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from the big-brother-is-morally-judging-you dept.
On December 7, a Magic: The Gathering player with a YouTube channel called "UnSleevedMedia" ( https://www.youtube.com/user/mtgheadquarters ) was banned for life from the game by the Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast for allegedly harassing others in the MtG community on social media. As a consequence, he immediately lost access to all the virtual items he's previously purchased while receiving no refund, and he may no longer play online, partake in tournaments, or cover events on his YouTube channel (details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIh3ykLBzOM ).
The ban was issued after articles appeared on gaming news sites Polygon ( https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/29/16709796/magic-the-gathering-cosplayer-harassment-youtube ) and Kotaku ( https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/11/magic-subreddit-on-lockdown-after-cosplayer-quit-due-to-alleged-harassment/ ), where a cosplayer accused UnsleevedMedia operator Jeremy Hambly of persistent harassment. (Note: While the articles report on the controversy, neither present any actual evidence for either side.)
While Mr Hambly claims that the allegations of threats and harassment are demonstrably false, and that the evidence against him is based on excerpts from Twitter/Facebook posts taken out of context, he now says he's uncovered something quite chilling while investigating the case: evidence that employees at Wizards of the Coast are trawling the Internet looking for social media activities going back years in search of conduct they might find "objectionable".
In at least one instance they've allegedly requested and gained access to a closed Facebook group only tangentially related to the MtG community, and then issued bans and warnings based on the contents of conversations therein. This includes a one-year ban against professional player Travis Woo, who has now effectively lost his job. Mr Hambly presented the evidence for these claims in a YouTube video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGFcLvDRJNQ ) on his other channel, "The Quartering" ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfwE_ODI1YTbdjkzuSi1Nag ).
In response to this, he has started a change.org petition ( https://www.change.org/p/hasbro-wizards-of-the-coast-must-reinstate-travis-woo-jeremy-hambly ) asking people to boycott all Hasbro products until such time as the bans are reversed. His main argument is that corporations should not be allowed enforce End User License Agreements that dictate what a person may or may not say or do in their spare time on social media.
(Disclaimer: I've signed the petition, as I wouldn't like to see a future where a Twitter spat could cost someone their Steam games.)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Ingar on Monday December 11 2017, @06:15PM (3 children)
Trading card games have always been about milking more money from the customer.
The "game" is where you buy a "card" with an almost zero chance of it being a rare and powerful one.
The "trading" happens when the victims of bad fortune start to swindle each other.
Just print your own cards, they're cheaper.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Monday December 11 2017, @08:39PM (2 children)
This. I played MtG for several years. I dipped a toe into the cutthroat tournament scene a few times, but went no further. Stuck with the physical cards, and never went online. Mostly I played with friends, for fun. We were always trying weird stuff that would never work in a tournament because it was too weak for "serious" play. I saw no reason why we shouldn't fire up the scanners and printers and copy whatever valuable rare cards we wanted to play with. But, wow, do most MtG players get zealously bent out of shape over that. It's like they're all suffering a mental block. I wasn't trying to pass off fakes as the real thing. I made sure the copies were obviously copies. I just wanted to play with cards I didn't own, that's all.
For those who don't know, it was clear from the first that MtG was an unusually expensive game. There are of course monster games and stuff such as miniatures that can run up a lot of expense, but most board and card games, you pay somewhere between $10 to $100 for a copy, and if the game is a success they will likely try to milk the players for an additional couple hundred with expansions, but that's usually it. For the most hardcore, there might be deluxe editions and special high quality playing pieces, but we're still talking well under $1000. MtG on the other hand can easily soak up over $10k, $5 to $100 at a time.
The best course of action is not to play the game. Don't start. There's plenty of other entertainment as good or better, and a heck of a lot less expensive. But if the players would accept playing with copies of cards, MtG wouldn't be such a money pit. Doubt that will ever happen. Seems using wealth to obtain unfair advantage, buy your way to a greater chance of victory, is part of this game.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 11 2017, @09:07PM
Warhammer 40K is a good example. What they don't tell you is that the 40K is the average amount spent before people realize its a scam.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday December 11 2017, @10:38PM
In my family, we play Catan: the Gathering, lol.
Catan is just too much fun.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---