So out of curiosity I downloaded the online version of Magic The Gathering (If you are unfamiliar with the game or my history with it, see my post from last week: http://www.digitalparlor.org/sp08/blackmon1/node/161). At first I was sucked into the new environment because I could navigate to a game room where other players were waiting to start up a game. But, after playing a few really engaging games with the other online guests, and going undefeated with a few last minute come from behind victories, I became very aware of the solitude I was experiencing.

Although the online version of Magic offers players the opportunity to play games with people I had never meet before, and probably will never meet in person, the social aspect of the game was missing. There was no interaction with the other gamers or chat function to congratulate my opponents when they made a nice play. Nor was there the opportunity to talk, gloat, or show dissatisfaction with my opponents between hands. This was not the Magic I remember and, after the discussion on Tuesday about the social benefits of games, I realized why I never became a serious Magic player.

For me, the appeal of Magic was that it provided my friends and I an engaging active to do while we drink beers and bullshited around a table away from the sticky heat of Savannah. The social exchange was awesome because it allowed us, a group of friends who had other social networks and complex lives to contend with, the opportunity to get together once a week talk about our separate lives. Granted we all enjoyed the game because of its complexity and provide the opportunity for us to show up each week with a newly constructed deck that we hoped would beat everyone else’s, the social connection was why we played.

My experience with the online version of Magic made me wonder if the was in fact more to Mark Hannah’s comment about the loss of the individual and if the reverse is also true for some games that try to go digital.