I recently wrote an article stating my opinions about Magic Online, where I made it obvious that I prefer Magic Online by a long shot. What I did not expect is that so many people would take sides so vehemently.
While browsing Star City Games, I came across an article that blatantly called Wizards of the Coast an"evil corporation." Funny stuff, although overdone, but I thought I would read it for a laugh.
Mister Scheinberg makes some valid points in the first part of his article. However, I have to address the biggest sticking point that he has.
Once upon a time.....
A tobacco company was trying to find a way to boost their cigarette sales. As this was the early 1900s, no one cared who those cigarettes were sold to.
Now, this tobacco company came up with the idea to place a photograph of the player of a relatively new game in the packs of cigarettes that they were trying to sell: The game was baseball, and the seminal version of the American tradition of baseball cards was born.
Now, there was no way for the people to tell what card they would receive in these cigarette packs, so it was up to people to buy enough cigarettes in order to collect all of the cards. Was this the work of evil? Possibly, although the effects of tobacco on health was not known at the time.
Later, realizing that the bulk of people interested in the cards were young, a gum company decided to take the idea of baseball cards and run with it. Again, the cards were packed randomly and people didn't know what cards they would get. It was up to the consumer to purchase these cards until received the card of his or her hero.
For many years, the idea of collecting cards was relatively unchanged. Sure, other sports were featured, but the basis of collecting remained the same.
In the 1990s, a small group of people decided to take the collectible cards concept a bit further. Up until then, collectible cards had little to do with one another: There were chase cards, but if you got the card you wanted, there was little or no reason to further pursue or purchase cards.
This small group of people decided to take collectible cards and turn them into a gaming concept. The idea was a smashing success, with cards selling like they were going out of style.
The game itself was addictive, and eventually reached the status of one of the greatest games of all time. Again, these cards were packed randomly. No one knew what cards they would get in a pack. The players and collectors were intrigued by this idea, as it gave them something to work toward.
The aforementioned group of people became known as Wizards of the Coast. In their never-ending quest to become more marketable (as any business does), Wizards of the Coast looked to harness the power of the internet in relation to their highly successful game.
Wizards and other companies tried various avenues to make the internet-based game play idea a reality. Another intrepid group of people known as Dragonstar Studios decided to take matters into their own hands and create an internet version of the popular game. This company paid no royalties to Wizards of the Coast, but asserted their"right" to develop their game.
Wizards of the Coast, seeing the threat that this new version of their game posed, contacted the evil group of people known as the Dark Order of Patent Attorneys to aid in their quest to shut down the upstart company. The people cried foul and Wizards bowed to the people's demands, allowing the Online version of their game to continue. This version was known as Apprentice
Meanwhile, Wizards of the Coast plugged away at bringing their own version of the game to an electronic format; they tried different developers and mediums, but nothing seemed to work. Inevitably, Apprentice was viewed as superior.
Just when Wizards of the Coast was ready to give up their dream, a dark knight, known as Chris Green appeared at their door. What he offered was intriguing, to say the least...
Sir Chris claimed that he and his fellow dark knights, known collectively as the Evil Order of the Leaping Lizard, could create an electronic version of the game that would not only match Apprentice in functionality, but far surpass it. The Wizards of the Coast, while intrigued, were apprehensive, and asked what the catch was.
In order to maintain the game and keep it up to date, Sir Chris explained, large quantities of gold would be required. The Wizards, seeing the wisdom in this, agreed. But how to maintain the required funds?
The Wizards met at a grand council and decided on a plan to distribute the cost among the players of the new electronic game: They would keep this a closely-guarded secret, as this plan, if known before the correct time, could undermine the entire operation.
In order to guarantee the effectiveness of the new electronic game, Wizards enlisted the help of many commoners. These commoners were privy to much information that the general public was not.
Upon the announcement of the development of this new program, the Apprentice users again cried foul... But strangely, the many people testing the new game who normally used Apprentice did not. Apparently, these former Apprentice users had to be under the spell of Wizards of the Coast and the Evil Order of the Leaping Lizard.
The Apprentice users who were not affected decided to voice their outrage at the idea that their precious software's iron grip on the internet gaming world might soon slip away.
But, the commoners selected by the Wizards of the Coast knew better. They knew that the spell was not of the Wizards of the Coast or the Evil Order of the Leaping Lizard, but of the beauty of the new medium.
Upon the public release of the new electronic game, those loyal to the Wizards of the Coast began welcoming former Apprentice users with open arms. It was then that the masses realized that the Wizards of the Coast and the Order of the Leaping Lizard were not evil. They were simply businesses.
