Some games are just too expensive
You all have heard
about games. Computer games, board games, card games. The Sims and
Counter-Strike, Monopoly and Scrabble, Poker and Uno. There is wide variety of
games even within the very same categories. The categories I just introduced
are just a few among many, many others.
You can categorise
games even further – team-based computer games, team-based board games, etc.
You get the point. You can also categorise them in a completely new way – how
much money you must or, in some cases, can spend on them.
Let us take a
really simple example at first –the majority of board games simply require you
to buy a box with the game itself and, occasionally, if that game's developer
supports extensions (like additional cards for Dixit[1]),
you can buy them in addition to the core game to enhance your gameplay.
But this is not
always the case. Let us inspect World of Warcraft - a computer game that
requires a monthly subscription. To play WoW, you must keep paying a certain
fee every month. This is very different from the approach described in the
previous paragraph. But this is not all.
I would like to
focus on a particularly interesting type of game – a collectible card game.
A collectible card game, sometimes called a trading card game (TCG) is,
"among other names, a type of card game that mixes strategic deck building
elements with features of trading cards, introduced with Magic: The Gathering
in 1993", Wikipedia says. To my convenience, this mentions exactly the
game I wanted to talk about – Magic: The Gathering.
Some of you may be
familiar with that game, but some of you are not. Let me introduce you to the
very first game which implemented an idea that you do not have to have the
same cards in your deck to play against someone.
This was very
different from the traditional approach. Even today, when you think about card
games, you may think about games which use traditional, 52-card decks or about
games like Uno. In both cases, all the players use the same cards. I mean,
cards that are part of the same deck. During the gameplay you are more or less
as likely to draw the same cards as your opponents are.
This is not the
case with Magic. Magic has over 20 thousand unique cards. Compare it to you
standard, 52-card deck. It has 52 distinct cards. Yes, they do have similar
characteristics – some of them have the same number (value) and some of them
have the same suites. But they are all distinct – there are no duplicates. Now,
imagine this standard deck, but with 20 thousand unique cards instead of 52 of
them. Now that makes a difference.
I will not delve
into the details of playing Magic – it is complicated to explain the basics.
What I want to focus on is the financial aspect of the game. In the case of the
standard deck of cards, you just buy a box with 52 of them and you are ready to
go. With Magic, you have to buy cards one by one (or try gambling by buying
packs with random cards).
An obvious question
arises – how much do they cost? Well, that depends… Take a look
at this card:
Source:
https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Default.aspx
This card costs
around 0.15€ and is also virtually useless. I mean… bad. This card is just not
good. That would explain the price, right?
Only partially.
Take a look at this card:
Source: Picture taken of my own
card by myself.
This card costs
around 0.01€. This card has many good uses. I mean… it's good. It is just a
good card, trust me. So, does that mean that Magic cards are generally cheap,
despite their playability?
No, obviously not.
Card playability (how good it is and how many people want a certain card in
their deck) obviously influences the price, but the process of pricing is very
complicated itself. I would like to give you two more examples and some
summary. Take a look at Shahrazad:
Source: picture taken by my friend
of his own copy of Shahrazad.
This card is banned
in pretty much every Magic format. It means that, even if you own it, you can't
really play it outside of your kitchen table with friends who allow you to play
it. So… it must be cheap, right?
Wrong. This
beautiful piece of cardboard (let me say it again – piece of simple,
coloured cardboard) will cost you around 250€. Reasons? Collectibles…
There are cards
that are cheap and there are cards that are expensive. A problem occurs when
you need an expensive card to stay competitive. Magic has a pretty serious
competitive scene with tournaments all around the world (well, at least before
COVID it had…). What happens when you need a pretty expensive card to keep
winning? How far does the game have to go before it is considered pay to win?
This is a very hard
question to answer. I would like to present the last Magic card here – the most
recognisable Magic card out there. The Black Lotus:
Source: picture taken by my friend
of his own copy of Black Lotus.
This card's price
varies greatly (mainly due to the condition of the card. Being over 25 years
old, some copies of it may have suffered some damage over time). To give you an
estimation, it's around 25000€. Yes. Twenty-five thousand euros. That's a lot
of money….
