Today, Wizards of the Coast announced its pricing structure for its new online Magic program, Magic Online. For those of you who have not yet seen the article, please read the press release. For those of you lazy bums out there, I'll summarize it for you: It basically states that booster packs for the online game may be purchased at the full retail price of $3.29, and 75 card tournament packs (and I would assume preconstructed decks also) will be available at $9.99. In return for this high price, we are given the option of redeeming a full set of e-cards for a corresponding set of physical ones*.
Now that you are as thoroughly disgusted at Wizards as I am, we may continue.
First, let us look at what is right about the pricing structure. Now that we have that out of the way, let's take a look at what is wrong about it.
Nathan Sherman, brand manager of Magic Online, has been quoted on the Magic Online Beta Board as saying:
"As brand manager for Magic Online, it is my job to insure the long-term health of both the online and physical environment of Magic. To do this, I must be the conduit for what the players want and what the company needs (the company being Wizards, Hasbro has had no interactions with me.) Please take the following into account before replying to this post:
"I will not jeopardize the life of the physical Magic community. I would sooner shut down Magic Online than cannibalize the physical market with a pricing scheme that primarily damages independent stores, reduces the critical mass needed to hold physical tournaments, or is designed to just migrate (steal) players from the stores that work so hard to keep them in the game."
Now, I have nothing against protecting the physical Magic game. Mr. Sherman's reasoning is flawed, however. Apprentice, while far, far, inferior to Magic Online, is free. By Nathan's reasoning, having free access to all cards online would make the physical cards lose value and put local card dealers out of business. The only reason this has not happened is because Apprentice is infinitely worse than sitting down and playing Magic with a friend, turning actual pieces of cardboard sideways to swing for two. Magic Online is as close to the experience of real life Magic as you can get without driving down to the card store and entering a tournament. Will this detract people from the physical game as Nathan Sherman proposes?
If they make Magic Online very affordable, I know I would still buy my two boxes every set, and would play casually - but if I want to draft, I would rather go online than to the store. I can see many stores losing some business to this, but with Beta testing meaning that most anyone** can play online for free now, and no reports of card stores going out of business due to it, I can not see it affecting them that much. The reasons are as follows. Prize support. Plain and simple. Magic Online has little to no prize support, other than possibly winning a few e-packs. In addition, no matter how good Magic Online (or any online platform) is, it will never be able to recreate the social interaction you get when you sit down across the table from someone.***
Now that we know why they set pricing the way they have, let us discuss one more factor. The"retail" cost. Wizards is charging the MSRP (Most Suggested Retail Price) for the e-cards. The only fault here is that most players do not pay MSRP for their cards. I just ordered two boxes of Torment right here from StarCity**** for $68.99 each plus $7.00 shipping. That comes out to about $2.01 per pack. That means that I would be paying $1.28 more per pack on Magic Online. That equates to me getting 61% fewer cards for the same money on Magic Online. And did I mention that the Magic Online cards are virtual?
So what do we do about this? Grimmiore.com has organized a beta testers strike. This is set to last from 12 noon on January 19th and last until midnight. For this proposed strike, we will all gather in the casual draft room of Magic Online and sit around the virtual fire of burning e-cards singing Kumbaya. Ok, maybe no fire or singing, but you get the idea. I am in full support of this, with one exception: Twelve hours of strike is not enough. If we want things changed, we need to refuse to play until the pricing plan is changed. Remember that are Beta testers. This means that we are not just playing the game for free, but we are finding and reporting bugs, as well as suggesting features. Without us, the game will never reach development. We need to strike until things are changed. We can start the same time as the planned strike, but let us not let it end at midnight.
For those of you who are not testers, you are not powerless either. Send your comments, complaints, and praise***** to magiconline@wizards.com. Flood their servers with mail. Maybe we can talk some sense into them. Just remember to stay calm - as no one likes being yelled at, and if you come off as a ranting fool, you will be treated as such.
Before I go, please remember that we can create changes. The colonists revolted against British rule and founded one of the greatest nations of all time. Rosa Parks refused to move on the bus, and civil rights were won.****** Magic players from around the world now have the same opportunity to stand up against wrong and change things for everyone. Let us not let ourselves be told what to pay any longer.
Tom Fenwick
blod@mtglair.com
BlackLotusODeath on AOL Instant Messenger.
* - That is assuming that you buy and trade enough to be able to collect a full set.
** - I know that there is a limited number of accounts, but it is more than possible to share accounts, so long you don't try to log on while the person who is sharing your account with you is on.
*** - And believe it or not, that is why you play Magic. Without the social interaction and the whole community that Magic creates, you would quickly tire of buying cardboard for the prices they go for.
**** - We all know the Ferrett loves free advertising. (Damn straight - The Ferrett)
***** - Of course, what can possibly be praised about the pricing plan?
****** - No, I am not comparing Magic Online pricing to civil rights. And yes, I know that there were other people involved. Please do not send any emails to me regarding this part of the article.
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