Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #535: Constructive Criticism

Episode Date: May 11, 2018

A lot of my job is giving and receiving criticism. In this podcast, I talk about the tenets to giving criticism in a way that helps the person getting the criticism be better able to use it.

I'm pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, I have a cold as you can't tell. And I might cough a little bit during this, but I will, the show will go on. I have to drive to work and you guys will get your show. Okay, so today is an interesting topic. Inspired by my blog, yet again. Today I'm going to talk about constructive criticism. And I'm going to try to hit it from two different angles. One, I want to talk about how to give constructive criticism, and I want to talk about how to receive constructive criticism. Okay, so one of the things about my job is I interact a lot with the public, and so I hear a lot of criticism. And so let me start by laying out an idea that I have, some philosophy that I have.

And I will be coming back to this philosophy a lot today. So let me lay this out. And a lot of my talk about criticism is going to be filtered through this idea. So my idea is that there's two ways to live your life. You can build up the world, or you can tear down the world. And what I mean by that is, you can take actions that you believe will lead to a better world, that as a result of my actions, the world will be a better place, or you can, as a result of your actions, things become worse.

You make the world overall a worse world to live in. And I don't think necessarily, I mean, I think everybody, if you ask them in a vacuum, goes, of course I want to make a better world. But when you actually sort of look at what they do and look at their behavior, one of the things I like to always look at is look at a certain action and say, is this action something that improves things or not? We'll get to criticism now. So criticism can be something that builds up the world, especially constructive criticism.

That's why I call this constructive criticism. There's a difference between criticism and constructive criticism. And the idea is, the point of a constructive criticism is you are trying to overall improve. That the information you're giving to the artist or the person that did the thing is because you want them next time to do better. And that one of the big things I find with people who are critical is that they are not using enough tenets of, you know, like, in general, as an artist, as someone who creates things, criticism, constructive criticism, is very valuable. That I am always trying to learn and be better. You know, there's never a point in which I know

everything and I can stop listening to other people. Like, one of the reasons that I'm so sort of present on social media, one of the reasons that I answer so many questions on my blog, and I'm on Twitter, and Google+, and Instagram, and all sorts of stuff, the reason I'm on so many different social media channels is I want to be able to listen to the audience. I want to hear what the audience says. That one of the strengths that I have, I believe, is that I have a pretty good working knowledge of what the audience says. One of the strengths that I have, I believe, is that I have a pretty good working knowledge

of what the audience wants. It's not like ESP or anything. It's I ask, you guys tell me, and I listen. So one of the roles I have at work a lot is when we're talking about something, I will spend time talking about what I feel the audience wants

based on all the feedback. And it's not just me. Other R&D members spend a lot of time as well interacting with the public and reading what the public has to say and talking with the public. And I believe that's an important thing to do. So when I talk about criticism today,

I want to be clear. Good criticism, constructive criticism, is a net benefit to all involved. That when you convey something in a way that helps the person who's getting the information use it effectively and use it to improve, it's a good thing. But a lot of what I'm going to talk about today, a lot of the mistakes I think they get made are people that are not following the tenet that I'm talking about. That they're providing criticism not to make it better, but as one of other means.

So, let's walk through. So, first and foremost is, let's apply the golden rule. So, the golden rule, for those who don't know, comes from Christianity, I believe. But I think other religions have something very similar. Which is, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I will say the same for criticism. The golden rule of criticism. Criticize others the way that you would wish to be criticized. You know what I'm saying? Meaning that,

for starters, number one, there's no reason to attack the person doing the thing that you're commenting on. You don't need to attack the person doing the thing that you're commenting on. You don't need to attack the artist. You can critique the work, but you don't need to attack the artist.

That when you attack the artist, I mean, first and foremost, we're human. If I get two pieces of criticism, and the criticism says the exact same thing, except one of them starts with, you know, you're a bleepity bleep bleep, and the second one is, hey, love what you do, but, okay, and then what follows those are the same piece of criticism. I'm just more receptive to the second piece of criticism.

