Locations
When it comes to content, Magic is king. No one communicates, breaks down, shares, and inspires like the Magic community. We have shot-callers like Mike Flores and Brian Kibler who have been promoting, playing, talking and writing about Magic practically their whole adult lives. We have streamers galore: the one and only LSV, Community Cup Champion Scotty MacCallum, and the king of Limited Marshall Sutcliffe. We have podcasters who have been sharing their lives, knowledge, and joy of Magic literally for years. Mini Magic empires have sprouted forth from the very bowels of the Internet to give millions of hungry Magic fans every bit of information they can assimilate. Sites—like this very one you are reading—have given voices to countless unknown artist, players, writers, and more so we can collectively build and learn from each other. All this has been done because we love you and Magic. We love just about everything about you. Most of these things have been done for free or practically for free. How awesome are these people who love Magic and how hard they work for you.
It’s time you use this vast network of minutemen and women who stand ready to run and spread the good news. It’s time to start talking. It’s time to deliver a State of the Union regarding Magic Online. Pick a podcast. Pick a stream. Pick a site. Pick a person. Visit them all. Go on a press tour. Explain yourself. Explain what is in store for the people and game I love. Tell them you are sorry—sorry you let them down, that Magic Online isn’t what they need it to be. Tell them you will do better. Tell them how. Tell them how you are hiring as fast as your can; tell them something. Get out there. Make it better. Because this hashtag is a thing: #JustV4Things.
I don’t know whom you need to call—your congressman, the CEO of Hasbro, or your nana, but get permission to have a real conversation about V4, and then use this massive infrastructure that exists around you and talk to somebody because this guy is awesome . . .
@lsv good to hear, we have a long way to go still tho obv. and lots coming in next few months
— Worth Wollpert (@mtgworth) September 26, 2014
. . . But he is out there all alone, holding back a tide of frustration and disappointment, and, “Awesome is coming guys. We promise. Just wait; we are working on it,” isn’t cutting it anymore. I’m tired of seeing my friends and people I love—casual people, whom you don’t even know and will never meet—drop Magic Online and go play Hearthstone. My friends to don’t follow @mtgaaron or @maro254 online. They don’t even know who they are. They barely understand what it is I do. They are busy, nameless, fun-loving casuals. They don’t go GPs or spike PTQs, but they matter anyway. They are still Magic players, players who want to play the game they love online with friends they love online. What they think matters. You know what else matters? This. All this:
I would be a lot less upset about MTGO if there were more transparency about what was actually going on.
— Basking Nerdwalla (@Nerdwalla) September 23, 2014
.@Nerdwalla This.
— Chris Chauvet (@cchauvet) September 23, 2014
@Nerdwalla How much do we actually want to know though? Ignorance, bliss, etc.
— MagicIsRuinedForever (@ROONED4EVAR) September 23, 2014
@Nerdwalla You mean that doing everything behind smoke and mirrors isn't ideal?
— Jorge Pinto (@pintacso) September 23, 2014
@sloppystack Voluntary transparency and employee reviews of the company are very different.
— Basking Nerdwalla (@Nerdwalla) September 23, 2014
If you want MTGO to be better, just stop playing until it is better. That is the only course of action.
— Dr. Jeebus (@Dr_Jeebus) September 15, 2014
A good write-up of a not-uncommon experience with Magic Online - http://t.co/llroMYcpxV
— AJ Sacher (@AJSacher) September 15, 2014
Sad that MTGO is so poor and unchanging that we've moved past arguing for a better program and moved on to a better reimbursement policy.
— Eric Klug (@klug_alters) September 17, 2014
@jravitz @mtgworth @RyanSpain because i go to too many tournaments to quit entirely. and i hate myself.
— Paul Rietzl (@paulrietzl) September 19, 2014
@riffle_shuffle unless you tag the proper people or use the #mtgo hash, no one will see tweets like these.
— Kranny (@kstube) September 20, 2014
No stream this morning. Lots of work to catch up on after the weekend and I still don’t feel like playing MTGO.
— Brian Kibler (@bmkibler) September 9, 2014
today's the day i crossed over from wanting to be helpful to hoping everyone involved in mtgo v4 is fired.
— Paul Rietzl (@paulrietzl) September 9, 2014
People know they don't have to play MTGO right? It's this thing that you just don't have to do. And if you stop doing it, it has an effect.
— Cedric Phillips (@CedricAPhillips) September 15, 2014
Every time I play @PlayHearthstone I think of what #MTGO could be. Every. Time. It breaks my heart, honestly. Our game is being left behind.
— Evan Erwin (@misterorange) September 15, 2014
I've only played MTGO to record CFB videos since Aug. Have encountered various bugs and crashes, so I've moved to recording Shandalar...
— Frank Karsten (@karsten_frank) September 15, 2014
It’s sad that a far inferior game in Hearthstone can take so many players, some of whom still v good, bc MTGO is the far inferior product.
— eric froehlich (@efropoker) September 15, 2014
@pintacso @cchauvet Maybe Cedric had to prove his claims that nobody has to play MTGO, even content providers?
— Joe Spanier (@FoundOmega) September 24, 2014
@TheCardNexus I would love to provide constructive feedback when I observe bugs, but they happen so often it's hard to know when to bother.
— Nate Walker (@thenatewalker) September 21, 2014
Why do 2D card images cause a high end gaming pc to lag? I'm at a loss for words #mtgo #JustV4Things
— Mattias Kres (@MattiasNL) September 11, 2014
This week (so far), I’ve played Tomodachi Life, Mario Kart 8, Destiny, Shovel Knight, and Smash Brothers Demo. I’ve played all these games with varying degrees of skills and success, but the point here is: I’ve played them. I don’t love any of these games as much as I love playing Magic—not one of them. What I haven’t played (pretty much ever) is Magic Online. I want to. I want to play with my best friends Drinne and Natasha. I want to challenge my boss to a Vintage duel to the death. I want to let my friends use what should be an extensive and awesome collection of digital Magic cards to learn how to play and have fun. I want to, but I don’t have time for drama—not in my life, not from my family, not from my friends, and not from my games.
I don’t understand how hard it is to build a digital game like MTGO. I don’t understand how to program or code. I don’t know what is reasonable to ask and what isn’t regarding upgrades, updates, bug fixes, or anything of that nature. I’m not here to talk about that. I’m a Community Manager. I’m here to talk about my community, and they deserve the respect of better, clearer, deeper communication. As my memaw used to say: Is your yapper sealed shut? Use your words, girl.
XOXO
