Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,
Going forward through this article, I may very well sound like an 'old guy', which is rather true - I will be 50 in just a few short months. This is mentioned only to provide a brief context of my experience with the evolution of technology and change itself. I was born very far North (Arctic Circle north) at a time when cutting technology was chainsaws and the latest improvements in snowmobiles promised smoother / safer rides. When serving in the Armed Forces, I was one of the first to use an electric typewriter in my Battalion. Through my academic endeavours, I had witnessed the first computers (think floppys and diskettes) and did actually own a 'bag-phone' which plugged into the cigarette (now 'accessory') socket.
This is all mentioned to provide a sort of way-marker in my reading of the ever-evolving Magic: the Gathering site that Wizards of the Coast has been maintaining and improving over the years. Today's article to MTG Realm is posted as a new iteration of the Daily MTG has now gone up. Here is a progression what the MTG webpage looked liked from when we first started reading it.
Early 2000 / 2002
Pure nostalgia. I had spent a lot of time reading Magic Arcana, as well as some authors, whose content may very well be considered 'racey' by today's standards.
Circa 2004
My 56k dial-up modem is now considered ancient technology. Look at all the graphics - enough to make one's self dizzy. Brian David-Marshall and Adrian Sullivan dispense strategy and wisdom for players.
In 2007, Wizards of the Coast had addressed the rapidly growing fan community's desire to further engage on a more social level. Randy Buehler was the tip of this spear, but unfortunately, bad timing had these fans busy on Facebook and Myspace resulting in Gleemax closing a year later.
(Yes - I will admit that I had a Myspace page filled with MTG stuff)
(Yes - I will admit that I had a Myspace page filled with MTG stuff)
Circa 2009
By far, my favourite designs of the Daily MTG webpage. The newly improved gatherer is amazing, content is very well organised but By Odin!, should you need to search for something, you are going to have a bad time. Gatherer has a slick-look page which propels me in to a new level of deckbuilding.
Gleemax 2.0 ? Wizards of the Coast concludes that Facebook and Myspace is a mess for the MTG fans to build a community with at this time. Wizards Community goes live circa 2010 which supplements the main webpage with this creation and I enthusiastically sign up. It closes down five years later which kinda left me sad.
Circa 2014
Oh dear, this was not to our liking at all.
Let's just fast-forward a few months.
Circa 2015
This has become much more improved, and one is now able to use a functional search to float out that article you wanted to re-read. Navigation is decent and Magic Arcana continues to be a 'must read' column. Daily MTG 'Update' is soon to become a daily routine for me in 2016.
November 29, 2017
Here comes the part where my 'old fogey' preface is now referenced. I am experiencing a mild dislike, but as Leo Buscaglia said - "Change is the end result of all true learning", which prompts me to realise that change is sometimes a good thing, so I look past my old-guy pre-determinations. I very much appreciate the community generated content section and know that I will come to like the re-design in rather short order - just not the 'daily mtg' font. Let's drop the probiotics please Wizards and ask Beleren to step back into the room.
~
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