But does it mean
that if I buy a Black Lotus I am way more likely to win against people who spent, let's say, 20 euro on their decks?
No. It does not
mean that. Magic is complicated and no one-card-advantage will guarantee you a
win. Yes, it will increase the likelihood of you winning, but to what degree?
It's definitely not marginal, but it's at the same time, no major. Does that
mean Magic is pay to win? In my opinion no, but one cannot ignore the fact that
spending more money can give you an advantage.
To summarise, there
are varieties of games
and some of them require you to spend more money on them than others do. Not
always quality and "power" are accompanied with greater prices. But
sometimes they are pushed too far.
I have played games with and against a Black Lotus deck. I won some of those
games and lost some of those games. But how can we tell if we went too far?
I would love to hear your answers to the following questions:
- What do you think about prices of the games in general? Compare computer games to board games and, if you know any, include comparisons to trading card games like Magic.
- What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
- How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
For those who wish
to learn a little bit more on the subject, I recommend watching this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAvLC3fz068
[1] If you do not know Dixit, I can't recommend this game enough! It's an excellent game both for people who want to get familiar with board games and for those who just want to try something new. Try it – with friends, family or both – you will not be disappointed.
Comments
1. I think that prices are equal for both types of the games. Computer games require great skills in programming and an open mind for all the plots that have to be in the game scenario. On the other hand, board/card games require from you only your imagination and also great skills in drawing all this beautiful illustrations from the designers of the game. I'm collecting Yu-gi-Oh cards and in my opinion it's not a sin to spend some money to make your collection bigger, especially when prize for one pack is woth the effort.
2. Pay to win strategy is infamous term in games. When we are talking about video games, developers of the game are trying to sqeeze every last penny out of your pocket to give you better items in game. I consider "pay to win" strategy as an unfair for all the other players that can't or don't want to spend money on the game. From my point of view every card/board game is a pay to win, you spend more money on new extensions or cards, so as a result you are getiing better cards or items.
3. I can only justify it by saying that you can spend money on whatever makes you happy. As mentioned cards are getting more expensive with time, so you can also treat collecting them as an investition for the future. :D
I don't play a lot of board games, so I'm not sure about them, but computer games do have a reasonable price for me. Sometimes I would even say, that 60$ for a new AAA title may be cheap. The 60$ price for a new game haven't changed for many years, but games are getting but better and bigger. 3D graphics became really realistic, we may play many hours and complete many different quests, the story may have many different paths for player... Generally everything is becoming much more advanced. I think that people working on this kind of game should earn more, because it's widealy known that for example people that code games are earning less than usual programmers. And especially now, games are really inportant in our life, because they let us forget about difficulties of each day.
2. What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
In my opinion pay-to-win game is a game, which makes it impossible for you to win without spending money. I've seen a series of mobile games from the same studio, in which you have to send your troops around the world, and if you want to send a lot of them, sometimes the time to reach that place yould be longer than a year in real life. But of course you could but a potion that would make them faster... So I don't think that Magic is a pay-to-win game, because you can fin even if you have cheaper cards.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
I haven't heard about this kind of collections, but I think it's possible. Rare items used only for collecting them tend to be pricey.
1. I believe that the prices of computer games, consoles and playstations are much more expensive than regular board games. The difference can reach several hundred zlotys. When it comes to collectible games, they are probably more expensive than these video games.
2. When it comes to P2W (pay to win) game mode, it is a popular strategy among mmorpg games and online games. Thanks to real currency, we have better funds, items and virtual currency in the game. When it comes to the Magic card game, I don't think it's quite a p2w game, as it's a collector's game. You buy yourself to get cards and there is no other option.
3. This is a collection. Just like someone collects postage stamps, bottles, and stuff, why not collect Magic cards? An individual matter of who spends the money on. I don't look in anyone's wallet.
If by 'pay to win' you mean that the more you spend on a specific extension of the game that gives you more advantage that their less expensive substitutes, then I would say that I'm not a fan. I feel that the game itself should be focusing on the fun that it gives for any player, and not only the ones that can pay more for it.
