Finally, Walter shows up and I have someone intelligent to argue with. ;)

This is insanely true.

When looking at it this way, I realize that it is wrong of me to criticize Stu and other Metagame writers for taking advantage of an opportunity that never should have been offered to them in the first place (except for the fact that the whole purpose of this thread is to make Stu feel bad about himself).

It's really all the fault of my true arch-nemesis, Toby Watcher. Stu is just his pawn. I'll get you, Watcher! I'll get you!

This I would disagree with, because, as I mentioned before, they did it when the game was first getting started. It only stands to reason that, now that they're in the swing of things and have a backlog of six dozen sets, they should be able to write just as much as they used to, if not more.

Metagame, literally "a game outside the game," is a prediction of how others will make decisions in a game based on their personality or their previous decisions. A metagame can exist in any game in which the opposition is human or portrays some sort of artificial intelligence and the competitors make choices. Metagaming is taking advantage of the metagame for purposes of winning more often.

Just thought it was worth posting. I know you guys can work off of that.

Last night, Nina and I went to Ft. Lauderdale to meet a college friend of hers at his monthy Anime club meeting. It was in a video game cafe, set up for kids to play World of Warcraft and Dance Dance Revolution. I was watching people dance, when a 20-something fellow sat down beside me and asked me about Vs. System... seeing the Avengers shirt I was wearing. He had read a few of my articles, we talked about the Hans thing, his past gaming experience was zero. This was his first TCG game and he plays hobby league up there, with a one dollar admission! He said he tried my Purple Pity deck from the Metagame article but could never make Longshot work right. He said they had experimented with the Squadron deck and it was fun to empty the hand but it didn't really interest them. He said this: Him and his friends were looking to find combinations and decks that would be their own creations. They were after "originality", but they wanted to be able to win with it. He enjoyed all the Metagame articles, including mine, that helped him and his friends see how "decks were built... from ideas into functioning wholes."

I guess that makes this guy fit into your weirdness category, so you may be right.

Wow. That's heavy. Thanks, I'll take it to heart. (Then I'll spit it back out and continue on my merry way!)

stus awsome, why do all of yall hate. cause yall cant come up with fun creative ideas?

There's one point that the intellegent amongst us keeps skirting... the target audience. Who is buying the cards? You? I think not. Are they trying to please the Bizarro #98s so they can introduce a purchase point in your age-group? I think not. Pleasing you would continue to make an existing customer happy, but you will buy the same number of cards with or without the R&D articles, yes? You will buy the same amount of cards if Nobody Stu continues to write on Mondays, yes? Well... it seems that Nobody Stu and the Risk Versus Reward column is a fairly successful way to introduce new customers to the game. It seems that Nobody Stu's Monday column gets quite a few hits, even when compared to the R&D articles. So it stands to reason, in a marketing sense, that the fun crazy casual articles with nothing interesting to say are fairly successful.

That, and they make a lot of people happy. I enjoy making people happy. Sorry you're allergic.

hahahah, yea, ranma pwned you on the last thread. but its all good man. well then you made this thread the contriversy that it is which iz nutz. i feel bad for stu tho cause i love his articles. if i were him id be crying. j/k stus a strong personality, he can handle what every1 has to say, and even if people like it or not, stu has barns. lol, there i said it. now i might get flamed. but i guess every1 get their own opinion. i just dont agree with em all, i mean whats not to like about a cool crazed vs playin hippy. stu was a pretty cool guy when i met him. Is it cause hes not considered a "pro" and yet he still has fun in this game that yall envy him soo much?

hahahahaha funny as hell.

Eh... I initially thought that I'd come on here and attempt to dissuade Biz98 out of his focused ideal of how Metagame.com should operate. However, I am as stubborn as they come, so I know firsthand how futile it is to try to change someone's mind about something they feel passionately about. Further, I would never try to tell someone that his opinion is wrong. Having the freedom to voice your feelings on a place like VsRealms is most definitely one of the many things that makes our country great.

Agree to disagree? I wholly accept that you won't ever believe that players - such as Stu and myself - deserve to be writing for Metagame (and I am perfectly fine with that). On the other hand, you have no chance in hell of convincing me that we don't.

I think Metagame is big enough to run the gamut of player interests - from competitive pros; to casual weekenders; to comic enthusiasts like yourself. I realize that many players have no interests in the topics that writers like Stu and myself present from week to week (at least, I haven't seen a big rush to Arkham City yet). But there is a considerable segment out there that actually does find what we say informative and entertaining. Until that group disappears, you're going to have to put up with my mug showing up there every Wednesday.

I may not see eye-to-eye with Stu on a lot of things (particularly politics, where I see him being just slightly to the right of the French Revolution), but I respect him and his views on the game. As long as he writes for Metagame, he'll have at least one devoted reader every Monday in me.

Don't like it? Well, to quote the musical Pippin, "I'm terribly sorry, but I don't care."

[Back on the thread topic] Savage Tofu: You can be my barn anytime, Joe! ;)

well i do enjoy both of yalls articles on metagame, so im a devoted reader who is very entertained every week with the articles metagame has to offer. and another great thing about metagame is the live....well sum what live action reports on the feature matches and deck breakdowns, metagme breakdowns, and all that good stuff. i love metagames articls and haveing that and this site keeps me informed and into this game.

Nice to hear it! I'm sure that Toby Watcher is also happy to know that we're keeping you guys entertained. With any luck, we can continue to do so throughout 2006.

Trust me when I say this, while there isnt a rush to it, there is a build of it that is very strong and has a lot of tricks. But as for the article stuff, you and stu have quality work, now if it does or doesnt tickle anyone is a different story.

No it's not. It is, as you call it, "a party". :p

Upper Deck thinks they can bring in more new players with you than they can with articles that illustrate all the thought and hard work that goes into the game? I'd like to see some evidence of that. I don't see people creating hate threads for Danny Mandel and Matt Hyra after all.

I also find it pretty amusing that the art teacher who claims to hate business thinks he knows anything about demographics. :laugh:

To quote you from here:

Oh yeah, Stu, you just love making people happy. :cheeky:

Hey ozz thats ok if he dises tupac cuz he obv
dont know what hes talkin about

But its ok he obv is not too smart and cant get it though his head that HOCKEY SUCKS .