Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #637: Social Media in Game Design

Episode Date: May 17, 2019

In this podcast, I examine the role social media plays in modern game design.

I'm pulling up my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for the drive to work. Okay, so today I'm going to talk about game design in the time of social media. So one of the interesting things, so this year will be my 24th year designing Magic and designing games, I guess, or being paid to design games. I designed games before I was paid for it. And one of the interesting things is social media really has changed. Like when I first started at Wizards back in 1995, I mean, the Usenet existed. There was the very, very early days of the internet. But social media did not exist anywhere close to what it exists today.

So one of the things I wanted to talk about is kind of how is life different in the age of social media? What has social media done to change game design? And I'm going to talk about some of the positive things and some of the negative things and sort of get a sense of how does it make things different? So that is my topic today. Hopefully that sounds interesting to you. A meaty topic. Okay, so let's start with the more positive aspects of social media. Okay, number one, the ability to get feedback. So if anybody is listening to me talk, I talk a lot about, like Malcolm Gladwell had a whole book called Outliers, like how do you get good at something? And the solution in the book he talked about was 10,000 hours of practice with, or 10,000 hours of doing it with feedback. And with the feedback part, it's the part that people often gloss over.

It's not just a matter of doing something a lot. It's doing something a lot and getting feedback. And so one of the things the internet does really well is there is no lack of feedback. There's a lot of feedback. There is direct feedback where I go on, you know, I have channels where people can talk to me directly. They can write to me on my blog. They can contact me on Twitter. They can contact me on any of the social media that I'm on, you know what I'm saying, and then there's interaction there where they're consciously talking to me. Um, but there also is indirect stuff where they're talking amongst themselves and I can look, go look at it. You know, I can go watch, I can go read Reddit or I

can go, um, sometimes I will Google my name to see where, uh, what I'm saying pops up and, and, or I can Google certain magic sets and see what they're saying about those sets. You know, one of the things that the age of social media definitely lets me do is there's a lot of talking about the things I'm working on. I mean, people write articles about them. There's different discussion groups.

You know, there's... Even on something like Tumblr, where you can go see people sort of posting pictures and stuff of things they like. And anyway, one of the things that I think social media does a really good job is I feel that one of the reasons I'm good at my job is I get a lot of interaction with the public and I get a lot of feedback. A lot of that is social media. It's not that I got no feedback before the age of sort of modern day social media, but I get a lot of feedback. A lot of that is social media. It's not that I got no feedback before the age of sort of modern day social media, but I get a lot more.

And I also get a, I get a really get, I get to watch communities interact with one another in a way that was hard to do before social media. Like I said, in the early, early days,

I could sort of watch the Usenet, which was a very specific community. And I got to see some back and forth among that community, but that has just exploded, you know, in the last 24 years. Next thing that I think is very positive is, I can ask questions directly of the public. Now, given I more talk to the enfranchised players, if I want to do larger stuff, I mean, we have market research we do that hits larger groups of players.

But, as far as the people that are the most the largest consumers of magic, I get to talk to those people. Those people are on social media. And so, I can go and directly ask questions of them. Like, if I want to know something. And one of the things I tend to do is, I ask a lot of them. Like, if I want to know something, and now one of the things that I tend to do is, I ask a lot of questions, so you all don't know what questions I'm asking are the ones that, like, actually matter and what we're working on. So one of the things that I definitely do, I do this in my blog, sometimes on Twitter, is I will ask the public something that we need to know.

We actually, to get our job done, we're curious to know some stuff. And so I often ask questions to get feedback, like to directly, directly usable feedback. Now I mix it up and I ask some questions that are more for entertainment or for other reasons. So, uh, I want to keep you guessing which questions I'm asking that are directly being used and which questions I'm asking are more general. Um, is a big resource that I can do that. And, you know, it is a very valuable thing. Like, one of the things as a designer is the fact that I have a very passionate fan base that I can tap directly into

and get their thoughts and their ideas. That's a real positive thing. That's a really, um, and it's a tool I use a lot. I really, the fact that I, I have so many followers on so many different social media sites, the fact that I can ask something and, you know, instantaneously, um, like one of the things I joke about with, with my wife is, um, like there's been times where I need to know something and I'll ask and no matter what the question is even if it's magic related or not magic related the speed by which I get responses

like I do head to head every day which is my poll and sometimes it's just for entertainment sometimes it's data I mean we tend to use the data when we get it but like I'll post a poll and like thousands of people might answer within, you know, 10 minutes. That is quite daunting. But it is a good thing. It's something that I do appreciate that I have the ability to interact directly with so many people. Next, one of the things that's really valuable for any game designer is getting to see the audience interact with the product.

