4 ms·

The first time I saw a game of MTG I was instantly hooked. 20 years ago on my way to class I saw some guys playing the game and I stood there watching for a whi

The first time I saw a game of MTG I was instantly hooked. 20 years ago on my way to class I saw some guys playing the game and I stood there watching for a while. I was invited to play and that was it. Played for a few hours, skipped class, walked away with a deck, skipped many, many more classes thereon. Nothing had ever wrapped me in such a way, a delicious combination of fantasy, role playing, strategy, wits and beautiful art. I played the game for many years and even now when I seldom run into my collection (now forgotten in a closet) I remember that first feeling and get a sudden urge to go build a deck. Yet the magic faded until it died, it did when I started to see the business behind it, the artificial scarcity, the product cycle, the content adjustments to target new generations of players, the manipulation, the rules aimed to sell more. The business killed the feeling. I suppose the same thing happened to many Latitude members: they were exposed to a crude reality check (pay to play) which killed the fantasy. It is a big question for all startups: how to not kill that initial true value once you need to monetize.

rhaps0dy 11y ago
Would that pay-to-play feeling have been less bad if the cult had been a nonprofit?
- bikamonki 11y ago
  A nonprofit? Makes no sense. A business is fine. The problem is when the business crosses that thin line and it becomes too aggressive in its profit-seeking. In MTG the game stopped being a casual thing and it became a competition (regulated and very profitable). To compete one needs powerful cards which become quite expensive due to its power and scarcity (which is artificial b/c many more could be printed). The original cult changed then, forever. Social networks do the same. FB for instance, it did deliver value at the beginning. It was super useful and innovative to get and keep in touch with fam and friends. Then the brands came, then ads flooded. That killed the original value. I closed my FB account and no value was lost b/c nobody in my circle is using it anymore for that original purpose. In fact, I regained value (time and privacy). Now we share on Whatsapp groups (which I am sure will soon be flooded with brands and ads in order to make back the billions). We'll move our sharing to something else.
  - GFischer 11y ago
    As another former MTG player, I think the scarcity is part of the experience, but I think they went way too far, because they are hunting "whales", which I was close to becoming but didn't because of a lack of money. The scarcity can be simulated without resorting to the money grabs they went for :( . And it "works" for them, I think it's a huge part of the Hasbro money machine. As a game it was (is?) great, but the cost to buy in is way too great. I guess I agree that your disappointment mirrors the one from the people at this "secret society" when they started charging a very costly membership. http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/14/whales-and-why-social-gamers-are-just-gamers/ http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/14/whales-and-why-social-game...

rhaps0dy 11y ago

Would that pay-to-play feeling have been less bad if the cult had been a nonprofit?

bikamonki 11y ago
A nonprofit? Makes no sense. A business is fine. The problem is when the business crosses that thin line and it becomes too aggressive in its profit-seeking. In MTG the game stopped being a casual thing and it became a competition (regulated and very profitable). To compete one needs powerful cards which become quite expensive due to its power and scarcity (which is artificial b/c many more could be printed). The original cult changed then, forever. Social networks do the same. FB for instance, it did deliver value at the beginning. It was super useful and innovative to get and keep in touch with fam and friends. Then the brands came, then ads flooded. That killed the original value. I closed my FB account and no value was lost b/c nobody in my circle is using it anymore for that original purpose. In fact, I regained value (time and privacy). Now we share on Whatsapp groups (which I am sure will soon be flooded with brands and ads in order to make back the billions). We'll move our sharing to something else.
- GFischer 11y ago
  As another former MTG player, I think the scarcity is part of the experience, but I think they went way too far, because they are hunting "whales", which I was close to becoming but didn't because of a lack of money. The scarcity can be simulated without resorting to the money grabs they went for :( . And it "works" for them, I think it's a huge part of the Hasbro money machine. As a game it was (is?) great, but the cost to buy in is way too great. I guess I agree that your disappointment mirrors the one from the people at this "secret society" when they started charging a very costly membership. http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/14/whales-and-why-social-gamers-are-just-gamers/ http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/14/whales-and-why-social-game...