As I'm not an advanced player of any sort of collectable game, I can't certainly say that I wouldn't spend so much on it. If you have the ability to purchase such expensive cards, then why not? It might also bring you profits if you buy and then sell this as a collection.
When I was younger I collected playing cards.
I remember that some cards cost a lot of money due to their rarity. Nowadays I mainly play computer games, almost all the cards. The prices of games are fixed depending on the type of equipment we play on (computer, phone, PlayStation, Xbox). I think that the prices of cards and games are high, however, it is important to remember that we can always sell a given card or game and get some % of spent money back. Nowadays, most games have their own internal stores where we can make purchases.
2.What is your opinion on pay to win strategy?
I think that the pay to win strategy is bad because such games are made only for profit. If someone spends more money they win, and it's not about spending money but having a good time. I personally try to avoid games that are pay to win. I believe that spending money in a game should only introduce cosmetic changes(like skins to our character) and not those that give an advantage during the game.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)?
If someone likes to play a game, it's fun for them, they don't perceive it as simple cardboard. Personally, I think it's unreasonable to spend so much money on playing cards, but if someone has such a desire or need, I can understand it.
It depends both games require some amount of time and thinking in order to be created. Also there is a cost of production which for board games in general is much higher then DVD or server with data in case of computer games. Game called "Gloomhaven" cost around 600 hundred PLN. Is obvious expensive but are these money well spent? DO you get enough in return? This is real question. Prices should be jsutified by the content and looks of the game and by content I mind playablity. If the games looks nice but playing it isn't fun then maybe more then a hundred PLN is to much. If you buy cards in order to attend tournaments I must say you are really in it, so the price may be justify. Maybe not for that Black Lotus but still it can. Free market I guess. But some games wish to be expensive but after they release the content verifies that. In term of computer games there are many stories of games that quickly get price reduction. A permanent price reduction.
2. What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
It is tough one. Paying for something in order to achieve if faster then others sound like pay to win. In some games it can be this way but there are situations when that is simply not true. For example a teenager playing many hours after schools or on weekends can grind tons of things in computer game or meet more people to trade with in case of TCG, while someone with work, kids, family may have to little time to compete with him. For that second someone paying is the good way to go in order to stay competetive. To summerise even if some strategy may sound and be used as pay to win, should it always be called this way? Maybe we should look on the bigger picture.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
If somethings gives you positive emotions without destroying your health permanently I would say it is already justified. Collection is expensive hobby but without it many people could just become husk of themselves. Living without a goal to live or some little things like placing new card you will watch from time to time feeling special, becuase there are not many people that have the same stuff like you do.
When it comes to video games their prices have been raised few weeks ago because of the debut of the new generation of video game consoles. Right now some of those new AAA games might even cost 350 PLN and I find it crazy. This is the biggest jump in video games prices ever and right now I consider them to expensive. The fact that piracy protection system became much more effective lately made publishers more confident in the subject of prices and their income. That just might cause people to download illegal games more often.
What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
Pay to win is a strategy which is just unfair. I understand that many games are made with income in mind but pay to win causes people to think poorly about the developer. Such actions make developers look greedy and that never helps.
How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
There are few reasons why people would spend so much money on cards, games etc. For some people it is a passion and that brings them joy. You can put a price tag on that. When it comes to physical cards those very often have an investment value and that actually might bring huge profit to the person who knows how that particular subject. If you know which card is or might become valuable then you really can make a living out of it.
What do you think about the prices of the games in general? Compare computer games to board games and, if you know any, include comparisons to trading card games like Magic.
I don’t know the prices of games because I don’t play them. But I think if some game is going to bring some fun into our life then is worth paying for it.
What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win a game?
Right now you may call a liar because I just write down that I’m not playing games but a few weeks ago I download a game called “maybe”. Its interactive story mostly focused on drama and romance. It was great! But If you want to “win” (in this game-winning was falling in love with some characters) you need a lot of diamonds. You get some of these at the beginning but only a little. If you want more you need to pay real money for them. I tried to resist so hard! When I was so into this game I was ready to pay 50 zł for my diamonds! Now, this sounds ridiculous to me. Fourtunelty I’ve got a limit on my debit card for internet transactions. I didn’t pay and I lost the chance for my character to fall in love (not even werewolf Lars wanted me :( ). I was truly devastated.
