Subject: Re:Vampires and Klingons
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 11:16:15 -0400
From: Gakk86 <Gakk86@hotmail.com>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

    In previous posts people have been bashing many aspects of Magic's
storyline.  But one question in regard to this:  What is a GAME without
a story to go behind it?   I admit  that  the storyline for Magic may
not be the best out there, even though some of the books were actually
pretty good.  But the story does provide a basis in which to name the
cards and even determine what the do.  Wizards also has to make money,
and if creating a storyline to go along with their game sells them more
of their products, they should create stories.  People are forgetting
that Wotc is also trying to make money in this capitalist societies.

     In regards to the pictures, I don't see why some people are saying
that they should be stick figures?  What?  Artwork on cards in expected,
and is a very good practice.  If Wotc sells cards to a player or a
person who just wants to look at a picture, they make money
nonetheless.  And, some of the surrealistic artwork is actually quite
good, as well as some of the other paintings.  Do you not see people
lining up to get their cards signed by their favorite artists?  The
artwork on cards makes them attractive, and also makes an effective way
to tell which card is which.  If you've played long enough you can
probably name multitudes of cards by just looking at their picture's.
If the pictures insult you or add displeasure to your Magic experience,
Sharpie markers are cheap and you can always color over the pictures
that offend you so deeply, as this would obviously not lower their value
because "no one" cares about the pictures.

    Also, the 3 Magic mags may not be the best for Magic coverage, but
their are reasons for that also.  Are there not other games than Magic?
Back when Magic was the only CCG, there was little else to cover but
Magic, but now there are hundreds of other CCGs as companies have jumped
on the bandwagon that Wotc has started in motion.  While some of these
other games may not be as good as Magic, there are still players who
play them and those players will buy those mags to see the info on these
games.  Highlander, Legends of the Five Rings, Star Wars, Battletech.
These and others are good games that deserve coverage.  If that means
that Magic does not get the whole mag, then so be it.  Magic is not the
only good game out there anymore.  And as for the inane statement that
all of the Magic articles are worthless, and that all Magic coverage is
worthless, have the persons who made this statement read all of the
Magic coverage?  Maybe it has nothing in it for you, or nothing you let
it give you, but Duelist and occasionally Inquest and Scrye articles
have made me change my deck building or playing approach several times.
And as we are on this line, you really don't have to go through the
obviously downright torturous experience of actually reading a
SUPPLEMENT to the game.

    And as to the comment made in the first post about why "we" play
Magic, I play Magic for a variety of reasons, as obvouisly every other
player does.  Speaking as an ill-informed "we", you said that "we" play
Magic because "we" want fame, power and money through the Pro Tour.  I
would not mind fame, power and money through whatever course brought it
to me, but should I qualify for the Pro Tour, I would at this time not
be able to afford a trip across the US or  to other countries, as would
also be the situation of many other Magic players.  Instead I play Magic
for fun and for the chance to meet other people whose interests are the
same, whether they me male, female, or any race.  I play Magic for fun
and the chance to hang out with my friends.  There are probably a
greater lot who play Magic for fun rather than play Magic just for the
opputunity of fame through the Pro Tour.

   As for the subject of CCGs versus RPGs, play what you like, one or
both, and have fun doing it.  If you enjoy the fantasy, don't let
someone make you ashamed of it.  Fantasy is there as an escape to the
real world, and if you attain it through RPGing or CCGing, so be it. The
two should not compete with each other in any field greater than the
dealership as to which one a gamer buys to satisfy him/herself, as they
are two sides of the same plane.

    The bottom line is that the magazine companies and game publishing
companies are just trying to make money, which is the point of having a
business that makes a product, and while this does not justify the fact
that their products may or may not be shoddy and lacking, it does
explain that they are not doing it without reason or just to torture
you. It is when people forget this that they become ignorant to why
things are made and done.  Wotc and other companies are doing things and
making products to make money and please the individual on the whole,
not to please eveyone's enigmatic, diverse, and distinctly individual
tastes.

    Just my 3 and a half pesos

Grey 'Gakk86' Patterson
Gakk86@hotmail.com