You know, I'm just more receptive to the person that's being kind to me than the person that's sort of attacking me. It is your gut instinct. I mean, I'm going to get to receiving feedback in a second, but it is your gut instinct to, when someone attacks you, to sort of take a defensive position. That is just human nature. And so when you attack somebody personally, when you attack the person, attack the artist, if you will, you make them act defensively. You make them, you know, if I read a comment

and the first thing is about how horrible I am, that does not put me in the best state to listen to the next part of the thing. You know what I'm saying? And there's nothing about attacking the person that is building up the world. That is tearing down the person. And like I said, I'm not saying you can't, in constructive criticism, make negative comments. You are. It's criticism.

But you need to do it in context. And, so for starters, attacking the artist as a person, you know, making derogatory comments about who they are is just wrong. And there's a lot of ways that you guys, there's a lot of ways that you guys, there's a lot of ways that criticism,

you might not even realize it is attacking the artist. So, for example, a very common way I see is where people just make derogatory comments about it as if it's just a normal piece of language. One of my pet peeves is lazy. Lazy, like, oh, they're so lazy. The designers are so lazy. And really

what that's saying is you didn't do your job. You didn't spend the time and energy to do your job. And the reality, as someone behind the scenes, we spend a long time. We spend a lot of time on stuff. Any one particular set, it's not like we worked it on days or weeks or months.

We've worked on it years. And in some products, years and years and years. And we spent a lot of time on it. Now, that doesn't mean we can't miss something. That doesn't mean that we can't make mistakes. But it's not that we make mistakes because we weren't trying hard enough But it's not that we make mistakes because we weren't trying hard enough. It's not that we're like, oh, rather than put the work in, I'd rather just, we're going to go do something fun and we'll just do it quickly. That is not how it happens. And the implication that someone is lazy is really doing a disservice.

doing a disservice. It's definitely doing a disservice to the artist in that they want to hear what you have to say, but they can't really... It is hard to do that when there's a personal attack. So for starters, don't use personal attacks

and be careful in the words you use. Lazy is a good example. There's a lot of words where you're kind of taking digs at the person rather than at the work. And here's a general rule. Are you using an adjective about the person or about the work? If you're using an adjective about the person, oftentimes, at least if it's a derogatory adjective, you are attacking the person and not attacking the work. So keep in knowledge of that. Second, okay, so your tone matters.

You know what I'm saying? That not only are you trying to build up, but your general tone matters. Hopefully, if you're on a magic blog or following a magic person on whatever social media you follow, hopefully you're a fan of the game, that you like the game. And so the person you're talking to

is making something that you love. Now, that doesn't mean the particular piece right now you're commenting on that you like. You know, it might be that you don't, but keep in mind the person you're dealing with is somebody who does something you care about. So, respect that in your tone, you know what I'm saying? That there's no need to be disrespectful.

There's no need to talk down. That's another common thing I see. Where someone sort of takes the attitude of, as if you're talking to him, you know, in a derogatory manner tonally. Not necessarily saying words, but just the tone you take. Either it talks down to the person or it just sort of takes a combative tone for no reason.

The way that I like to sort of explain it is you and the person you're giving criticism to, constructive criticism, are on the same side, is the idea. What you want to say is, we have the same goal. You make something I love, I consume the thing, I want it to be the best it can be. And there's things that you do, or have done, or whatever, that I believe does not maximize that. And I'm going to give you feedback to try to help that.

Next thing is concreteness is important. Saying things that are very vague, like it sucks, doesn't really help. I mean, I guess it tells them that you, in general, disliked it. One second. Tells them, disliked it, but it doesn't tell them what is wrong. It doesn't really help them fix it. That if one of your goals is being constructive, it's not just a matter of saying that you disliked it, it's trying to explain why. Now, one of the things I do think is valuable, by the way,

is two things. One is, I do like you to explain how it makes you feel. I think the emotional state helps. That if you dislike something or something, you know, if you say to them, wow, I didn't like it and here's how it made me feel. Once again, there's a big, big, big difference, by the way, between attacking the artist and saying that the artist made something that made you feel a certain way.

