Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Interlude: Commitment

There are great men in the world - I've met some of them - but caught like everyone else in the vast Titanic millwheels of our world-spanning culture they can do nothing alone. One person's intense, passionate commitment is necessary but not sufficient to change the world.

It took a community to keep Wizards of the Coast alive through the bleak winter of 1992-3. Friends, family, fans, and colleagues pooled their resources to keep this tiny venture going through the worst crisis it ever experienced. This crisis wasn't resolved with the creation of Magic: The Gathering. Late in 1993, many months after Magic had already become the phenomenal commercial success it's now seen as, Wizards itself and its staff and contractors were still suffering financially for reasons we'll discuss in the coming year. Friends, family, fans, and colleagues continued to keep Wizards alive, helping it cross the chasm from creating a great game to creating a sustainable company.

We'll explore how Wizards survived the lawsuit, how such a tiny, cash-strapped company managed to create and bankroll the hit of the decade, and what they hoped for at the time - why they did the things they did. We'll see some of the crude, xeroxed cards that predated the final, fantastic graphic design, explore the essential but ill-examined role of Cornish College of the Arts in Magic's success, and follow the Magic road show as the Wizards team toured small game shops and conventions introducing people to their little labor of love, building their fan base one person at a time. Along the way, we'll flash back to the earlier years and fill in some of the story that I skimmed so blithely past in my July posts, including the vital role of the Internet in Wizards's survival. We'll see pictures of items from Wizards's history never before shown, and we'll read contemporary accounts of small, quiet, little-known events that set in motion the big splashy results that made the papers. We'll peek inside an early staff meeting that would not end, in which Wizards began wrestling with the sometimes intractable problem of how to get a group of passionate people with different ideas to agree on a single decision. As Lisa Stevens said in that meeting, "But what if in the end you can't agree? Who gets to make the decision when the process falls apart?" We'll start working on the problem of bringing these people to life for you, so you better understand who did these things and why.

But what we'll come back to over and over is the role of commitment, how very much commitment it takes to do something like this, not just the intense commitment of one or two or a dozen people but also the vast, persistent commitment of an entire community to back their plays and hold them up when they would otherwise fall down. Peter used to laugh when people praised him for this thing "he was doing," because he knew how very many people it took to do it. The search for simple answers, sound bites, and sufficiently scanty column inches strips the truth from our understanding of the world, leaves us believing in caricatures instead of characters, truthiness instead of truth; let's rip those veils aside and see who the Wizards really were.

But before we continue this journey, let's be honest with one another.

This project is not my top priority. I have many commitments ahead of it - to principles, to people, and to the same professional quest that in the 1990s led me to repeatedly turn down Peter's offers to come join his so very happily lost boys and girls. I am committed to those higher priorities in my life, and I will put them ahead of this history project whenever I am forced to choose, but I will often not be forced to choose. Because I have no children, I have room in my life for more than the usual number of commitments. This is one of them. It will not get lost in the shuffle, though it may come and go like a recurring haunting.

I live a life of tides, and if you join me on this journey you will too. Sometimes I will post every day for weeks on end when the demands of higher priorities on my time ebb, sometimes silent months will pass by when they flow. But I will always be thinking about this project, talking to Wizards folks about what it was like back in the day, looking for the time to post, searching for the thread of the narrative.

This project matters to me for reasons that may be clear to you by the time you read the book at the end of this road. I'm committed to it, even during these quiet times. During the winters of this blog I'm putting down roots to prepare for the riotous blossoms of its springs.

Here it comes.

7 comments:

  1. Rick,

    I've been following your blog since I found a link to it on The Piazza earlier in the year. Your story is certainly unique, and I'm finding it quite enthralling.

    Don't worry, I and I'm sure many or even most of your readers live the same life of tides as you do. It seems to be very common among RPG fans in particular. So I understand perfectly, which is why I keep checking your RSS feed every few days, and am delighted every time you post a new article - whether it's been a day, a week, a month, or a whole season since your last post.

    I am with you for the long haul, and I'm quite sure I'm not the only one.

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good stuff, Rick. I always enjoy your insights and look forward to the rest of the story, whenever you have the time to tell it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I WANT ALL OF THESE STORIES RIGHT NOW!!!

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for sharing this information, Rick. I found your blog after reading an article about Magic's release at GenCon 1993. Your name was associated with the "Challenge the Masters" games at the Wizards booth as the main deckbuilder. Any chance we can see your decklists as part of this series? Looking forward to the xeroxed cards, the stories about the early artists and maybe some information about Wizards presence at Origins 93 (as there appears to be nothing about this anywhere). Thanks again for your endeavors. These stories are priceless.

    P.S. Hang in there with VISTA. Quite a program...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi - I just wanted to express appreciation for this series, and maybe give a small nudge ;-)

    I, too, have a "life of tides" - mine's out right now, even though I can see the swell building up on the horizon! So I understand the aporadic nature of the series - but please don't let it wither away!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thorf and Sean, your posts warmed my heart. You helped keep this project in my mind even when work was at its most demanding.

    Anonymous, whoever you are, you made me laugh out loud.

    Bandana, yes, I'll include some deck recipes, and I'll discuss some of the early recipes of other Wizards folks. They will probably seem quaint compared to the decks the pros use these days, but we had a blast coming up with hideous new surprises for our friends.

    Balesir, in case it wasn't clear, yours was the nudge that finally got me to restart now rather than later. Upon reading it, it occurred to me that I would have a lot more fun continuing with the series than continuing to work nights and weekends as I've been doing for a while now. So, thanks for the nudge.

    Thanks to all of you for your encouragement. It means a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  7. True story, I'm one of the people who have benefited from Dr. Ogbeifun Love Spell. Dr. Ogbeifun appeared in the middle of my life when all hope was lost. I gave up on life and thought the best way to care for my broken heart. I have several experiences with my husband who have been working with me for many years. I made up my mind to continue with my suicide before a strange spirit. Afterwards, Dr. Ogbeifun Temple, I reluctantly looked for and found testimonials and recommendations for him via his email. He answered and asked me to go away and take my life; he said that my case is solvable after consulting his Oracle. Well, here I am today thanking Dr. Ogbeifun for saving my life and bringing back my Husband. We are so happy today and happier than we have ever been. He also helped me stop my cardiac arrest problem. I am grateful for being among the people sharing this testimony. Contact him at this email ogbefunhearlingtemple@gmail.com call or add him on whatsapp +2348102574680 website

    ReplyDelete