unless you go for Collectors edition (which is banned in most tournaments and still is $500).
But the thing with Magic is that it is a very simple game to learn but hard to master and it is fun both for 2 players and in multiplayer, or the game would have been dead 20 years ago like Spellfire.
I think the real lesson from Magic is that you can get away with charging players a lot if the game is fun enough. Many magicplayers have been in since 93-94 and still plays while MMO players tend to quit fast so I think there are things MMOs can learn from Magic but not stealing direct mechanics, more the principle behind them (even though a MMO where your skills comes from a deck so you get random attacks from a list you built could have some potential).
Yea everyone here seems to be focusing on getting 1 card. It takes a lot more then 1 card to make a deck and that 1 card isn't going to make that huge of a difference at all. Like Loke said they have 6 cards that are essential to win national tournaments. But we are talking about national tournaments here not local ones. Playing with your friends. If you wanted 1 card then you would buy that 1 card and it was never essential to winning. I never felt that way ever. And if I wanted a particular card to improve a deck I would simply buy it or trade my friends for it. You never buy packs hoping to get 1 card. The packs are to help expand your collection so you can have different builds.
I mean no offense, seriously I do not, but all the players that buy packs as well as individual cards are supporting this exact same business model. I see people saying that because I spend my money my way there is nothing wrong with that and while it is true it is also a form of denial. Just remember you are looking for the extreme examples of those player purchases and saying" as long as I'm not like that guy that spent a stupid amount on one card what I'm doing is fine"
It's a game and a collection and if you enjoy it great. Just don't go overboard and do what you can afford. Generally if you can tell a family member or a friend the truth on your expenditures it isn't a problem and you aren't lying to yourself or others. Those that can't are the ones that may have a real problem.
The question is how much does it cost to play this game to feel like I am having fun. When there is no concrete answer or that answer keeps inflating is when there is trouble.
The TCG market isn't nearly as exploitative as the digital lootbox market, because you have total control over the assets you purchase. Even dead games have cards that are worth large sums of money, like foil Mitsunari Yanigashiwa's Territories from the YuYu Hakusho card game, or Bolshack Dragon from Dual Masters. when a TCG no longer gets support, you can still play the game. you still have the assets you purchased, even if their value has decreased, and you can sell them or buy what you need whenever you need it. At any point, I could buy any set of cards I needed for any MTG tournament that is being run at any given time. Most lockbox RNG games you can't even do that, and when the game shuts down, so goes your money.
The TCG market isn't nearly as exploitative as the digital lootbox market, because you have total control over the assets you purchase. Even dead games have cards that are worth large sums of money, like foil Mitsunari Yanigashiwa's Territories from the YuYu Hakusho card game, or Bolshack Dragon from Dual Masters. when a TCG no longer gets support, you can still play the game. you still have the assets you purchased, even if their value has decreased, and you can sell them or buy what you need whenever you need it. At any point, I could buy any set of cards I needed for any MTG tournament that is being run at any given time. Most lockbox RNG games you can't even do that, and when the game shuts down, so goes your money.
I don't know what your definition of "nearly" is, but your cards are as good until one of two things happen. Until the TCG no longer exists, like the star wars one from back in the 90s. Until the cards disappear.
Using MTG as the benchmark is like saying that WoW is the benchmark for MMOs. The reality of the situation is that you might invest in some TCG that's wildly popular at the time, it'll die and nobody will be left to play with you, your cards are now, for all intents and purposes, useless. Whether it's digital or not doesn't really matter they'll both be trashed at some point.
Granted, I'll agree that you can't trade them. However, I think that brings a whole other element into the game that the community at large has given thumbs down to. D3 RMT is a prime example.
Kinda kettle calling the pot black here. I play MTGO alot and it is nothing but a cash sink. Sure you can buy certain cards outright, but many are expensive. There should be some form of monetary barrier in a CCG, but its just silly he is pointing a finger a others when card packs are basically a gamble and give a "high" when you open a pack. One difference though is cards retain value and many fall and rise much like a stock market. I've made thousands playing the system and predicting which will become valuable(such as gaea's cradle after the mana burn removal).
That being said I hate how all games are going cash shop routes, p2w, f2p and day 1 dlc.