Because the point is, attacking the artist is just an attack on the artist. You commenting on your feelings is not an attack on the artist. You made something that made me sad. You made something that made me angry. Okay, I as an artist go, oh, okay, I will own up to, there's an honest reaction that someone had. And that is okay. It is okay to have negative reactions to something. And there's a fine line to understand.

It is fine to say I disliked it and it made me feel however it made you feel. That's a different from, you know, you are a bleepity bleep, you know, and attacking. I love to hear how the products we make make people feel. Oh, and a quick corollary, by the way. We're talking about criticism today. You know, there's nothing wrong if you like something to give feedback. Positive feedback is just as important as negative feedback. In some ways, it's...

The two things about positive feedback. One is, when you give positive feedback, you are giving negative feedback. In some ways, it's the two things about positive feedback. One is when you give positive feedback, you are giving critical feedback because what you're saying to them is this worked. This is something you should do again. You know, here's how I made me feel, positive. Please repeat this action or please do things similarly. But also the other thing it has to do is it makes the artist feel good. It makes the creator feel good. That it is, creating can be a hard task, especially when there's feedback from the audience. Because you pour your heart and your soul into something you make.

There's a lot of you in your creation. So when someone attacks it, it is sometimes hard to hear. I'm not saying criticism isn't good. Constructive criticism isn't good. It is. That doesn't mean it's always easy for them to hear. Now, I think a good artist wants to hear the constructive criticism and understands that it will lead to a better overall product down the line and make them a better artist. That doesn't mean it's always easy to hear. I disliked something you did and it made me feel sad, angry, whatever. That's rough to hear sometimes because you spent a lot of time. And unless your goal was to do that,

sometimes the goal of art is to invoke those kind of feelings. It can be sometimes tough to hear, but that's the kind of stuff that I think the artist, creator, needs to hear. It didn't work because. This made me feel this way because. But if you have positive things to say, A, there's no reason you can't just make a positive note. Positive feedback is great. And it just makes the artist-less creator feel good. For example, I recently made Unstable, which was a very untraditional product. It was something that you know

the previous two were overprinted and there's a lot of debate of whether or not they were successes. I spent seven years trying to make the product and there was a lot of barriers in my way that I had to get around to get it made. So the fact that after seven long years I finally got the product made, it felt really good to have people so positively, have all the positive reception to it. You know what I'm saying?

That makes me, next time I have another task or I have an uphill battle, go, okay, okay, last time I had the uphill battle, there was a pot of, you know, the overall of it was something very positive for me. I'm going to take up that fight again.

So, positivity is good. Plus, when you are critiquing, as I think the expression goes, like a little honey helps the medicine go down, a spoonful of sugar. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. That's Mary Poppins. The idea that if you're going to give criticism,

that one of the things that really helps is, odds are there's something you liked. Odds are it wasn't 100% horrible. That one of the things that helps when you're giving criticism is to mix in some good with some bad. Is people are more receptive when they feel like there's some positive as well as some negative. Like one of the advices they give, I know in management classes and stuff,

is that if you're going to give negative information, don't give it in a vacuum. Try to give some positive information with it. To say, hey, here are the things you're doing well, and then here are some things you're not. So if you're going to critique something, it's very valuable to say, here's some things I liked about the thing, but here's some things I didn't. And if you overall didn't like it, it's fine to even say, overall, I wasn't a fan, but I did like this thing. Saying that, the rest of it, whatever, go off on what you want to say.

But when you're responding, think about the fact that having some positivity mixed in with the negativity will help the person reading it make it easier for them. Now, a lot of what I'm explaining here is ways for you to help the artist.

And the reason I'm saying that is, once again, that if you think of criticism as a relationship between you and the artist, where you and the artist are both trying to gain through the experience. That the artist is trying to learn information to make them a better artist, and you are trying to get information to make a product a better product, because this is something in theory that you care about and you would like to see improve. The other thing when giving criticism is it is better to give shorter criticism than longer criticism. In fact, it's better to give more short pieces of criticism than one long piece a lot of the time, especially especially using social media.

