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EricBess
Guest
Let me just state my observations and let me know if you've had similar or different observations.
In my area, people started playing Magic online. Heck, it's free in beta, right? Why not play it. This was fine...for a while. People were still showing up and playing in the regularly scheduled tournaments. We run a standard tournament every week, a 1.5 tournament every week, and a limited tournament every week.
As things progressed, people started realizing that they could get out and play in the weekly tournaments at the shop, or they could play for free online. They didn't completely stop going to the shop, but the did so less often since online was 1) cheaper, and 2) more convenient.
Obviously, if a cost had been involved (even a minor one), they would probably have still shown up at the store.
More time passes and the beta, we are told, will be ending soon...but it doesn't. It is still free. Over time, weekly tournaments have fewer and fewer people attending until they might as well not have the tournament at all.
It just seems to me that Magic online, as good as it could be for the game of Magic, has been free for too long. The game has suffered greatly the last little while at the store fronts and as long as it stays in beta, I don't see this changing.
In my area, people started playing Magic online. Heck, it's free in beta, right? Why not play it. This was fine...for a while. People were still showing up and playing in the regularly scheduled tournaments. We run a standard tournament every week, a 1.5 tournament every week, and a limited tournament every week.
As things progressed, people started realizing that they could get out and play in the weekly tournaments at the shop, or they could play for free online. They didn't completely stop going to the shop, but the did so less often since online was 1) cheaper, and 2) more convenient.
Obviously, if a cost had been involved (even a minor one), they would probably have still shown up at the store.
More time passes and the beta, we are told, will be ending soon...but it doesn't. It is still free. Over time, weekly tournaments have fewer and fewer people attending until they might as well not have the tournament at all.
It just seems to me that Magic online, as good as it could be for the game of Magic, has been free for too long. The game has suffered greatly the last little while at the store fronts and as long as it stays in beta, I don't see this changing.