And they all lived happily ever after....
I apologize for the length of that segment, as it took on a mind of its own... And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Mr. Scheinberg's article proceeded to attack the comments that I made. As such, I will address his points individually.
"People can cheat in real life, too."
Yes, and they are caught, disqualified and suspended.
"I think the perception of cheating on Apprentice far exceeds the reality."
The potential is there and nothing has been done to correct it.
"Many people seem too eager to cry"cheater!" when they get a poor draw or think their opponent has one that is too good, and I've been on the receiving end of several false accusations. If you had a cheat script, would you cheat in an Apprentice league?"
Personally, I would not, but for every scrupulous person, there is an equally unscrupulous person in the shadows.
"Would any of your friends cheat in an Apprentice league?"
Probably not, but then, very few of my friends would use the program.
"Can you think of anyone at all who you know personally that would cheat at Magic with nothing much at stake?"
Yes.
"The same applies to being a corrupt judge or tournament organizer."
The beef was less with the corruption, but the abuse of power that runs rampant in many Apprentice leagues.
"I doubt that you could think of more than one person, out of everyone you know personally, who would cheat at Magic when all they win are bragging rights or even one single box of Magic cards. If you can, I don't want to hear about it, and please stay away from MTGOnline."
Mr. Scheinberg does not want to know about the problems with his choice of software. See no evil, hear no evil.
"Maybe my view that almost everyone is honest and card be trusted is naïve, but the people that play in and run Apprentice leagues are the same people that play in and run tournaments in real life."
People do whatever they can get away with; it is human nature. Online tournaments are not run (and cannot be run) like real life tournaments. It is much easier to catch a cheat in real life. People are partial, people make friends - and, believe it or not, the subconscious mind has a big effect on the way things are run.
"By Mr. Sullivan's standards, the cards you buy in packs might not be a game, and a chess set might not be a game either. Apprentice might be a bare-bones application that contains only the minimum number of features required to play a game of Magic, but there's no denying that you can use it to play Magic."
Please pay attention to what is said. I said that Apprentice was intended to be a tool; the program's use has evolved beyond what it was intended to be used as. At no point did I ever say that Apprentice cannot be used to play Magic. To say that would have been totally asinine.
"Rusty Sullivan might think Apprentice might be broken, but I don't agree. There's no problem that tournaments played with Apprentice have that tournaments played offline do not have."
Simply not true. In a real life tournament, there are others that have the opportunity to catch people cheating. Apprentice is a one-on-one environment without the possibility of witnesses. There is no plausible way to detect the use of scripts on Apprentice.
"Being under eighteen and unemployed shouldn't prevent you from competing on the same level as someone who can afford to pay twenty dollars per card for four copies of Urza's Rage."
How do the eighteen-and-under crowd currently compete? They get their parents to shell out the cash. That is beside the point. No one knows what the pricing policy is going to be, so let's refrain from referring to things that are not concrete.
"I'm only one person and I haven't paid for a pack of cards in a long time, so I can't affect Wizards' business directly. However, if enough people complain loudly enough and threaten to stop buying cards altogether until we don't have to pay for cards we don't want in order to get the cards that we do want, there's a chance we can make a difference."
Threats rarely work, and they will not work here. The charging for the e-cards, while geared toward making money, is also for maintaining and improving the program in general. By contrast, when was the last time DragonStar improved/updated/cared about Apprentice?
"I'm fed up with the way Wizards of the Coast does business, and I'm not going to take it anymore."
You already stated that you don't buy cards. While I am sure Wizards would like to have your business once again, I am quite sure they can live without it.
"Maybe I'm wrong, and I really am the only one who is tired of being ripped off by Wizards of the Coast, but I sincerely hope that isn't true. If you agree with me and think Wizards of the Coast should find a way to sell you cards without you having to pay for cards you don't want, please send me an e-mail at cronodas@eden.rutgers.edu. If you want to support a boycott and help me get our voices heard, please send me a message. If you support random packs of cards for anything other than Limited play, I want to hear why - so send me a message too. Send me anything at all, but please don't tell me that I shouldn't try to help make Magic a better game by making it cheaper and more accessible to everyone."
There are many stores around the country that thrive solely because of Wizards of the Coast's products. Normal everyday people could be deprived of their right to make a living for their families if you had your way. While not wanting to get into a flame war, it must be said that the written word, even from misguided and misinformed people, can have a profound effect on the collective psyche of a community. It is imperative that if one decides to throw his or her hat into the ring and write an article, the consequences of the words published must be taken into consideration.
Rusty Sullivan
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