Letters from Fiddler's Greene
I am behind on my more serious writing. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but respond to this excellent piece by Charlemagne from the OGC blog on how elite theory explains the misgovernance of the collectible card game Magic: the Gathering.
People have been telling me that I should post my long substack notes as essays to generate more regular content, so I am experimenting with just jotting down some random thoughts and publishing them on the main feed to see what happens.
As long-time readers probably know, board gaming is my main vice, particularly those "deep" board games that have extended "meta" environments where part of the game is either deck-building or army construction that players manage outside of the game itself. In such meta-environments, the resources available for any game change over time to create an evolving play experience for people who participate in the game over a long period. To me, games with extended “metas” are fascinating because they force people to think about playing on two different levels, mimicking the "tactical level" thinking versus "strategic level" thinking that goes on in real-world conflicts. The existence of an extended "meta" also allows players to excel at either part of the competition and to"talk shop" about the game with other players, which, to be honest, is a large part of the fun.
However, the problem with these meta-style games is that they inevitably become corrupted by the people who manage them. On the surface, there is an easy explanation for why this happens. The fact that there is a "meta" means that the game is the perfect target for the “consoomer” lifestyle where nerds invest their identity in the products they buy. This situation, in turn, allows the corporations who own the IP to milk the fans for all they are worth. The process inevitably ruins the balance of the game, making it more of an outcropping of nerd identity and “consoomer” culture. You can see this pretty readily with what has happened to Warhammer 40k from Games Workshop (GW), or Magic: the Gathering from Wizards of the Coast (WOTC), as described in Charlemagne's article. What once was MTG’s most popular and fun fan-made format, “Commander”, was recently ruined by WOTCs desire to print and sell more cards to an ever-growing fanbase.
