Is Mainstream Magic possible?

F

Fire Slinger

Guest
What are we going to do?

Last week, I arrived at my computer class early to put the finishing touches on my PowerPoint assignment. I decided to present various art pictures from magic cards that I had found on the WotC magic site. While I was working on it, a girl in the class (I wont mention names) walked over and asked if I was going to present my project. I said no, cause I didn't want to have to explain what the game was about and where the pics came from.

She looked at the pics for a sec, looks kinda sad and says that she used to have a friend who used to play magic. Then she goes on to say that she used to pray for him every night, in hopes that he would give up the satanistic game.

???????????

How are we going to get magic accepted in to mainstream society if this is going to happen?

It seems to me that our biggest problem is the church. They seem to think that the term Magic denotes satanism or witchcraft.

Should we change the name back to what Dr. Garfield had orignally called it? Mana Clash? or maybe we should do what Inquest did. Convert all the pics into anime or give them cute names like Pokemon?

Speaking of Pokemon, why is a game that promotes violence such mainstream and magic isn't? All pokemon is, is two cute creatures trying to kill each other (or "knock each other out"). And magic is all about the strategy behind killing somebody else.

What are we to do??

Please post comments below
 
H

Hawaiian mage

Guest
I say we burn the church, defile the holy water, and give abortions to pregnant christian mothers i their sleep. That'll show them to call our game evil! Hwaa ha ha!
 
Z

Zero

Guest
Yeah, this friend of mine has the same veiws on magic. As much as I say it doesent try to influence you into worshipping Lucifer, all she says is "Im not into the Demon thing"

Which is fine, shes allowed to have her own opinion.

Lol, you should have seen her when I told her I suffered from depression.

Funny stuff!
 
N

nodnarb24

Guest
I have NEVER had anyone tell me that magic was evil. I guess that's because everyone pictures me as the nice guy.
 
A

Apollo

Guest
My aunt thinks it's evil. Basically, I don't think we can get it mainstream. Anything that involves summoning creatures is going to have some people up in arms. Plus, fantasy stuff just doesn't appeal to most people. I don't think that it will ever be mainstream. A better question is how to show people that there is nothing wrong with it.

But how? That's the problem, and one I don't have an answer to.

Oh, and HM, that was very funny.:)
 
F

Fire Slinger

Guest
I dont know what to do either. I just want church goers to stop pitying my for playing something I really like to do.

If we do what H-Mage suggests, there will be another Salem witch trial, and we'll all be hunted down.
 
M

Multani

Guest
If something like that happened...I'd sue alot of people and buy a shotgun to back me up...
 
N

Neil Rigby

Guest
Lots of people who go to church are blind to other people's views which is how they can have such strong belief in something that you can not prove, so it is unlikely that you will be able to stop these folk from thinking anything with the word demon in it means you are a satan worshipper.
If you want to get someone intrested in the game just tell them about the huge amounts of money and holidays that you can win. Everyone I work with thought I was mad/sad for playing Magic, then I won a trip to New York, Rome, Brussels, LA and Paris as well as $1900 (not at all one tourny:) ), Doesn't seem quite so stupid now.
 
M

Mundungu

Guest
In the middle age, the cards as we know them were banned by the church for the same reasons...

Go figure ...
 
V

volrath evincar

Guest
My family said the same thing so i told them that richard garfield the creator of the game enjoyed magicians and optical illusions when he was a child and he named the game after something he enjoyed thus the name magic and not the satanic name they were thinking of that got them to shut-up.........
 
C

Copious Wrath

Guest
Getting Magic mainstream is like trying to get D&D mainstream -- very, very difficult to do because religious zealots will view anything with fantasy themes (especially those relating to magic) as satanic, and will not hestitate to say so.

Of course, this just gets everyone *reaaallly* interested as to what's so bad about it, and decides to start playing. So that actually might *help*...
 
C

Cateran Emperor

Guest
Weird, I got nothing of the sort where I come from, and I'm occasionally what one would call a "religious zealot". What's even funnier, is that I'm a black mage...

Quick story time here: When Magic was back in the Ice Age days, I remember me and my friends playing magic every week before sunday school. One day, the head of our church happened to stop by while we were playing. He watched us for a while, then I cast a Demonic Consultation. He asked what we were doing that i would consult with demons. I told him we were playing a game of magic. We told him a bit about it, and how playing each color represents something different. After the game was done, he told us to have a good day, then went off to talk to some of the other kids nearby. He didn't seem to mind that I played a card called "Demonic Consultation", since we told him we knew it was just a game and that demons were certainly nothing to ever consult with in reality.

