MTG lead designer says "Trans people, people of color, and women playing a larger role, are all part of modern fantasy because they’re all part of the actual world"
MTG lead designer says "Trans people, people of color, and women playing a larger role, are all part of modern fantasy because they’re all part of the actual world"
www.gamesradar.com
MTG lead designer says "Trans people, people of color, and women playing a larger role, are all part of modern fantasy because they’re all part of the actual world"
Mark Rosewater replies to problematic questions around Magic: The Gathering on his Tumblr blog
Every single tech CEO said something similar to this at some point, only to backtrack as soon as the eye of Donnysauron shines their way. Don't fall for this.
Couple things here, Maro is a designer for the game, not the CEO. He has a very active blog, including a podcast during his drive to work. He regularly shares his opinions; often times stating when he is opposed to the direction of wotc/hasbro but it is vetted by management because of trade secrets. MTG is a very inclusive community because it caters to the fringe communities that are inherently different. They really don't want to alienate their diverse fan base, they are a very expensive hobby that anyone can walk away from.
I am also going to recommend you actually read the article rather than a snippet/summary. He goes into detail about the user he was responding to is wrong, because he was unable to provide insight required for character building and how culture is whitewashed. This was not a push/PR piece he reached out to enlighten a user that was wrong. He is championing people to embrace diversity because it has visible value and gives examples. He is also doing this during an era of opposition which is when it's most important. Maro is an amazing person that has done significant work towards all kinds of game development, I highly recommend checking out some of his comicon panels.
Mark Rosewater isn't a CEO, though.
I think Maro is a good enough, normal guy. MTG has made a lot of effort over the last 15 or so years to be really, radically inclusive, and its done a pretty good job (for example, a trans woman, Alesha, multiple same sex couples) along with few well meaning missteps (uh, Chandra's War of the Spark narration, the reason Kaladesh is now called Avishkar).
My guess is that if the order comes to straiten and whiten up Magic, it will come from Hasbro Corporate.
I thought Wizards already jumped the shark but was never close enough to the material to care.
From what I've seen everything that company touches is bad. But I've also managed to keep my distance so I'm probably biased.