One of the things in general, or even if you're going to give longer, and this might sound silly, but it is actually pretty important. You need to break up what you're saying into bite-sized chunks. One way to do that is just making paragraphs. One way to do that is just making paragraphs. Like the difference between a letter I get that is five paragraphs in which each paragraph is a reasonable-sized paragraph versus one run-on letter that's just one whole thing. Giant blocks of text are very intimidating. And that one way to sort of get across your ideas is to figure out,

put them into paragraphs, make breaks between them, make it just more approachable when someone comes to look at it. And in general, when giving criticism, you want to get the heart of what you're doing. Getting a letter where, before I tell you my criticism, let me spend four pages explaining my history with magic. Okay, you're wearing down the person who's trying to read this letter. Not that you can't give context, not that, you know, if something, okay, you're wearing down the person who's trying to read this letter. Not that you can't give context, not that, you know, if something's important you can explain it,

but you need to respect the time of the person you're working with and if you can get the information, get in, get out, you know, to get to the crux

of what the information is, that is good. I'm not saying you can't spend a little extra time to say something nice or stuff like that. I'm not saying in brevity, you know,

the things I'm saying should be included, but I mean, try to sort of do it in a way that makes it, the shorter it is, the greater the guarantee that the whole thing

will get read. The longer it is, the greater the chance that someone's going to start reading and just go, okay, I can't read this whole thing.

So brevity, in this case, really will help you get your program across. Next, if you have ideas on how to improve, that is fine. For those that listen to my 20 Years 20 Lessons podcast, you know that I believe that the audience is often not equipped to find alternate answers, not because they're not talented, not because they're not informed, but mostly because there's usually factors they are unaware of. When I make a magic set, there's a lot of things that I have to care about that you don't know. For example, we are caring about what set comes next. There might be decisions we make because of what comes before or after, or other larger issues we're doing.

But you're not going to know that at the time you're reviewing it, most likely. So, often the ideas don't end up having merit. But A, sometimes they do. And B, sometimes explaining alternate ideas will help define the problem for the person. I mean, the biggest thing in any criticism is what is it you didn't like? Why didn't you like it?

If you're going to write criticism, you need to answer those two questions. What didn't you like? Why didn't you like it? And part of why didn't you like it? If you're going to write criticism, you need to answer those two questions. What didn't you like? Why didn't you like it? And part of why didn't you like it is emotionally how did it make you feel? That connecting with the artist in a way of this is the impact and feel it had on me.

Okay, so that talks about giving criticism. So when giving criticism, when giving criticism, don't attack the artist or creator. Try to keep a positive tone explain in detail what it is that you found wrong but when I say in detail I mean don't take

explain so they understand what it is don't take forever make sure that you can use some positivity where possible you want to explain how you feel and talk about the impact on you, not about the artist or the artist's failings, but how it impacted you.

And finally, try not to make it too long so that the person who is reading the criticism is able to absorb the whole criticism. Also, if you're short enough, they sometimes can read more than once. Okay, let's talk about receiving criticism because this one is also hard. Also, if you're short enough, they sometimes can read more than once. Okay. Let's talk about receiving criticism. Because this one is also hard.

So a lot of what I'm saying today is assuming that things aren't done the way I just asked people to give the criticism. If people are giving good criticism in a productive way, not that it can't be hard, because sometimes hearing that you did something wrong, that can be hard. But it's nowhere near as hard as when you feel attacked or you feel talked down to and stuff. But the first rule of thumb when getting criticism, I always say, is look past the comments on you or the tone. Every time someone contacts me, there's something they're trying to say. Now, some people hide that really, really well.

