Magic and Valentine's Day

by Bill Stark | posted at 2010-02-14 11:40:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, Lauren Lee, Valentine, Richard Garfield

Ah Valentine's Day. For self-identifying geeks the world over, it is an awkward Hallmarkian holiday meant for other people to enjoy.

 

Or is it?

 

If you buy the stereotypes, most of geek culture will spend the day polishing their 40k figures, working out the final details on their next quest for the dungeon, or grinding out levels on World of Warcraft (okay, or playing Day 2 in Oakland). But don't buy the hype; at this point in my life I know far more gamers WITH significant others than without (though yesterday we brought you the story of one whose significant other is a tad stuck on him or herself).

 

So don't buy into the stereotype. Instead, we here at TheStarkingtonPost.com wanted to highlight a few articles, just in time for Valentine's, that highlight the day from a gamer perspective.

 

First up, the lovely Lauren Lee over on Mulldrifting wants to know how you approach "The Magic question" with a new significant other. She's got a new poll to collect research on the matter:

 

 

How would you approach someone you're interested in about your MtG Hobby?

A) Not mention it until they notice

B) Magic is how I FIND dates

C) I'll tell them but after we've started dating

D) I'll bring it up in conversation pretty early

E) They can never know

 

Vote now at this link.

 

On a personal note, I've always been pretty straight forward on the matter, but when you're flying around the world and making a nice living off the game, it's a lot harder to feel embarrassed about the pastime. Which you shouldn't feel anyway! You're a gamer dammit, be proud! Actually, I got a "welcome to the future" moment once when a girlfriend at the time kept pressing me about what I meant when I said "I write and travel a lot." I didn't feel like explaining everything in detail early on, to which she replied "Well, I'm just going to Google you then." That was when I realized I was living in a brave new world.

 

Second up comes from the crew at Gunaxin.com. They remind us of the story of Richard Garfield, Ph.D., the very founder of Magic and TCGs, and his very special proposal. It involves a custom-made card (as the inventor of Magic, he's the type of guy who can pull that off), four games before he was able to cast it, and a nice ride off into the sunset. Also, four more geek love stories that will make even the most callous Spike amongst us loosen up enough to say "Awwwwww..." Check that article out here.

 

And a final bonus for those who've already found that special someone, check out this two-part series from Mark Rosewater about his wedding to his wife. It's a pretty amazing tale, and you have to respect a couple who went all out with a games theme for the big day like they did.

 

Read Part 1 here.

 

Read Part 2 here.

 

(And you can follow Mark on Twitter at Twitter.com/Maro254).

 

Happy Valentine's from the editorial staff at TheStarkingtonPost.com, no matter how you're choosing to spend it!

 

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