Zeromagic: Now blogging in English about Magic
(Zusammenfassung auf Deutsch: Um mehr potenzielle Leser zu erreichen, blogge ich auf Zeromagic fortan auf Englisch. Oh, und das neue Ranglistensystem bedarf keines ausführlichen Kommentars von meiner Seite.)
I have decided that, from now on, I will be posting in English on Zeromagic. The reasons for this are simple: Most German readers who follow this blog are able to read English texts, but almost none of my potential Non-German readers are able to understand German. Since I no longer frequent German Magic sites or boards, most of my Magic-related communication nowadays happens on Twitter, and I already use English exclusively there for talk on this topic. If I blog about Magic, I write about what’s on my mind concerning this game, but naturally I want people who are interested in my opinions to read my posts and comment on them. Thus it makes sense to give non-Germans the opportunity to follow my Magic blog. (I am aware that my English is not perfect, but I have no doubts that it is sufficient to get my points across.) Maybe a will lose a few German readers that way who find themselves unable or unwilling to read English texts. That is unfortunate, but chances are that very few people whose opinions matter to me are not reading English Magic articles anyways. Anyways, I will make it a habit to write a short German summary at the beginning of each of my posts.
Naturally, what’s on my mind right now is the retirement of the DCI ratings system in favor of the Planeswalker Points System. However, I don’t feel that this move should even be dignified by an extensive analysis from me. So I’ll restrict myself to predicting the logical next step: Mythic rare tokens in booster packs which you can exchange for Planeswalker Points! Remember: Everything which bumps up sales and sustains the secondary market is good for Magic! (Magic, the product, this is. The quality of Magic, the game, is no longer of any consequence.) Nothing more to say about that.
Explore posts in the same categories: GeneralTags: Blogging, Change, English, Magic, Palneswalker Points
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Zeromagic 
September 7, 2011 at 5:33 pm
You have to update your banner as well. ;)
September 7, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Not necessarily, but I’m thinking about it. (Also, there’s a lot more stuff on this site which maybe should be in English now, or in both languages.)
September 8, 2011 at 1:25 am
BTW, since probably all of you wonder: I’m a Battlemage (barely). That’s most probably not going to change… ever.
September 8, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Ok is there anywhere an easy method to follow these Twitter discussions. The Twitter homepage is not very helpful if you want to follow who responded to what and whom.
Did Maro or Aaron answer one of your last statements or was there just silence and lets go one with business as usual?
September 8, 2011 at 3:28 pm
I’m afraid Twitter isn’t exactly an excellent medium to follow a discussion unless you follow all of its participants (but not too many other people, since that would result in a way too busy timeline). A better alternative is to group people together in a personal list (or copy someone else’s, like my “Magic” list). For this specific discussion, good accounts to follow are those of Zvi, Jon Finkel, Brian Kibler and Jeff Cunningham. If you’re really interested, you might want to click on the participants’ accounts’ profiles, where all of their tweets are shown (normally, you don’t get to see the ones answering people you don’t follow yourself).
And no, neither Aaron nor MaRo answered me. That was to be expected – even luminaries like Zvi or Finkel get very sparse and vague answers, and no followup once they debunk whatever flimsy statement those answers contain.
The issue is: There’s no point in discussing the flaws of Wizards’ decisions. They’re not stupid. They KNOW them. They simply don’t care. All of their answers are PR trying to obfuscate the fact that they deliberately reduce the legitimacy of Magic as an intellectual sport by catering to a customer base that is drawn in by cheap gimmicks and interested in achieving in-game success by spending money on single cards and time on playing on a casual level. If you want to argue with them, you have to keep that in mind: They’re not honest with you, they simply intend to make you look like an elitist out of touch with reality.
If there’s anyything you can get out of a discussion with them (other then venting steam, of course), it’s showing them that their decisions which are bad for the game are still being noticed and generating bad PR for them (since THIS is what they care about, not reasons why their decisions are bad for the game, which they already know). Unfortunately, since their “anti-spike” propaganda during the last years succeeded in driving a wedge into the community between “serious” players and “fun” or “casual” players, this kind of bad PR becomes less and less dangerous for them.
September 8, 2011 at 5:22 pm
“catering to a customer base that is drawn in by cheap gimmicks and interested in (…) playing on a casual level.”
I realize they are trying to attract grinders to spend more money/play more tournaments, but will the new points system really benefit them? Because it seems to me that its almost impossible to qualify for a pro tour by just playing casual tournaments. GPs/PTQs still have a much higher multiplicator than FNMs, so you have to X-0 alot of them to get into the Top65 worldwide/top10 europe rankings to qualify. I
I liked the old ELO-like system much better, but i am not sure much will change in the end.
September 8, 2011 at 5:55 pm
Players grinding casual tournaments probably won’t be an issue, I agree. The major problem (apart from stigmatizing Magic as some FarmVille variant) are talented players capable of competing at the highest level of competition, who are unable to dedicate as much time to this game as others, falling by the wayside. This issue is aggravated by the fact that Magic, unlike for example chess or golf, is NOT a valid career choice for life.
Essentially, this system punishes players for having a real life.
September 9, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Of course it won’t benefit them. That’s not the point. The point is to create an illusion of possible benefits.
September 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm
The new system looks awesome – until you actually do the math and realize that, under it, it’s become impossible to qualify for a PT via rating if you aren’t already a PT regular. I’m just not sure if they’re deliberately screwing tournament players over because seriously, fuck those guys, or if they’re really THAT bad at math – both explanations seem entirely possible.
September 9, 2011 at 8:38 pm
The new system looks awesome until you actually start to THINK about it (or if you are a mediocre player able to play Magic 24/7).
That’s why they’ll get away with it. They have the support of the majority of the player base (which is really, really stupid – read any MTGSalvation thread if you don’t believe me). They’re not bad at math. They WANT to delegitimize Magic as a mental sport in favour of a WOW-like business model, and they’re – once again – just trying out how far they can go without drawing TOO much heat.
Stop wondering “…but don’t they realize?” They DO. They don’t CARE. All you can do is explain that to as many people as possible, so that such decisions become bad PR for them. Do not try to argue with them – they KNOW your arguments. They’re NOT stupid, they DO know better. It’s not THEM you need to convince.