First Time Magic the Gathering

[PixelPixii]

i stopped playing it cuz i was tired of actually starting it... yeah, not my bag. but the one thing i hate about that game is i'd be partying with a handful of friends and then all of a a damn sudden half if not almost everyone would go sit in the kitchen for 2 hours playing it and being completely useless for conversation or reception of humor... it was painful

You never saw my group when we played, plenty of conversation and humor. We used to have a lot of fun. For us, it was like a geeky version of poker night. We only played if we planned on dedicating a night to it. If we hung out for any other reason, the Magic cards would never come out

I will admit I would rather play Magic than poker, I lose less money that way. Unless it is a good round of strip poker...

[Gamerforlife]

i stopped playing it cuz i was tired of actually starting it... yeah, not my bag. but the one thing i hate about that game is i'd be partying with a handful of friends and then all of a a damn sudden half if not almost everyone would go sit in the kitchen for 2 hours playing it and being completely useless for conversation or reception of humor... it was painful

You never saw my group when we played, plenty of conversation and humor. We used to have a lot of fun. For us, it was like a geeky version of poker night. We only played if we planned on dedicating a night to it. If we hung out for any other reason, the Magic cards would never come out

I will admit I would rather play Magic than poker, I lose less money that way. Unless it is a good round of strip poker...

LOL, I think we need a First Time Strip Poker thread

[optmusprimenumber]

i stopped playing it cuz i was tired of actually starting it... yeah, not my bag. but the one thing i hate about that game is i'd be partying with a handful of friends and then all of a a damn sudden half if not almost everyone would go sit in the kitchen for 2 hours playing it and being completely useless for conversation or reception of humor... it was painful

Like they became possessed.... lol

yeah! i mean, they'd talk and laugh amongst themselves... but as soon as i walked in beer in hand with a wise crack or something to say they'd just be all "turn ma card and count my jewels and 'o man! thAT Card' 'u bastard' and draw a card and 'o, what dude?'" then i'd go to say something and they'd go right back to "turn ma card and count my jewels..."

but to be fair, a good poker game will do that to me too... but that's why there's a specific poker night, not "let's start a party with chris and then go do one of the things he doesn't do" night, i hate that night

[PixelPixii]

LOL, I think we need a First Time Strip Poker thread

I will think about it, but then that might start a whole series on "First Time" threads. Some becoming more personal than I would prefer. (Although I have some really funny stories) LOL

"let's start a party with chris and then go do one of the things he doesn't do" night, i hate that night

I hate that night too!

[Mendoza]

Memories of my last magic tournament come flooding back. Orlando, several hundred nerds, eating/dressing poorly and still handily being top 5 in terms of hygiene. Part of me is glad I stopped playing.

The other part got to play a few games with his old friends from middle/high school who he used to play with this past Christmas vacation. That was quite wonderful.

One of the problems I have with Magic the Gathering is the money it takes to build a really good deck. I know some people that stopped playing just because they were tired of spending all the money.

Yeah i stopped due to the finances involved, and a lack of local players.

I never look back on my days of playing as a waste though. I met some cool people because of that game.

[Niode]

This is one of the reasons I keep my nerdy friends and my 'normal' friends separate. The last time they met, it was a disaster, the nerdy friends ended up spending more time playing Starcraft 2 spouting such familiar clichés as "oh my god pwn that noob" "I can't believe he did x when you have y, what a noob" Might as well have been speaking Chinese for me. I have absolutely no idea when it comes to Starcraft jargon. The 'normal' friends stayed in one room, the nerds stayed in the other. So I was trying to get them to integrate and it was just failing miserably. Ended up spending most of my time with the 'normal' guys playing drinking games and getting smashed, then got yelled at the day after by one of my closest friends (he's in the nerd group) because I made fun of him playing Starcraft 2 all night, and said that Aion looks like a crap WoW rip off and kept shouting "FOR THE HORDE!!" at him whilst he grinded on Aion for a bit. (FYI I don't play either). Come on, who fucking plays SC2 and Aion at a fucking house party?.