Games are too expensive for me. They also consume a lot of time I could spend on more productive activities. I do not know anything about modern trading card games like Magic. When I was young I have collected Pokémon cards though. I had 50 cards or so. The cards weren’t official printed cards, but some fake ones from China.
• What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
I don’t really like pay to win strategy, it resembles me to much of real life. If I play games I play for their escapism features, I don’t want to be constantly reminded that the game I play is indeed just a game and I need to pay real money progress. Magic is pay to win, because if you spend a lot of money you have bigger pool of card collection. Than you can choose the cards you want to play with in synergy in mind, that you wouldn’t have had if you have only handful of cards.
• How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
If you have large amount of money and you don’t have anything other to spend it on than spending it on collectable card games isn’t that bad. You can also treat it as a investment, because if the new cards won’t be printed anymore, it would create supply shortage and the prices of the cards would go up.
I hate pay to win. I think it’s not fair. And maybe that’s also why I don’t enjoy Magic, because in my opinion it is PTW. Games should, in my opinion, be free to anyone and they can have extra-paid content, but only the content that doesn’t affect gameplay. And making games that are available for kids, that are pay to win, is a really bad influence on children and showing them, that everything in life can be bought, and that money define people and their abilities.
I think that frankly, Magic is resembling stamp / postcards collections. And I can understand spending a lot of money on cards that are very rare, and well, usually powerful or very useful. As I said, it is pay to win, so it kind of justifies the numbers. Nevertheless, I’d never spend thousands of dollars on one card. I’ve heard about the collections of Magic that are worth more than a pretty good car, I’ve also tried to play Magic with friends and my friend even bought me a pack of cards, and we traded card for card, when I had something she didn’t. And I think you can also justify the rarity and prices of some Magic cards, because they need to pay the artists to create illustrations for them. But still it’s a big nope from me.
Pay-to-win kills the fun in games. What's the point of competing in games when you can pay to have an advantage over other players? From what I understand, I wouldn't say that Magic is a pay-to-win game. Collectible cards cost a fortune, but that doesn't mean they are that much better than any other regular card.
Spending so much on a collectible Magic card is a matter of having a hobby. Hobby or emotional connection can justify any purchase. The same goes for buying retro, collective cars you'll never drive, tickets for past concerts signed by the artists, and so on. Money does not necessarily show something's value. To each his own, some people value sentiments and feelings more than money. It's a personal thing.
About pay to win, I hate that. There are lots of pc games that you can simply dominate with deep enough wallet. It really ruins the game for everyone else. I think Magic is mostly pay to win. You can milk you wallet to buy all the best cards, your chances are unfairly increased. Of course, there's still skill that need to be taken into account. I believe that in magic even infinite amount of money cant buy you victory every time.
About justification of spending lots of money on cards, I think it's justified as much as spending money on every piece of collection. Magic cards, postal stamps, coins or even rare pc games skins aren't valuable because of the metarial of which they are made, but because of how rare they are. It's a simple supply and demand. If enough people want seemengly cheap thing, it'll become valuable.
In my opinion game price is fine. It is always depends to many things. If you buy board game you have to pay for cost of doing this, if this is collector's edition it will be automaticaly more expensive. You have to be aware of that how many examples was producted and remember author want to earn on this.
If you think about computer games you can find on the internet how much cost mading games for example Cyberpunk2077 - CDProjekt spend 8 years to make this game and they have a lot of people. Even when you will look at your example - monthly subscription on WoW - people want to earn on this and inflation is keep going up.
2. What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
There is a lot of games called "pay to win". To be honest i didn't feel anytime that i couldn't win in something without paying but obviously you have to spend more time when you compare with people which pay for items. I think it is problem in worst games. When you play in some good productions you don't have this element. You can buy some skins or upgrades but you don't feel it that much.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
This kind of games always require to spend more money to have better cards. Similar game is pokemon where you can collect cards and fight with other players on tournaments. You can spend few thousand on cards packages but there is always random cards. If your budget is fine you don't feel like it is big price. There is correlation because there is collector's value.