The TCG market isn't nearly as exploitative as the digital lootbox market, because you have total control over the assets you purchase. Even dead games have cards that are worth large sums of money, like foil Mitsunari Yanigashiwa's Territories from the YuYu Hakusho card game, or Bolshack Dragon from Dual Masters. when a TCG no longer gets support, you can still play the game. you still have the assets you purchased, even if their value has decreased, and you can sell them or buy what you need whenever you need it. At any point, I could buy any set of cards I needed for any MTG tournament that is being run at any given time. Most lockbox RNG games you can't even do that, and when the game shuts down, so goes your money.
I don't know what your definition of "nearly" is, but your cards are as good until one of two things happen. Until the TCG no longer exists, like the star wars one from back in the 90s. Until the cards disappear.
Using MTG as the benchmark is like saying that WoW is the benchmark for MMOs. The reality of the situation is that you might invest in some TCG that's wildly popular at the time, it'll die and nobody will be left to play with you, your cards are now, for all intents and purposes, useless. Whether it's digital or not doesn't really matter they'll both be trashed at some point.
Granted, I'll agree that you can't trade them. However, I think that brings a whole other element into the game that the community at large has given thumbs down to. D3 RMT is a prime example.
I have to disagree. even games that are 10 years past their supported life still have players. In Atlanta, GA if you post on a Hobby Store's facebook page about wanting to play the Star Wars TCG, you will find players, and you can still play with them. At conventions there are tournaments for dead games, like Score DBZ TCG. There are still community meetups for popular, well designed games, and there are still collectors of those older cards.
your cards are still functional. they still have the text printed on them, and if two people have decks, they can still play against each other. This is not possible for digital goods you've purchased. if two people had max leveled characters in Dragon's Prophet and bought enough stable space for all their high level dragons, they can't show them off to each other.
That makes sense, pantheron, if you are able to find people to play with. You are after all buying a tangible asset which could be resold in a worldwide marketplace like ebay or something. Yeah the value might decrease but it still has some tangible worth which is nice.
There are of course people with cards they bought at a premium when it was big and they can't find anyone to play with though. There are some pretty cool card games(and board games) out there that are all inclusive or the rng aspect is removed by making all cards available to anyone that owns it so you can simply get someone new to the game to play whenever you want. All your friends quit, oh well I own it all so my nephew can learn to play when he comes to visit sort of thing.
I don't know what a bolshack dragon is or what dual masters is but can you find people to play with and will they keep playing with you because you always win because you own the super dragon rare card. If you live in a big city or travel to group play you probably can, but maybe not.
The super collectible games with rng packs and rare cards cater to people who are collectors and gamblers as well as gamers and while it's a fair business model from the owners profit standpoint it doesnt favor the gamer. The same can be said for computer games that do the same thing.
They have to make money to be successful and to continue to operate so the question becomes when do they get too greedy. If you own the business the answer is "never" and if you are a gamer the answer is likely "way too often".
Comments
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
ESO even gives you a "card game" cutscene with theirs:
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Hell I buy lottery tickets now and then. Don't most of us do that?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I don't like to flat out use the term "addiction"because although often true,not always true.
Example i spent a boatload on MTG,i found it a FUN game,however when i started to feel like the business model was getting out of hand,i abruptly quit and for good.I did the exact same thing with Hearthstone,i still play a bit but i refuse to give them any more money.I actually am a bit peeved at how many people cannot see the obvious abuse of gamer's that Blizzard is pulling over their eyes.
Look also at a so called kids game,Wizard 101 and even P101,both are extremely abusive of addicted spenders.
One area i always look at is what i consider FAIR versus greed.I have almost never,perhaps 99% of the time, i see abuse and ripping gamer's off.The few games/models that i consider fair most often are also very shallow some what boring games,so as always,you get what you pay for.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
RNG card packs are an integral part of what he designed.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Did they give you your steak in small portions which were incrementally more expensive? Were some portions not as good as they were made out to be? Did they have a steak eating competition were you felt compelled to eat yours as fast as possible, get out and return to eat another as fast as possible again? Did you have countless side dishes distracting from the steak which you were forced to eat?
The cash shop/casino model being talked about is now common in some way or another to the baulk of games with multiplayer. It is not about having the best of anything other than revenue for the company.
That said Garfield helped push what was the cash/casino model of its time, trading cards. So there is a certain amount of irony here.
First some back ground:
I no longer play due to time commitments but for the few years I played I spent $50 to $100 every week on cards. Every quarter I would buy $500 to $750 on the day the new set was released. (It was disposable income so it did not affect me in a negative way financially) There were a few of us like that at the local shop. I had not thought of it until now but I guess we were the "whales."
