Met from 9:00 to 12:00 on Thursday
one of two girls playing
about 30 people there
most people were playing one on one games
introduced to the game and how to play
instructor was very patient in explaining
encouraged us that we would get the hang of it the more we play
for some reason it seemed like they really wanted us to learn the game
the room had sporadic game posters
there was also a box of free cards that people could use if they so desired - fosters new players to create their own deck.
Decks can consist of five different colors/elements
first analysis of deck colors:
white deck: consists of humans and angels focuses on giving life back to player
green deck: consists of beasts and elves - has a lot of low level creaters that do not cost much mana
black deck: consists of zombies and undead - can bring back creaters from the dead
red deck: consists of goblins and vampires - spells that hit for 3/5 damage - may also damage yourself
blue deck: has a lot of counter spells and abilities to hinder the other players strategy
there are different rules for casual play versus renouncement play
one player that I played against seemed to get bored because he continuously beat me and I was probably taking a while to make a decision on what to play
It was amusing when we would play a random card that we thought was just okay, but then they proceeded to tell us the strategy behind why that card was so great.
We did not talk much about anything outside of Magic
players have more than one deck of cards
was very willing to teach us how to play
Surprised by how fast they were able to make decisions on what card to play
has a different strategy for each deck
could know what the opponents strategy is by just their first three cards (makes me curious how long they have been playing this for)
extremely different vocabulary mainly because they have all their cards memorized
put cards into covers - this helps to protect the cards
learned that cards could range up to 200 dollars!!
I was actually became comfortable in that atmosphere quicker than I thought
the game mixes strategy and randomization which is fun.
The games took place in a game store. This store contained various board games and other table top games.
Meeting 2 (2 hours)
Met from 10:00 to 12:00 on monday
surprised how fast time can go when playing this game
saw some familiar faces from the previous meeting
am curious to see how often they come to clockworks
Played some games with a guy named Viet
I was surprised that he came over and initiated the game. I thought that we would have to go over and awkwardly ask people if they wanted to play with noobs.
Viet works at clockwork and claims that he isn't very good at the game, but he does have three different decks with sleaves and a game board(which I have no idea what the use is for. - it just looks like a giant mouse pad)
His three decks consisted of a vampire deck, zombie deck, and a white green deck. (ordered from his favorite to least favorite)
He was very kind and insisted that I just drew a bad hand when I lost, but he obviously plays better than I do.
Next time I think it would be interesting to watch a legit game maybe at a tournament so that I can see what a competitive game looks like
I also wonder if people have a "normal seat" that they always play in. This can be discovered in future observations.
another interesting area of research that could be done is to see how the personality of the player correlates with their deck. If for example they like to play with a black/red deck they may be more aggressive whereas a green/white deck may resemble a more peaceful person.
Meeting 3: (3 hours)
Met from 6:00 to 9:00
This was an interesting time where we decided not to play Magic with them but instead asked them a set of predefined questions and just had a conversation with them. These are the following questions that we asked:
How experienced do you consider yourself?
(1-5, 1 being beginner....5 expert) (quantitative, subjective)
How many hours per week do you play Magic?
(quantitative, objective)
How many hours per week do you spend on Magic outside of battles and playing other people (trading, building decks, etc)?
(quantitative, objective)
How much money have you spent on cards?
(quantitative, subjective)
What is the highest amount you have paid for one card?
(quantitative, objective)
Have you ever played Magic the Gathering as a video game? (ie through steam?)
(quantitative, objective)
Would you consider Magic to be addicting?
(quantitative, subjective)
Would you say that you are addicted to Magic?
(quantitative, subjective)
Would you say that most people you play against are addicted to Magic?
(quantitative, subjective)When did you begin playing?
(qualitative, objective)
11. What/Whom introduced you to Magic?
(qualitative, objective)
How long did it take to learn?
(quantitative, subjective)
How much longer do you expect to play Magic?
(quantitative, subjective)
Do you spend time with the people you know from Magic outside of the venue?
(quantitative, objective)
Would you say this time spent is mostly talking about Magic?
(quantitative, subjective)
How old are you?
(quantitative, objective)
Do you go to A&M?
(quantitative, objective)
What is your major?
(qualitative, objective)
While askingthese questions, certain discussions were spurred.
I learned more about casual game play verses hard core.
casual gamers seem to regard the "hardcore" gamers in a negative light
and most of the people who played Magic thought of Yugioh as a dummer version and thus attracts dummer people.
One surprising aspect that I saw this time was that there was a group that was playing Apples to Apples - a game that is well known by the average person.
This can be explained by one person's answer to the question : are you addicted to magic. His response was that he is not addicted to Magic specifically but to board games in general.
Another insightful comment was given in response to the question "How long do you expect to continue playing magic?" and His answer was a couple of years because I've put money into it.
There was again only 3 girls in the room including myself, and I was fortunate to interview one of them.
Most of the people that I talked to were very chill and friendly. I could definitely see myself becoming friends with a lot of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment