Subject: A Response to Duelist Ideas
Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 18:56:33 -0700
From: sophist@grid.wizards.com (Rob Hahn)

I'm writing to respond to the numerous ideas and criticisms emailed to me
in the few days since I posted my open letter to the Magic community on
The Dojo.

First, let me thank everyone because it looks as if it will be next to
impossible for me to thank people individually.  I have over sixty emails
from just a couple of days....

Second, let me tell you what a number of you have been saying because
collectively, they are confusing.

1.  Some people want to see expanded coverage of non-Magic CCG's such as
Star Wars, L5R or Battletech.  Others -- a great many others -- want to
see nothing but Magic.  I'm not sure how I could interpret such a conflict
in the opinions.

2.  Many of you want to see additional material for beginners who are just
learning how to play.  But a great number of people want to see better
expanded coverage of Pro Tour-level events -- coverage which cannot be
done via the Net with simple "Who Won" type of reports.  So this raises a
question in my mind: Do Magic players want in-depth tournament coverage of
the variety one might get in Sports Illustrated about the Superbowl?  Or
do they not want to hear about tournaments at all?

3.  Some of you want more non-strategy stuff: fiction, more backstory,
information about how cards get made, etc. while again many other people
think such non-critical information merely dilutes the magazine and their
enjoyment of the game.  I don't know how to interpret this diversity in
the data.

As an example, I'll post an excerpt from one person below:

--

When I started to read the Duelist a while ago it was to read about MtG.
There were a large number of strategy articles and the coverage of
tournaments and the latest decks was excellent.

Understandably, wizards want to get people playing more than just one
game but for me this is a financial impossibility (if I want to have a
life as well) - which means that at _3.50 (in the UK) I am now buying a
bunch of adverts, numerous articles about games that are of no interest
to me and about 16 pages of magic coverage.

Yes, you can argue that the stuff about the Rath cycle story etc is
about magic but its not what I personally want to read about. I am
interested in the game, its strategy, forthcoming sets etc. I do not buy
it to read fiction, find out about various other WotC games etc.

Which means that at the moment, I am not buying it.

I check out the net a lot ( witness this e-mail) and play quite a bit
but I feel that the duelist is trying to cater for too many people.
Maybe it needs to be split in to two magazines, maybe I'm being too
narrow minded but if I'm not the only person that e-mails you about this
maybe you'll consider doing something about it for your core readership
- magic players.

--

How many people agree with this sentiment?  How many disagree?  I'd like
to get a sense of how at least the Dojo community feels about this issue.

Once again, thanks to all for their contributions and criticisms!

-Robert S. Hahn
The Sophist
sophist@wizards.com