Just try talking sometimes, an open mind is sometimes less obvious than you'd think. "Religious zealots" are people you can reason with just like any other person.
 

Ransac

CPA Trash Man
When my parents first learned I was playing magic, they were skeptical about it. However, playing magic actually improved my grades in school. It basically expanded how I learn things. Now, they encourage my playing of it, even though I'm about to go to college.

We should just tell people that this game expands the player's minds. There are several magic players that I know of that are downright geniuses because of the game. LET THIS BE KNOWN!

Ransac, cpa trash man
 
D

Duel

Guest
I hope magic doesn't go mainstream. Why?

1. Because mainstream means when popularity goes down, it gets deserted. Remember pogs? Tamagutchi? Tickle-me-elmo?

2. We don't want it suffering from beuracracy syndrome.
 
M

MrXarvox

Guest
I'm considered evil in general...
But that reputation doesn't come from my playing magic.

I do know, or more precisely, have seen and spoken with, a few people who truly cannot be convinced that magic is not satanic.
They're funny.
"why do you play that devil game?"
"are you going to cast a spell on me?"
"are you going to try to take my soul?"
These are questions I have been asked before.
Tee-hee. :D

BTW, a true 'religious zealot' cannot be reasoned with. A zealot has a closed, locked, and bolted mind. That is why we call them zealots. There is a difference between a zealot and a defender of one's own religious views. You are not a zealot, CE. If you were, why, I'd have to hit you. Repeatedly, with a boulder, no less.

[Edited by MrXarvox on 12-20-00 at 11:01 PM]
 
G

Gerode

Guest
The first cards I ever purchased were because of this issue. My friend bought a starter of cards. Being in the very relgious family he was in, his mother would not allow any Magic cards in her house. I will also note that his mother did not mind his extensive BattleTech collection, nor his Star Wars cards.
There was one other incident when I have ran across the "Magic is evil" situation, said from a friend's friend I met who goes to a Christian school.

However, I do not believe the religion issue is a major factor as to why Magic isn't mainstream. Most people are not at all interested in "tapping the mana" or playing games. They think they are stupid or boring or whatnot. And now everyone thinks that we are Pokemon players.

Not everyone is a gamer.
 

Killer Joe

New member
I am a teacher. I play Magic. My students know that I play Magic. More and more are starting to want to learn how to play Magic and use me as an example to their folks that Magic is alright. No complaints yet. The students want to start a gaming club that includes Chess, Board Games, and Magic. I will be their advisor if it goes through (most likely it will because of the seperation of Church and State - who's going to argue?).

Mainstream?
You mean it's not mainstream already?
Or do you mean acceptable?
Football exsists, but not everybody likes it, so does this mean it's not mainstream or not acceptable?
Do we buy magic cards in basements and/or in seedy allyways or riverfronts in the dense fog? NO!
We buy them at licensed store fronts who are selling them as a retail item.

I submit that it is I/You/US who have walls of secrecy up around us. This should not even be a question "Can Magic be mainstream", the question should be, "Can YOU be mainstream about PLAYING .\\agic: The Gathering" That is the question!

Remember: Life is a perception that YOU create, not others, unless you're weak in the mind/heart and soul.

Read my Signature, please.
 
A

arhar

Guest
I hate people that think Magic is satanic.

You know, one day I was dragging the bloody corpse of the fresh-killed priest to my hideout so I would desecrate it, I was listening to Rotting Christ, wearing my trench-coat, and I stopped at the window of the store to look at the newly released Magic: The Unholy Gathering expansion, called "Invasion of Devil Worshippers", and some elderly woman asked me, why do I play this satanic game.

:D
 
D

DÛke

Guest
...I think people have a habit with the "satanic" crap. I mean, it seems to me that they're just lurking around, being life-less as always, and just waiting for something new to come out so they could complain like children.

About 3 years ago, my friend James had all his cards burned by his mother because she thought it was, to quote her exact words "...of evil origin..."; they're freakin' cards! Yeah, Juzam Djinn is going to come out of the card and eat you alive...sure, it happened many times...<sigh>

Not only that, but I noticed that people are just simply ignorant. I mean, I listen to a band, Enigma - my favorite band in the world - and guess what? People say it's "satanic" and that Miachel Cretu (the Enigma mastermind) promotes death, evil, and the devil. I don't see how? I mean, sure his songs are obsecure, but they do not have a thing to do with the religions or anything (just a little), heck, how could you say "The Child in Us" (a song by Miachel) is evil? I truely have no idea.

I think these kind of people should be ignored, because they have nothing else to worry about other than that cardboard is evil, and a few songs are of the devil. God, get a freakin' life!

[Edited by DÛke on 12-21-00 at 11:56 PM]
 
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