This is pretty embarrassing.
Something happened the last time I played Magic that has been a real wake up moment for myself. The timing is impeccable with "Women in Magic" being the hot topic of the moment. Meghan of Magic the Amateuring wrote an excellent article on Star City Games and followed that up with an episode of her podcast to deal with the fallout.
For quite some time I have used some sleeves for drafting that my wife had got from Japan. They are pretty inappropriate in that they feature anime girls and panty shots. They shuffled pretty well and they were what I had. I try to stick to a very strict Magic budget of $20 a week so replacing draft sleeves was pretty low on my priority list even though I wasn't a huge fan of the art.
I kind of thought they were ironically funny, because I never watch anime.
After someone posted a link to Meghan's article in a local Facebook group I jokingly mentioned it inspired me to get rid of those stupid anime girl sleeves. Then I got hit with a figurative brick between the eyes. I learned that some people actually had been offended by those sleeves and I was late to the party.
I feel sick about this. Magic has given me a lot, plenty of friends and it's also how I met my Wife.
The sleeves are just one a small part. I am now sure the whole experience of one of my matches was soiled by starting the match with those sleeves. They leave a horrible first impression and I won our match very quickly which can be awkward in itself. Some fumbling small talk while trying to commiserate about mana troubles only made it worse. The whole thing was just an awkward and unpleasant experience for my opponent.
The only thing worse than losing, is losing to an opponent with stupid peodophile sleeves.
I just felt really disappointed in myself for being so oblivious and it hurt my perception of self. I always thought I was a positive force, but suddenly realised I was the creepy awkward guy. That sparked some serious self reflection as the sleeves aren't the only aspect of my behaviour that is immature. I would love to caveat this by saying "in a Magic context" but I am not sure I can. I am 34 and it's strange that those sleeves were the tipping point for me to realise how immature I have been.
There is a lot more swirling around my head but lets wrap it up for now.
For quite a while after this I just felt like not playing Magic anymore. I have decided I will play, just as an adult rather than a child.
Something happened the last time I played Magic that has been a real wake up moment for myself. The timing is impeccable with "Women in Magic" being the hot topic of the moment. Meghan of Magic the Amateuring wrote an excellent article on Star City Games and followed that up with an episode of her podcast to deal with the fallout.
For quite some time I have used some sleeves for drafting that my wife had got from Japan. They are pretty inappropriate in that they feature anime girls and panty shots. They shuffled pretty well and they were what I had. I try to stick to a very strict Magic budget of $20 a week so replacing draft sleeves was pretty low on my priority list even though I wasn't a huge fan of the art.
I kind of thought they were ironically funny, because I never watch anime.
After someone posted a link to Meghan's article in a local Facebook group I jokingly mentioned it inspired me to get rid of those stupid anime girl sleeves. Then I got hit with a figurative brick between the eyes. I learned that some people actually had been offended by those sleeves and I was late to the party.
I feel sick about this. Magic has given me a lot, plenty of friends and it's also how I met my Wife.
The sleeves are just one a small part. I am now sure the whole experience of one of my matches was soiled by starting the match with those sleeves. They leave a horrible first impression and I won our match very quickly which can be awkward in itself. Some fumbling small talk while trying to commiserate about mana troubles only made it worse. The whole thing was just an awkward and unpleasant experience for my opponent.
The only thing worse than losing, is losing to an opponent with stupid peodophile sleeves.
I just felt really disappointed in myself for being so oblivious and it hurt my perception of self. I always thought I was a positive force, but suddenly realised I was the creepy awkward guy. That sparked some serious self reflection as the sleeves aren't the only aspect of my behaviour that is immature. I would love to caveat this by saying "in a Magic context" but I am not sure I can. I am 34 and it's strange that those sleeves were the tipping point for me to realise how immature I have been.
There is a lot more swirling around my head but lets wrap it up for now.
For quite a while after this I just felt like not playing Magic anymore. I have decided I will play, just as an adult rather than a child.
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