From my experience as a game shop owner, the issue is not that women are not interested in playing Magic, it is the toxic men that play Magic that cause them to not play.
@nokturne213@lorty Stores with better staff fostering better communities get better gender ratios. Which supports your observation.
But because toxic men are going to show up from other communities to events at the good stores they still weigh down the good stores. Particularly at more competitive events.
Staff (store and event) need to be vigilent, particularly at events that draw a wider audience (RCQ and such). They also need a hair trigger on what counts as toxic behaviour.
These execs are so out of touch it's mind boggling. I personally love all the weird cards and cross overs but pushing obvious cash grabs under the guise of "enticing" women players is just disgusting. The women who want to play are already playing. You want more people to play then make it more affordable. The whole thing makes me think they want to double down on the "collection" portion of this game instead of the actual game itself. I got back into playing over a year and a half ago and I'm already exhausted again with keeping up with the whole scene.
@lorty so you know how Magic is Dying (for the last 15 years)?
I'm afeared for the game. Not because people aren't interested. Because Final Fantasy was the best selling set of all time.
No, I'm worried that Magic has turned into Fortnite.
I'm not interested in playing Fortnite.
@lorty if they want women to play, they need to step up their harassment response. They need to run events geared towards women. They need to reach out to disenfranchised groups and make them welcome.
Women don't not play magic because the cards are uninteresting, they don't play magic because they don't feel welcome or valued
Right on all accounts. I will say however that, compared to all other cardgame communities I've been part of, MTG seems to be the one with the most women actually playing. I can't say if it's something magic or WotC does different from the others or not I can't say.
It's interesting to see because while the success is undeniable, it remains to be seen as to wether it is sustainable long term. Fortnite hasn't been as profitable as Epic would have liked because of the increasingly higher licensing fees they have to pay, and they can't escape it since Fortnite itself isn't really an IP that can sell anything. I expect Magic to go the same way.
Imagine if they had actually invested in their IP in the same way Warhammer has, they might be the ones licensing it.
I used to follow standard rotation, then they abandoned the standard players and regular standard releases and left the rotation to stagnate.
I'm not interested in the alchemy cards or reprints of not in standard sets, and there's just nothing happening in standard even after a year.
I used to play every day, i spent money on MTG Arena, but I will never have the money to play physical MTG.
It's really funny because I would drop $500 if i could get a x4 playset of every card, but that would probably cost closer to 50k considering they try to also maintain their childrens card game as a gatcha economy to rival the USD.
WOTC could take $5-$10 ever couple of months from me if they wanted to support the most popular game type again, or they could take a single payment of $500 for all the physical cards, or i could just play other games that respect me more.
WOTC prefers the third option where I don't give them money, because they can't have all my money.
From my experience as a game shop owner, the issue is not that women are not interested in playing Magic, it is the toxic men that play Magic that cause them to not play.
If only showering (or not) was the issue...
@nokturne213 @MotoAsh well, the only issue...
@nokturne213 @lorty Stores with better staff fostering better communities get better gender ratios. Which supports your observation.
But because toxic men are going to show up from other communities to events at the good stores they still weigh down the good stores. Particularly at more competitive events.
Staff (store and event) need to be vigilent, particularly at events that draw a wider audience (RCQ and such). They also need a hair trigger on what counts as toxic behaviour.
They could chuck a pit stick in pre release boxes too
These execs are so out of touch it's mind boggling. I personally love all the weird cards and cross overs but pushing obvious cash grabs under the guise of "enticing" women players is just disgusting. The women who want to play are already playing. You want more people to play then make it more affordable. The whole thing makes me think they want to double down on the "collection" portion of this game instead of the actual game itself. I got back into playing over a year and a half ago and I'm already exhausted again with keeping up with the whole scene.
@lorty so you know how Magic is Dying (for the last 15 years)?
I'm afeared for the game. Not because people aren't interested. Because Final Fantasy was the best selling set of all time.
No, I'm worried that Magic has turned into Fortnite.
I'm not interested in playing Fortnite.
@lorty if they want women to play, they need to step up their harassment response. They need to run events geared towards women. They need to reach out to disenfranchised groups and make them welcome.
Women don't not play magic because the cards are uninteresting, they don't play magic because they don't feel welcome or valued
Right on all accounts. I will say however that, compared to all other cardgame communities I've been part of, MTG seems to be the one with the most women actually playing. I can't say if it's something magic or WotC does different from the others or not I can't say.
It's interesting to see because while the success is undeniable, it remains to be seen as to wether it is sustainable long term. Fortnite hasn't been as profitable as Epic would have liked because of the increasingly higher licensing fees they have to pay, and they can't escape it since Fortnite itself isn't really an IP that can sell anything. I expect Magic to go the same way.
Imagine if they had actually invested in their IP in the same way Warhammer has, they might be the ones licensing it.
I used to follow standard rotation, then they abandoned the standard players and regular standard releases and left the rotation to stagnate.
I'm not interested in the alchemy cards or reprints of not in standard sets, and there's just nothing happening in standard even after a year.
I used to play every day, i spent money on MTG Arena, but I will never have the money to play physical MTG.
It's really funny because I would drop $500 if i could get a x4 playset of every card, but that would probably cost closer to 50k considering they try to also maintain their childrens card game as a gatcha economy to rival the USD.
WOTC could take $5-$10 ever couple of months from me if they wanted to support the most popular game type again, or they could take a single payment of $500 for all the physical cards, or i could just play other games that respect me more.
WOTC prefers the third option where I don't give them money, because they can't have all my money.
As a woman who plays magic, it's generally the community, not the cards that prevents me from playing in public spaces.