They bury it under... So, when I talk about building things up and turning things down, one of the things that can happen is if somebody isn't feeling good about themselves, one of the ways sometimes that people react is they try to bring others to their level. That instead of building themselves up, they tear others down. And one of the things that can happen is if people are invested in the thing you make, for example, Magic, we have very invested players. Some of our players have been playing since the beginning of the game, 25 years ago.

And it's a lifestyle. As much as it's a game that people play Magic, identify as Magic players and spend a lot of time around other magic players, it matters to them. The game matters to me. I've told this before, that R&D, all of our R&D really thinks of magic as a separate entity that we are here to support. And I know all the good magic is done for me and all the positivity is brought to my life.

I mean, I'm probably the extreme end case where it's provided me most things. It's my dream job. I met my wife there. You know, it's enabled me to be part of the game that I love so much. And anyway, I have nothing but awesome things to say for magic. But anyway, anybody who gives you a comment is trying to give you some criticism some people hide it

and you have to sort of look through and understand what they're saying so when you're getting criticism the first attitude I always take is there's something this person is trying to say understand what it is they're trying to say and then one of the things that I always say when you're getting criticism is it is they're trying to say. And then, one of the things that I always say

when you're getting criticism is it is very easy for your gut response to criticism to be explained why you did it. And sometimes that's important. I mean, one of the interesting things about feedback that I've learned is when players give me feedback,

there are two major responses that I give. One response is, I understand that you dislike this, but there's a reason I did it. There's other players who enjoy it. There's other factors in mind. And so some of the time my response is, I hear that you disliked it, but there's

a reason why I did this, and let me explain the reason. And the other thing is, I hear what you're saying, you disliked this, and I've come to realize that yes, I could have done it without doing it this way. You are correct, I think I could do it better, thanks for the input. It is, people tend to err toward the first one when they get criticism, which is, oh, well, let me explain why I did it. And sometimes, sometimes that is

the correct answer. But first, I always say, before you get to the, I must do it, ask yourself, did I have to do it? Sometimes when people criticize something, the thought process I like to do it? Sometimes when people criticize something, the thought process I like to do is think about the thing I did and say, okay, what would have happened had I not done that?

Okay, they liked thing A. What if thing A wasn't in the set? What would have happened? So one of the biggest things I've learned, I learned this in a writing class, but it applies to any sort of creative art, game design, and other things, which is a lot of time artists work on intuition,

which means I know I need something. But what happens is sometimes when you go get that thing you know you need, you bring along with it other things that aren't necessary. So, for example, it's like, oh, I want some sugar, so I pour my breakfast cereal into the thing that needs sugar. Well, okay, there's probably sugar in the breakfast cereal, if you know anything about breakfast cereals.

But there's other stuff there. And maybe, maybe I want the sugar, but maybe I don't need my, you know, marshmallows or cereal pieces or flakes or whatever. Maybe there's things I'm adding that I don't need. You know, and one of the biggest things about criticism is recognizing what is necessary and what you did. And a lot of times what I find is, in order to get the sense I want,

I brought along extra things, and once I get the feedback, I'm like, oh, that one extra thing doesn't need to be there. I can still do the thing I need without this extra component. And so one of the things when you get criticism is always ask yourself, okay, what would I do different if I didn't have that thing? And a lot of times what you do is you say, oh, well, if I didn't have that thing,

the way I would do it is do this. And then you sit back and go, you know what? That would be better. That is a better answer to my problem. Okay, so the next thing is you have to take an attitude that you can improve and get better. If you take the attitude of I'm the best there is, this is the best there is, how are you going to find a mistake? If your attitude is like you are perfection, it is very hard to see imperfection. And one of the things that I think makes a good artist or creator is the willingness to understand that

there's always room to get better. There's always room to improve. I've been doing this job for, in October, probably 23 years. That's a long time. I've done a lot of it. Does that mean I've perfected my craft? No. It is not. Every time I do a magic set my attitude is I can learn more and get better now part of it also is how we make things

changes, the technology changes the tools change and the things you care about change like right now when I make a magic card there are digital concerns that was not true 15 years ago. I didn't have to think about a card being programmable.

