I think this is a great way of putting the issue. We need more sacredness.
I want my gaming experience to be sacred, and I believe other gamers do as well. Even when I”m competing professionally and keeping the prize money and writing pay in mind, I still want the competition to be sacred. Otherwise it’s just a job and doesn’t pay very well so what’s the point? I’m very much with Price and Bill Waterson. I play my Path of Exile on Solo Self-Find.
At the same time, the challenge and game of assembing one’s collection is also fun, in its own way, for many, and also the way that game companies get paid, which is important; keeping the designers and artists in rent money is already hard enough as it is.
Right now, there are games where everything is alienable (e.g. Magic: The Gathering) and games where everything is inalienable (e.g. Hearthstone/Eternal). Magic does have things you can’t trade, like Pro Points and ratings, at the competitive level, but not before. Having a hybrid system where some things are tradable and some are not makes sense as a starting point. I’m less certain about the idea of semi-alienable objects whose trading you tax/delay but it’s definitely an under-explored space.
I think this is a great way of putting the issue. We need more sacredness.
I want my gaming experience to be sacred, and I believe other gamers do as well. Even when I”m competing professionally and keeping the prize money and writing pay in mind, I still want the competition to be sacred. Otherwise it’s just a job and doesn’t pay very well so what’s the point? I’m very much with Price and Bill Waterson. I play my Path of Exile on Solo Self-Find.
At the same time, the challenge and game of assembing one’s collection is also fun, in its own way, for many, and also the way that game companies get paid, which is important; keeping the designers and artists in rent money is already hard enough as it is.
Right now, there are games where everything is alienable (e.g. Magic: The Gathering) and games where everything is inalienable (e.g. Hearthstone/Eternal). Magic does have things you can’t trade, like Pro Points and ratings, at the competitive level, but not before. Having a hybrid system where some things are tradable and some are not makes sense as a starting point. I’m less certain about the idea of semi-alienable objects whose trading you tax/delay but it’s definitely an under-explored space.