Now, feedback is more direct. Feedback is people talking about what they think about it. What I'm talking about here is just getting to see the audience experience it. Just getting to see what are the questions they ask or what is the excitement they have or, you know, like one of the things that's really interesting is watching on a pre-release weekend and watching people post pictures and sort of what are the experiences that they have. And one of the neat things about the internet and just social media in general is

I really have an ability to sort of peek in and watch our player base playing in a way that just was not like it used to be go back 20 years like if I wanted to see the reaction of the player base I kind of had to go to the pre-release you know that was the one place I could go where I could get the direct what do people think of this, and watch them interact with it. And not that I don't go to pre-releases, I still do, but it is no longer the sole place to go to get that feedback. Now with the internet, there's a lot of video, and there's pictures, and you have a lot of chances to sort of experience things in a way that I didn't once upon a time, or I didn't without venturing out, you know.

And the other thing is if I went to see a pre-release, I was seeing the pre-release either in the place I was, like in Seattle, or maybe, you know, there was a pro tour or something where I traveled. But I often saw pre-releases mostly where I was, and here I can see pre-releases around the world. I can see people enjoying whatever the newest set is in many different places, and I can experience sort of how different places experience it and how it's different from store to store. That's something that was basically impossible to do

when it was just me sort of directly seeing it. And so the reach of social media really does give me a lot of ability to kind of see things that I normally wouldn't be able to see. And that is a huge boon for a game designer. Okay, next. There is an ability to explain myself. One of the things that I really believe is that part of enjoying anything nowadays is there's a deeper sense of understanding. and that if I want to explain why we did something, I have various means to do that.

I can put them in my articles. I can do this in my podcast. I can answer questions on my blog. I can tweet about it. There's a lot of places for me to explain things. And then, not only because it's social media, it's not just me directly explaining it. It is me getting information out there,

and then other people, like, the information gets disseminated, even if it's not heard directly from me. Meaning I can say something somewhere, and other people might learn that information, not because I told them information, but because the information disseminates, and social media does a good job of passing along information. So kind of there's the people that are the most invested who want to read why we did things. And then they become the voice of

explaining to other people what went on. And so social media gives me an opportunity to sort of clarify things. One of the things kind of back in the day is you would make a game and put it out there and then the game had to speak for itself. You never could sort of add on to that, or you couldn't necessarily let people know why or how you did something. But now, in the age of social media, it's very easy. If people are misunderstanding something, I can answer a question. And if the question's important enough, I'll answer a question. And if the question's important enough, I'll answer a question on my blog,

and it'll be up on Reddit, for example, in minutes, if it's an important enough topic. And so the ability to sort of explain what you're doing or help people see some aspect of something they might not see is super valuable. And the other thing that is an offshoot of that is you can then see the sort of I love that I can witness the players using the product I then can also witness the impact as we adjust

for things, as we explain things, as we put more information out there, I get a witness, the audience witnessing that as well so there's a lot of interaction points, there's a lot of things where you can put the game out there, get a response, get feedback on that see a response to the feedback, there's a lot of that give and take that's very important the other thing that there's a lot of that give and take that's very important. The other thing that's really important is I like that the audience gets a voice. There's a downside to that I'll get to in a sec, but I like the idea that the audience has a voice, that they can sort of speak up for themselves.

And that a lot of times you put out a product and it was hard for the, if the audience didn't like something or if they did like something, it was hard necessarily. I mean, you might get anecdotal data from individual people, but it's hard to get collective data. And I know the internet's not exactly, I mean, it's still anecdotal to a certain extent. But it does allow you to get a sense of your audience having a larger voice of what they care about. And that, I think, is really interesting.

And it definitely gives you, the game designer, a chance to sort of hear from people in a way that goes beyond just sort of an individual feedback. There's larger group dynamics that can happen. And I think those group dynamics can enable people to sort of have a stronger voice of talking about what they do and don't like about your game. I also think the internet is a good place for checks and balances.

That if we mess up on something, we can get called on it. You know, in the age right now of trying to be better about stuff like diversity or just trying to represent our audience better, hey, sometimes we might mess up on that. Sometimes we might not do as good a job as we can. And I like the fact that our audience is there to sort of hold us accountable. And, you know, I like that if we do something and the audience doesn't like it, that we can hear about that and that there's a discussion that can happen.