But now it's something I do have to think about, you know what I'm saying? And as time changes, there's things that I have to do. Okay, so someone gives you criticism. Look past any insults if they have them. Find the heart of it. Figure out what they're saying. Figure out why they're saying it. And then figure out what happens, how would you correct that problem?

If you had to do all over again, how would you do it differently? The next thing that I find, oh, real quick, when someone gives a criticism, by the way, it's important to understand they may be right, they may be wrong. What they are right about, what they're for sure right about is, and this is why I say people giving comments to talk about how it makes them feel. It made them feel the way it made them feel. You know, they liked or didn't like it in a vacuum. Somebody not liking it doesn't mean it was the wrong decision.

Now, I give it if enough people dislike it, probably that's a sign. But one of the things about feedback is you will get feedback sometimes by somebody and the answer to that feedback is that would need to be. Now, I don't want

that to be a default. I don't want you to take the attitude of, oh, whatever. It had to be that way. I like you to always think about the attitude of, oh, whatever, it had to be that way. I like you to always think about the what if. I like you to always sort of examine how you would have done it differently if you had to do it differently. I mean, one of the things that I think is so valuable as an artist, as somebody who makes things, is that whenever somebody critiques me, I try to take it to heart and think about it. Now, once again, the quality of the feedback does not always match to the quality of the work done.

Sometimes the feedback is better. Sometimes the feedback is worse. It depends how much time you spent on it and, you know, polish and stuff. The other thing, by the way, that I try to do when I get criticism is it helps if the audience sees you recognize the criticism.

So one of the things that I do, and this is a place where I'm getting public information, not everybody does that, is if you can, if there's ways to convey it, one of the things that I try to do is educate my audience. I write a lot of articles explaining why we do things, such that I help educate my audience to make them better at critiquing. One of the things that I think is very helpful is the more knowledgeable your audience is about the thing you are doing,

the better their feedback becomes. The more I spend time and energy explaining to you why we made the set the way we did, why we chose the mechanics we chose, why we put them in the colors we did, that why we made the decisions we did really helps educate the consumer to give more detailed feedback.

Because sometimes something they might have an issue with, when you explain why you did it, they go, oh, yeah, that makes sense. Okay, never mind. And so I think having a good rapport with your audience is another valuable tool. Like I said, the way I like to think of feedback is not that it's them versus me. I like to think it's them and me. That together, we are working together to make magic better. And that to me, like, what?

So, next thing about getting feedback is having the vantage point that feedback is a positive thing, that feedback is something that's going to help you, that it's a tool for change, will go a long way for you to sort of dealing with some of the hurt that comes with hearing negativity about things you do, you know. And, I mean, I've learned to grow a thick skin.

As much as I'm saying I would like to people to give their feedback in a certain manner, that doesn't mean they will. I mean, I get nasty letters all the time. You know, I think I've been compared to Hitler four times. Hitler, four times. You know, I was like, I, you know, there are people that will give you, will use hyperbole and will really get vicious. Because one of the things that's happened in this day and age of social media is that shock value has become the

means by which some people get heard. And I'm not a big fan of shock value. I believe, I mean, entertainment, there's some role, I guess, at times. But in the role of criticism, it is just making a barrier between you and the person you're trying to get feedback to. And that isn't the goal of feedback. The goal of feedback is not to punish the person you're talking to. And once again, if your goal is to punish the person you're talking to, you are tearing down and not building up.

You are just trying to make someone feel bad because they did something, in theory, creating something you really care about, and they messed up in some way, you tearing them down does nothing. It makes them feel worse, and it just means that the product that you care about will continue to be worse because you're not helping them make it better. The other thing about receiving criticism is you do have to hold your ground at some point

you do have to, someone say something and go okay, I disagree with you I get that you feel that way now you have to sort of listen and there is a point at which enough people might think one thing that maybe you made a mistake like if the goal of, for example, I make a game for an audience.