I think the prices are pretty sick. Literally sick. I could understand paying like a 100zl per game earlier. But now? As the sociaty plays a lot more the prices skirocketed. Imaging paying more than 300zł for a game that was released in 2011 but was remastered in graphic terms only for ps5. Both cases - computer games and board games. Computer games have its limits but board games and cards are insane. One card for a particular board game can such a high number of money worth.
2. What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
I don't really like pay to win. It's something that helps company function but in many cases it destroys the game.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
Honestly it's a passion like any other. If it brings joy to a person why shoudn't he spend money on that? Living life should be pleasure not a slavery. I don't know any collections of physical cards worth milions that people play with but i believe there is plenty of them!
I think that currently prices of games are incredibly high (especially video games). About boards games I do not know much and probably they have theirs reason for such high prices but in case of video games I think the high prices comes from much more work that needs to be put in developing of a game than let’s say 20 years ago. More work equals more experts (developers, UI people, Team managers and so on) working on it for a long time so that is why in my opinion the games are so expensive. Beside that right now is high demand for video games and games selling companies can put ‘whatever’ price they want. For example, a well-known game Fifa is incredibly expensive although it seems like not much is changed in every next edition of it. So why is that? Of course, because of its popularity and high demand.
2. What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
I do not like a pay to win strategy, I see it as ‘milking a cow’ strategy. I think that games should bring fun to people and not ‘force’ them to spend more money to be better in a game. I would describe a pay to win strategy as a situation when putting more money in a game makes your odds of winning higher so I would say Magic the gathering is a pay to win game.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
As mentioned in article it is all about Collectibles so mostly it depends on rarity of a card, its game impact and popularity of a game itself. For me it is no surprise that in game items can cost that much (take a look at cs go skins, which do not change anything in game besides looks and can cost up to 400k zł). Postal stamps are a really good comparison to Magic and I would say its basically the same.
Regarding the game you mentioned and the purchase of diamonds, some games are just made to make you feel that way. To get you hooked and to make you feel like you have not finished the game and feel "empty" if you don't buy this little add-on, for such a small price...
Oh, that's a complicated topic. I generally don't like to own things, so I'm a priori negative to idea of buying board games. You need to physically own and store it. And yes, I agree board games are expensive but sometimes they are worth price. I like the example of "twilight struggle",, which I loved as a board game, but as soon as they've made a video game adaptation I shifted to it exclusively. Most of the board games I'm interested in are just more pleasant to play on computer, as they require a lot of calculations every turn.
2. What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
A massive turn off for me. I hate when money talks and I agree MTG is type of pay to win game. Anything that can be obtainable only by its price tag or unreasonable amount of playtime (famous case of star wars of the old republic) and give you advantage over your opponents is pay to win for me. I consciously avoid or even boycott games that are pay to win. I think legends of runeterra, another card games, is a perfect example for the balance between 'real money' currency and in-game currency.
How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
I can understand both sides of collecting MTG - as an investment or just for the pure satisfaction of owning rare items. In both cases I agree you could do a better investment or collect more worthy items.
Well, computer and board games have different prices, but yeah, usually even AAA level releases on PlayStation can cost you not more than 50-60 dollars right after release and there are always discounts on holidays. The price is a problem usually when we talk about such games as Magic because it is not only a game, it's about collecting too, and people can spend an enormous amount of money on collecting whatever.
2.What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win the game?
Well, pure pay to win is evil for any game. It's when you can pay for some boosts in a game that will increase the probability of your win to 99% and statistically only a few people can afford it not starving until the next salary. On the other hand, if the game is popular for many years, developers should somehow raise the money. For example, World of Warcraft has its monthly subscription and Dota 2 those costumes. Both two of them make players totally equal but it doesn't work for all of the games, so yeah, someone just sells in-game items and it is okay. Magic seems to be game, where you should spend some money to build a good deck, like everybody else, it's the price is a part of a game. Some sports, for example, have quite expensive ammunition, too. If spending more, more and more money doesn't have an impact - it's not "pay to win".
