Subject: OPINION: A manifesto
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 18:38:12 -0500
From: Martínez Garza Mario <MMARGAR@femsa.com.mx>
To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" <fkusumot@ix.netcom.com>

A manifesto.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that the game of Magic does not
exist in a vacuum; that it is supported, both economically and in terms
of
global awareness, by a vast and mostly voiceless body of intelligent,
commited and informed players; that these players have a right to
compete,
should they wish it, in a fair and just environment; that this
environment
was to have been provided by the Duelist Convocation International, on
behalf of Wizards of the Coast; that the DCI and WotC have, for the past
five years, supported a play environment unsatisfactory to a large
proportion
of the aforementioned body of players; that alternatives to the DCI are
non-
existant, due to a logistic and cash-prize structure that no organism
without
a vested interest in promoting and selling the product that is Magic:
the
Gathering could support; that the body of players has a right, in light
of
all the above, to either modify the existing competitive structure to
fit
their needs and expectations, or to create, via world-wide discussion
and consensus, a new organization to oversee a competitive structure
more
amiable to their desire to compete in Magic in an fair and just
environment.

To this end, we list the injustices, vices and errors commited by the
DCI and
Wizards of the Coast to the competitive players that have made their
game great:

The negligence towards almost all competitive Magic outside the US and
Europe.
The profiteering policies of expansion release, reprints and proxies.
The baldly inaccurate ranking and rating database.
The paternalistic tolerance to cheating.
The ineffectual oligarchy of sponsored judges and DCI bureaucrats.
The star-making gravy-train of certain "name" players to Pro Tour
events.
The arbitrary rotation of cards in and out of tournament formats.
The utter inertia to the issues important to competitive Magic players.
The harboring of fradulent tournament organizers.
The unfair penalization of both innocent mistakes and near-criminal
wrongdoing.
The destructive Pro Tour system, which makes the words "Professional
Magic Player"
        and "lying, cheating bastard" nearly synonymous.

To this we say, No More!

To these grievances, we have requested redress. We have made our
opinions known,
via email, voice, and comment to forums of public opinion such as the
Dojo. Time
and again, from small yet in no way insignificant issues to events that
compromise
the very existence and integrity of competitive Magic play, have we
submitted our
opinions to the review and discussion of our world-wide peers.

The Magic-playing world has spoken!
Why have we not been heard?

It is our right, as the men and women without whom Magic would not
exist, to
mobilize and make for ourselves the player organization we want, need,
and
deserve. We must not lie passively in wait for the next dictatorial
decree from
WotC or DCI as to how we may or may not compete in their game. We must
not
cry for redress to our grievances, whine and groan at a deaf and dumb
corporation,
its cronies and zombies.

We must take action!

I call the worldwide community of Magic players. This is a call to arms!
We
must abandon the marketeering DCI in favor of an unaffiliated, unbiased,
unfettered organization of players, for players, to promote and regulate
international competition.

A truly representative federation,
        with clearly defined laws and regulations, strongly enforced,
        with effective and vocal leadership,
        with institutional commitments to an ethic of sportsmanship,
        with the power of support from the international gaming community.

What the DCI could and should have been, were it not shackled hand and
foot
the almighty bottom line of WotC. What we as players, who fill the
stomachs
and garages of every single employee, should have gotten from the very
beginning.

What is rightfuly ours and we have not been given, we will sieze.

This is our entitlement as players, the people who make the game great.

Vox populi, vox Deii.

Mario Martinez
thunderhead@poboxes.com