Part of success for me is the audience enjoying the game. If I make something and everybody's like, I didn't have fun, this was not fun, no matter how much I liked it, if the majority of the audience is telling me they didn't have fun, well, I failed then. My goal is to make the audience happy. And if the audience isn't happy, at some point, wow, I really need to learn from that. That's a learning experience.

But that doesn't mean because one person says something that somehow that supersedes reasons you had. One of the reasons I like explaining my thought process to the audience is it lessens them telling me things that inherently are true to me. I'm almost back to work. Or to work, not back to work. Hopefully, like I said,

my biggest takeaway today is I want you, as the criticism giver, and you as the criticism receiver receiver to really rethink about how you use and make criticism. I mean, like I said, it's a super valuable tool. You will make mistakes.

You will do things people don't like. And hearing from them and hearing why they don't like it and how it affects them really is powerful and can help you a lot. But to do that, like I said, it's kind of the big message of today. You know, you can go through life just tearing everything down around you. And maybe in the short term it will make you,

maybe in the short term it will make you, you know, maybe in the short term it will answer some things for you but it is not really in a large picture helping the problem at hand. And if you think of you and the person, the artist that you're

dealing with, like one of the neat things is there's a personal bond that happens there. Like as a writer, I happen to know that one of the most powerful things you can do

is make a comment that somebody takes to heart that one of the most powerful things you can do is make a comment that somebody takes to heart and then applies to their own life. I get a lot of very nice emails of somebody saying, hey, you wrote an article or did a podcast or did something or answered a question, and you said something that I hadn't thought about, that

really when I thought about that and applied it inward, it changed me. That I think I'm a better person for having heard that feedback. So thank you, thank you so much for the feedback. That is awesome. As an artist, that is an awesome feeling to have. And

one of the things is feedback can be that. Like one of the most excited I get is when someone says something and it makes me crystallize and realize something new. That is a glorious moment. And that glorious moment comes about because somebody took the time to explain to me something where I might have been astray.

That working with the artist, with the creator, allows you to do something really personal. That when an artist listens to you and adapts what you have to say and changes because of you, that is a high, high compliment. You know, like, one of the things I try to do on my blog is when people give feedback,

I try to, A, thank them for the feedback, and B, either, like I said, explain the reasoning so there's some understanding for why I'm doing it, although you've got to be careful how you do that. Or, I say, oh, wow, thank you. I hadn't thought of A, B, or C. That is good to know.

And then one of the things about my social media, especially my blog, is there's been a lot of really good changes that have come about. Because I tried something, the audience didn't like it. Or even, by the way, criticism doesn't have to be you didn't like it. Criticism could be you liked it, but there's a way to like it, or even, by the way, criticism doesn't have to be you didn't like it. Criticism could be you liked it, but there's a way to like it even more. I liked part of it, or I liked an element of it, or I liked it, but, you know, criticism does not just be I hated it or I disliked it.

Criticism could be I loved it, or I liked it, but I could have loved it, or I loved it, but I could have adored it. You know, the point of it is that you are trying to get in this one-on-one relationship with the artist so that the two of you can come to an understanding and gain knowledge and the artist can grow from that. And that is so valuable. It is really, really valuable. It is, you know, if I had the ability to turn off the internet and just never ever get

a note again, I wouldn't do that. I mean, I get a lot of negativity on the internet, make no mistake, I get a lot of negativity. But behind that negativity, A, there's a lot of positivity, and B, even behind the negativity, if I dig deep, I find people that are concerned about the game. Like I said, it is harder to dig through that, and I would recommend you don't do that. But even that stuff that's the negative stuff, I can look through and find answers and figure out what that means. And I think I've become a better magic designer, and I think magic's become a better game because of all that feedback. I think feedback is very, very valuable. The only point of today is that there's a better way to give feedback and a better way to that feedback. I think feedback is very, very valuable. The only point of today is

that there's a better way to give feedback and a better way to receive feedback. So hopefully, this has been educational. I hope it has. But anyway, I'm now at work, so we all know what that means. And this is the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking magic,

it's time for me to make it magic. I'll see you guys next time.