Still the one
March 19th 2011 01:07
In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.
-- Coco Chanel
I had the opportunity to learn the rules of The Spoils this week. As you may have heard, it’s a relatively new trading card game, just a few years old, that seems to aspire to Magic’s successes. The game mechanics are similar enough to Magic that someone familiar with Jace and friends could easily pick it up in a couple of sessions. But what really caught my attention was the art. While nowhere near as sophisticated as Magic’s, it appears to have been designed very carefully to appear adult and “edgy.”
This is probably a big part of the reason why it comes across as anything but adult or edgy. Packing cards with self-conscious jokes about martial arts movies, prostitution, and tentacles only ends up making the game seem like it isn’t serious. And, paradoxically, products with a generally serious aesthetic often end up being better at delivering jokes when they have to. This may be because the humorous elements contrast with the serious elements and the deeper issues, making the jokes seem more meaningful and have a greater impact. The criminally underrated 2008 Prince of Persia game is a serious story from start to finish, and is not undermined by the Prince and Elika’s occasionally-humorous banter during the adventure because all elements of the story, including their relationship, are played straight. Magic’s Unglued and Unhinged supplements are also excellent examples. The jokes vary from outright goofy to cerebrally self-referential (Chaos Confetti, for example, depicts an urban legend about the Alpha card Chaos Orb), but because the cards themselves are laid out in exactly the same way as “real” Magic cards and have art that follows Magic’s mature aesthetic, you never feel like they’re trying too hard, as you do with The Spoils.
Considering the amount of time required to learn a TCG’s rules and strategy, and the amount of effort and, often, money required to collect cards, adults are probably a more suitable audience for the genre than teenagers. And adults are more likely to be drawn to a game with Magic’s attitude. So let’s wish the makers and players of The Spoils well, but let’s not expect more of that game than we should; and let’s also not expect it to assume Magic’s role in the gaming world any time soon.
-- Coco Chanel
I had the opportunity to learn the rules of The Spoils this week. As you may have heard, it’s a relatively new trading card game, just a few years old, that seems to aspire to Magic’s successes. The game mechanics are similar enough to Magic that someone familiar with Jace and friends could easily pick it up in a couple of sessions. But what really caught my attention was the art. While nowhere near as sophisticated as Magic’s, it appears to have been designed very carefully to appear adult and “edgy.”
This is probably a big part of the reason why it comes across as anything but adult or edgy. Packing cards with self-conscious jokes about martial arts movies, prostitution, and tentacles only ends up making the game seem like it isn’t serious. And, paradoxically, products with a generally serious aesthetic often end up being better at delivering jokes when they have to. This may be because the humorous elements contrast with the serious elements and the deeper issues, making the jokes seem more meaningful and have a greater impact. The criminally underrated 2008 Prince of Persia game is a serious story from start to finish, and is not undermined by the Prince and Elika’s occasionally-humorous banter during the adventure because all elements of the story, including their relationship, are played straight. Magic’s Unglued and Unhinged supplements are also excellent examples. The jokes vary from outright goofy to cerebrally self-referential (Chaos Confetti, for example, depicts an urban legend about the Alpha card Chaos Orb), but because the cards themselves are laid out in exactly the same way as “real” Magic cards and have art that follows Magic’s mature aesthetic, you never feel like they’re trying too hard, as you do with The Spoils.
Considering the amount of time required to learn a TCG’s rules and strategy, and the amount of effort and, often, money required to collect cards, adults are probably a more suitable audience for the genre than teenagers. And adults are more likely to be drawn to a game with Magic’s attitude. So let’s wish the makers and players of The Spoils well, but let’s not expect more of that game than we should; and let’s also not expect it to assume Magic’s role in the gaming world any time soon.
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