The only boosters I purchased were the big buy each quarter so I could get all the commons and uncommons. After that my weekly purchases were to fill out my collection or pick up specific cards for a deck I was working on. Again I only spent money that was allocated to "fun." I was also a collector so I did not trade anything until I had 4 of that card. (when I quit I sold off my collection)
What I did see that bothered me were the people who were tight on money. They could not just buy the card or cards they needed for a deck. So they would spend their $5 or $10 of disposable income on packs each week hoping to get the rare they wanted. Things were so tight for them and they did not have extra cards of value to trade. It is just like buying loot boxes. VERY rarely did it ever work out for them.
Maybe MTG is not exactly like loot boxes but it is pretty darn close! People who can't afford to just buy what they want for the game gamble hoping to pull it out of a random pack.
It wasn't an analogy although it easily could confuse you into thinking it was. Product should be made in a way that is desirable rather than the opposite. That includes addictive things.
What is really objectionable to this whole addiction approach is that it really absolves people of their choices. People should find that offensive.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Joking aside, whether or not he does something himself and even if it's a case of pot calling the kettle black, as Laserit said it doesn't really invalidate the point that is being made.
It's not like it's a new phenomena either. It's something that's been harped about for quite a while now.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
But the thing with Magic is that it is a very simple game to learn but hard to master and it is fun both for 2 players and in multiplayer, or the game would have been dead 20 years ago like Spellfire.
I think the real lesson from Magic is that you can get away with charging players a lot if the game is fun enough. Many magicplayers have been in since 93-94 and still plays while MMO players tend to quit fast so I think there are things MMOs can learn from Magic but not stealing direct mechanics, more the principle behind them (even though a MMO where your skills comes from a deck so you get random attacks from a list you built could have some potential).
Because of that, it's more like a glimmer of hope that other figureheads of the industry that drives such behavior will also meet the same revelation and things will improve/evolve more. So it's nothing new, but the more that chime in the better, and that goes doubly when it's such a person as him.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
It's a game and a collection and if you enjoy it great. Just don't go overboard and do what you can afford. Generally if you can tell a family member or a friend the truth on your expenditures it isn't a problem and you aren't lying to yourself or others. Those that can't are the ones that may have a real problem.
The question is how much does it cost to play this game to feel like I am having fun. When there is no concrete answer or that answer keeps inflating is when there is trouble.
I play MMOs for the Forum PVP
I don't know what your definition of "nearly" is, but your cards are as good until one of two things happen. Until the TCG no longer exists, like the star wars one from back in the 90s. Until the cards disappear.
Using MTG as the benchmark is like saying that WoW is the benchmark for MMOs. The reality of the situation is that you might invest in some TCG that's wildly popular at the time, it'll die and nobody will be left to play with you, your cards are now, for all intents and purposes, useless. Whether it's digital or not doesn't really matter they'll both be trashed at some point.
Granted, I'll agree that you can't trade them. However, I think that brings a whole other element into the game that the community at large has given thumbs down to. D3 RMT is a prime example.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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That being said I hate how all games are going cash shop routes, p2w, f2p and day 1 dlc.
MurderHerd
your cards are still functional. they still have the text printed on them, and if two people have decks, they can still play against each other. This is not possible for digital goods you've purchased. if two people had max leveled characters in Dragon's Prophet and bought enough stable space for all their high level dragons, they can't show them off to each other.
I play MMOs for the Forum PVP
There are of course people with cards they bought at a premium when it was big and they can't find anyone to play with though. There are some pretty cool card games(and board games) out there that are all inclusive or the rng aspect is removed by making all cards available to anyone that owns it so you can simply get someone new to the game to play whenever you want. All your friends quit, oh well I own it all so my nephew can learn to play when he comes to visit sort of thing.
I don't know what a bolshack dragon is or what dual masters is but can you find people to play with and will they keep playing with you because you always win because you own the super dragon rare card. If you live in a big city or travel to group play you probably can, but maybe not.
The super collectible games with rng packs and rare cards cater to people who are collectors and gamblers as well as gamers and while it's a fair business model from the owners profit standpoint it doesnt favor the gamer. The same can be said for computer games that do the same thing.
They have to make money to be successful and to continue to operate so the question becomes when do they get too greedy. If you own the business the answer is "never" and if you are a gamer the answer is likely "way too often".