There's a few overlaps in my two circles of friends, so I can get away with geeking out over certain things when I'm with the 'normal' bunch and vice versa. So for the most part it works out fine.

I used to play Magic a lot when I was at school, around the same time all the nerdy kids were geeking out over pokemon cards. So we were essentially the geekiest of the geeks. I haven't really touched it since, I picked it back up a few years ago because Wizards sent me some free stuff (can't even remember why, some sort of anniversary thing). I tried to get my ex-fiancée into it but she couldn't get her head around the rules and thought it was stupid. The only other guys I knew that played it sold their physical collection to buy MTG:O cards and I refuse to pay for virtual cards on principle (seriously, why can't you just send your cards into Wizards, get them verified and unlock them in the game? Why should I have to buy my cards again?). Played a few games of Planeswalkers with them but it's just not the same.

It seems like you had a fun time at the tournament. It still makes me laugh how awkward a girl being present at events like these makes people. I still remember the first (and last) time I went into Fanboy 3 in Manchester with my then fiancée in tow. The entire shop went deadly silent, she was the only female within a 100 yards, probably. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. Katie hated it and said she wanted to "LEAVE... RIGHT NOW". It was pretty awkward. Like I had walked into a wild west saloon with pink cowboy boots on, ass less chaps and nothing else...

[PixelPixii]

Like I had walked into a wild west saloon with pink cowboy boots on, ass less chaps and nothing else...

Awesome way to put it! I don't blame the guys for being surprised, it is just a part of life. If I was a guy that frequented there often I would be surprised if girl suddenly came that I was not used to.

I think it is always good for people to be open minded and well rounded. I have friends that are into a lot of different stuff. I try everything out before I give an opinion on it. Just like many people should learn that it is possible to have a friendly conversation with someone of the opposite sex without it needing to seem awkward.

[brainofjtd]

Come on, who fucking plays SC2 and Aion at a fucking house party?.

I literally winced at reading that. Even if something isn't my cup of tea I try to float around the "other" party just so things won't be so awkward. From personal experience hearing your story is like a fearful deja vu. Between this and the story about your lady, I'm feeling queasy lol.

[Ivo]

Wow there is so much stuff I want to say in this thread...

For now I'll just suggest that if you liked playing MTG, you should try MTGO (online) - you will have less awkward moments I believe, and it will be more about the game. On the other hand you said that you like the social part so maybe it is not such a good suggestion for you.

I'm a guy and the few times I went to a game shop to try and play Magic I felt really awkward.

I'll reply more to other stuff later...

Ivo.

[Ivo]

Ok so the basic thing I want to say is... I'm suprised some of the posters are being so judgemental in this thread. The same guys that I think I remember writing very cool posts and being very understanding with other members at times, and who by definition have hobbies that a big part of the "normal" population is judgemental towards!

As I say above, I felt awkward at game stores when I tried to play Magic (that is why I played paper Magic with my friends only, and only for a little while, but played MTGO for years). But I don't look down upon the paper players that attend stores.

Note that I don't think Pixii is looking down on these guys either, but there were some disparaging remarks by other posters that I thought were not cool.

To be honest Niode, I think your close friend was right to be upset with you. And if I was at a house party with lots of people I didn't know before, I would probably just leave after a short while - but given the option I wouldn't mind playing some games and ignoring the party. What is fun for you is not necessarily fun for others.

By the way, I never understood why people don't want to pay for virtual cards but are ok with paying for cardboard cards. Both are intrinsically worthless, having the value that people are willing to pay for them due to collecting or playing value. Some of the online cards are pricier than their paper counterparts. It is just not consistent to discriminate the online versions when you are ok with cardboard (as if cardboard is much more valuable than bits).

Also, I understand that some stuff being described is actually the reality, but I think that some of you might be missing that these guys are not creating the awkward environment on purpose. Quite possibly one main reason they like to gather in such places is because usually there are no girls there and they can relax - Pixii has every right to go and Niode has every right to take a girl with him, and I don't think most of them there think otherwise (sadly I bet some do), but I don't think you should blame them for the weird vibes in that sense.

I don't know if I could convey my message clearly here but I tried. And I'm here to clarify anything as well.
Ivo.