3.How could one justify spending that much money on simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
Yeah, it's just a new way of collecting something. And you can play with your collection, not just own it, so for me, it's much better. Anyway, people can spend there time and money (which is the result of spending time) on whatever they want.
As you compare Magic to gathering postal stamps it makes sense. If you wanna make a big collection, because you just want to collect them, everything is perfectly fine. Every collection can be worth an enormous number of money and that's a normal thing, ex. if you want to sell them all later and earn a lot more than you paid for that when you were able to collect cards not collectible anymore. But if you want to pay for them, collect the best one to just win with others, then paying a lot of money start becoming more and more stupid.
2. I wouldn't consider Magic as a "p2w" game, because the winning is not solely dependent on specific cards to have. For me, p2w games are those at which you can hardly win without spending even tiny amount of money or those that favour players who had spent the most. I believe the strategy of some of these games is to be a quick "cash grab" and base most of the gameplay on gratification systems, as well as quests that can't be easily and timely made without some external help. I noticed that it is the most popular in mobile games with many in-game micro-transactions. There is a lot more to say about mobile games though in regard to their strategies :)
3. I would say, it could be considered like a hobby. Whenever it comes to collecting things, there is always some sense of accomplishment, even more so if we happen to get something rare. When someone is passionate about something, they tend to get lots of joy from learning about what they like, being sort of "specialists". Maybe it has to do with the feeling of being lucky as well?
In my opinion pay to win strategy is really bad especially for free2play computer games when first player want to only have fun and train your skills and second one who bought some weapon/armor that give him special forces, destroy first player game because "he don't pay" Magic is not pay to win game, if you want have collectible cards you pay for it and if you don't want to have it you still have good entertainment.
I like people who have some sort of hobby. Collecting cards to Magic or postal stamps are hobbies that not everyone can't understand but this is someone passion and we should respect this. For example I create from few months collection of computer hardware. I never heard about collections of Magic cards worth millions but I have friends who have skins for CS:GO worth thousand zlotys.
1.Pricing for games
I think pricing for computer games is overpriced right now, we can check FIFA series for example.
Every year they realesed a new version with no innovation and collect a lot of money, after realese of game they try to sell you a coins for ingame purchasing to get a gold cards or something else, and in the next year you should to repeat this again, just to be actual in this game. I guess this is unfair.
2.If we are talking about such a big game where u can collect about 20 thousand card, i guess it’s not a fact of pay to win, you just try to make a collections of this cads and play with them, maybe i understood something wrong, but i look on this game in that way „Collecting and playing”.
3.We are living at intresting time, when everybody have a lot of different hobbies, so why not this game shouldn’t be a hobby for someone. Maybe this cards doesn’t have magic properties but for people who like this game it can be also with magic properties 😊
I’m not a big fan of the pay-to-win strategy. I like when games reward you for your thought process or maybe even when some luck is involved, but when paying money puts you in a better position it doesn’t pleasant for me.
I think that if something is your passion and makes you happy, you can’t spend too much money on it. I think this is the best way to spend money, either it is travel or card game, whatever gives you pleasure.
I think that prices of video games are fair, considering that you can buy them really cheap during Steam sales etc. But board games are really expensive for me. I was really surprised when I found out that one particular game that I've played with my friends (I can't remember it's name) was worth more than 400 PLN IIRC. I'm not a huge fan of board games and I expected that it would cost like 200 PLN or something like that.
2. What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
I don't like games that are pay to win. I consider a game pay to win when spending money can give someone big advantage over people who don't buy items for real money. That being said in games like Magic you have to pay real money for "items" and you can't really get them other way around (at least legally), so I think that is fair because the point of the game is to pay for new cards which you can collect or sell later when you'll decide not to use them anymore or when they'll rotate out of the specific format.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
I think that if you can afford buying them and want to do this because it'll make you happy or you want to sell them later for profit, then go for it. I don't think that this is something one has to justify. Personally, I've never been able to understand what's fun about collecting anything, but there sure are some people who really enjoy it.
As far as I know, the prices of computer games, especially on consoles are rising to exorbitant amounts. I feel compasion for people that have to pay 300 zł for game.
What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
That's an interesting question. I would argue that, game that is described as an opposite of "pay to win" is a situation in which players are manipulating with same "tools", and the only thing that could give advantage to one of them is by their skill or some random process. So, if my definition is right, the opposite must be true. Pay to win game, is the game that provides different tools, and chance of winning isn't only dependent on their skill or "throwing dice"
How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
Something is worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. Life just shows how unrational we could be with our everyday choices.
2. For me game is P2W when you have to spend money (other then the game itself) in order to be the best at it. So by my definition I would have to call MTG a pay2win game but I don't think it is straight up.
3. If I were a MTG collector I would probably call it investment so I could justify spending so much money :D
Starting with video games, I think that prices of new games are really high, but actually reasonable in most cases, it depends on the game. As for board games, I usually pay like 60 to 100 PLN for one, and i believe it's a fair price most of the time.
What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
I don't really like it, it takes out fun from games. I consider pay to win to be a situation where one player is winning because he was willing to pay extra for something, like a really powerful card in a card game. And yes, i think that Magic is a pay to win game.
How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
I personally couldn't justify spending so much money on a card game. But i know that it's a hobby, or even a lifestyle for some people, and i think that i can understand why some people are willing to spend a lot of money on it.
I really like games in general board, card or video games. I do see a sense in that that board games costs so much and because of that i considere them for example a good birthday gift, because someone would rather buy something else than a board game but if he/she gets that they are almost always happy. About the price of video games i also understand that. The proces of creating more complicated games takes more time and thats why the costs stay as there is. About the card games such as Magic. Thats something i also understand, but never wanted to sink into it because of that exact thing. Im not into buying over and over again new stuff for developing my deck. Im not into competitive games like Magic.
What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
A pay to win games i would describe as games that someone with more money that can buy more expensive things has more adventage over somebody who didnt invest as much money into it. The pay to win strategy games automaticaly reject me from playing them. Idk if Magic is pay to win game, i dont think so. Mainly because of that, that you should have some sort of strategy on creating the deck and that the most priced cards are as said collectibles.
How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
I dont have a problem with someone collecting cards and paying for them a lot of money. Its his choice into what he is gonna invest money in and whats give him joy. If something can make you feel good just do it. It can have simmilar ground: will to collect something, but beeing able to play with them add another dimension to doing so.
2. Pay to win strategies are obviously bad, however, I'm not so sure that one pricy card can determine a victory over a skilled player. I haven't played much, and when I have it was a long, long time ago. However, in my understanding, the deck-building skills and then playing according to plan is the most important. Certainly, good cards help, but it is not enough to win all the time.
3. I have heard about them! But, yeah, most people didn't. It is just how I described it in the first questions, people are accustomed to paying thousands for questionable artistic pieces or designer clothes or jewellery, and yet, they despise something that is useful, fun and well thought through. I can't tell you why.
I mainly play computer games, so prices are only known to me in this category. Currently, the prices of AAA games are quite high (~ $ 60) but at this price we get productions that are designed for many hours of entertainment and have wonderful graphics, so the prices are the most convenient. Of course, there are cases when the quality of the game leaves a lot of wishes and are not worth the price, so it's worth waiting for reviews.
2.What is your opinion on pay to win strategy?
I don't like and avoid pay to win games. I do not mind cosmetic additives such as skins. If you can buy something for real money that gives you an advantage over others, in my opinion it is simply not fair.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)?
Everyone spends their money on what they like, and I see no reason to justify it.
I think the prices of games in general are just right. I understand that these days games are more expensive than 10 years ago. Video games are much more better. They requires advanced technology, a lot of graphics, because often to pass all the game we have to spend a lot of hours. These days video games are very extensive and I like it. Going to board games, it is a great present for birthday, I also think the price of them are just good, not too expensive.
2. What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
I think it is not fair. I don't like games like this. It is obvious that if you pay for better cards you will have more chance to win a game. On the other hand I think games demands some skills which we can not buy.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about I collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
I see correlation of Magic cards to postal stamps, we collect both of them and few years after we can sell them for extra prizes. I think if somebody knows well this game, they can earn a lot of money, because this game is very popular and there are a lot of people who collect these cards.
2. Live is pay to win game. Introduction this strategy in gaming is fatal idea. People play games to lose some reality. If online game promotes buying of better weapons for real money it would lose players fast. Many times It is bed balanced model of micro-transaction.
3. If someone like this kind of game I could understand this. I often spend money on my hobbies and also It could be taken as irrational.
2. I think that everyone should decide for himself whether he likes this or that strategy or not. It seems to me that this is one of the good strategies and mechanics created for games ...
3. I think that justifying the waste of such money is not just for "simple cardboard" but also for the work of people who have invested directly in this game, as well as those people who like it or those people who are fans of these games or this genre of games. There are not only simple players or amateurs, but also there are collectors who are willing to shell out large sums for their collection.
2. I hate pay to win strategy in online games it benefits mostly dumb and low skill players. And game studios prefer that kind of people.
3. For me it's just piece of paper, actually paying much money for this is stupid waste of money. I prefer hand crafts over freemarket gathering papers.
Nowadays computer games are very expensive, I mean tripple A titles especially. On the release it's usually around 300 PLN, board games very seldom costs above 200 but more often it's around 100. PC games are worth buying only on special offers. I know only one game that is similiar to Magic The Gathering that is Hearthstone but I dind't play on the level that required me to pay for cards.
What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
I consider pay to win games as such when player that pays for game can achieve more than player who don't pay. It's very often seen in "Free-to-play" games, which require you to pay for in-game experience and if you don't pay then it's almost unplayable. I don't consider Magic the gathering to be pay-to-win game although propoably to play it on the high level you will have to spend some money in order to wining.
How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
Well I won't consider spending someone money to be worth justifying. I mean if someone can afford it to spend a lot of money on something that this person enjoys then it's not my buisness. People spend money on a lot of different things that others don't understand such as clothes (I mean streetwear especially) or some collectable things from games, movies etc. so I don't think that I have right to justify someone's spendings, I also spend money on things that other would consider useless for example skins to League of Legends but that's my money, right?
I think that prices of computer games are a bit too high. On the other hand if prices are high and there is big demand, people are willing to spend that much money on games, why would they be lower. Board games are another case in my opinion. They are real things and people playing board games are a niche. I don't really know why their prices are that high but I can say the same as about computer games.
2. What is your opinion on pay to win strategy? What exactly would you consider a pay to win? Is Magic, as I described, a pay to win game?
I think pay to win games are games that make you better just because you have some expensive cards. On the other hand every game involves skill and probably best players have access to best cards so money is not a big problem. On the other hand I appreciate only skill-based games more. If everyone can start on the same level, not using money to get better, it is more fair.
3. How could one justify spending that much money on a simple cardboard (having Magic: The Gathering in mind)? Do you see any correlation of Magic to postal stamps? This is a comparison used whenever someone brings back the topic of finances. We've heard about enormous collections of postal stamps worth thousands of dollars, but how many of you heard about collections of Magic cards (with which you can, additionally, play with, instead of just looking at them!) worth millions?
I think it is anybodys personal decision how much a person is willing to pay for a game.
2. It's something I have a strong aversion for in games, although I've yet to see an example so blatant that it made me leave the game and never touch it again. In my opinion pay to win would mean a situation where it would be virtually impossible or at least extremely unlikely for a player to win if he didn't spend sufficient amount of money. Professional tournaments of Magic sort of fit this scheme, however you can make up some of the disadvantages from lack of more expensive, potentially better cards by your good knowledge of the game, playing optimally and frankly, luck because e.g. card drawing is a semi-random constituent.
3. I think it makes sense as much as any other collectibles and it's very personal. If for you rarity of a certain object makes it worth the market/sellers' price then it makes perfect sense for you to buy it, if you desire to choose so. One could compare trading cards to jewellry, both have little to no practical use and altough in jewellry price of materials is a significant factor, there is a significant 'collectible' aspect of it. Most of people have at least some piece of jewellry in their house thus expensive cards shouldn't be thought of that differently.