And that I think those checks and balances, if used properly, can be very empowering and helpful to the game design process. And the other big thing, my final note about social media is that it really I feel like a lot of what you want to do

if you're a game designer is create a message about your game so you can communicate your game and sell your game and get people interested but that message gets adjusted based on the response. And there's a fluidness to your messaging, which is not true 20 years ago,

that, you know, one of the interesting things is we can, for example, try certain messages and stuff and literally see how they play. And the messages that really respond to people, we can continue. And the ones that don't, we can stop or adjust. And that there's that fluidity to the message that is a very different thing in the age of social media that wasn't there before. Usually if you had a campaign before, or if you were trying to communicate something, you kind of, this is what I'm

communicating, and then you only kind of found after the fact, you know, the success of that. You didn't find, you couldn't change the message while you were making the message. And that's something social media lets you do. And the dynamism of the messaging that you can do, the ability to talk about something and say something and sort of get the feel. Like one of the things I enjoy when we're doing something is I tend to have, okay, well, what matters? Why is this set interesting?

What about it? And I'll start by going, here's what I like about the set. But sometimes you find out that there's aspects that you put in that the audience, like, for example, like, when we first put out Onslaught, R&D had a lot of, like, a lot of R&D really thought it was the morph set. And I was arguing it was the tribal set.

And it's funny that once we sort of started interacting with the public, now, I guess this was as much human interaction as social media at the time, it really made more people realize that, oh, that the audience treats it more of it's a tribal set than it's a morph set. That that was more what drove expectations. And it's by interacting with the public that you sort of see that and that a lot of times we'll make a product, and there's different ways to sell the product. There's different things, like no product is one thing.

And so we're always trying to, you want to boil down your message, usually, to a singular thing because of how messaging works. So you pick something about the set that you think is the most exciting thing. But when you interact with the public, sometimes you'll realize, oh, oh, that's not the thing that's really exciting than this is. oh, oh, that's not the thing that's really exciting than this is. Or, like sometimes, for example, there's an individual card that just sort of catches on, that there's some group sensibility about that card, and that it allows you to lean into that. It allows you to lean into maybe themes and things

that you didn't realize off the card. I mean, you put them in your set, but you didn't realize how strong the resonance might be. And it's fun for us to really jump in. It's kind of why memes are kind of fun. There's a lot of ways that social media sort of absorbs and then communicates. And having an ability to interact with that

and then use that itself as a means to continue. Oh, the one final thing, which I did not write this down, but it's coming up as I say this, is there is more means of expression because of social media. There's more ways to get the message out there and talk about this, that it is not, you know, once upon a time, it was like,

we will advertise in magazines. That is the way we can communicate something. And now it's not, you know, once upon a time it was like, we will advertise in magazines. That is the way we can communicate something. And now it's like, okay, there's so many different ways that we're going to be communicating with social media. That it really, even just for me, for example. I interact with you guys on a lot of different levels, a lot of different channels. And like, sometimes it's like, oh, well, I want to communicate something. Is it better to communicate that in a tweet? Should I answer a question in my blog?

Should I be writing an article about it? Should I make a podcast? You know, there's so many different nuances of the way that just with the way I communicate social media, there's so many different ways to do that that allows me to handpick where do I think, like for example, I got inspired by this message today

and I think, oh, well, I got inspired by this message today and I think, oh, well this is a podcast. I want to talk this through. This is something where I want to walk and sort of say, hey, here's the pros and cons and a podcast just allows me to do that in a way that other media would have a little bit different feel to it. I mean, I could write an article, but this felt more like a podcast topic. Okay, so a lot of positive things about social media. One of the things that I really

enjoy as a game designer is mostly I believe social media is a valuable tool. That's how I see it. It's a tool for creation. It's a tool for communication. It's a tool for creation. It's a tool for communication. It's a tool for education. It's a tool for bonding with your audience. All very valuable, very good stuff. Okay, but it is not all positive.

There's some things about social media that I think challenge the design process. Not necessarily that they're bad, by the way, but definitely are things that you have to watch out for as a game designer. Okay, number one, the nature of social media to be an echo chamber. And what I mean by that is, one of the things that I think people get fooled in by social media is that they tend to think of it as being the reflection of reality. And it's not that it can't reflect reality. It's not that you can't learn things. Um, but the nature of the way social media works is you tend to hear a lot of what you want to hear. Like, for example,

you tend to be in the places that you like to be. So, for example, let's say I went to some... I'm not going to name names, but let's say I went to a certain social media place and it was just highly, highly, highly negative. There is some impetus to not go to that place. Because it's like, oh, why, every time I go there, it's just people being really mean. And you go to this other place, and people are polite and nice and positive, that it is easy to fall into the trap of going to the place where you get to

hear the message you want to hear. And that's an easy trap to fall into. Like, one of the things that I've made a very conscious effort to do is go to the places where negativity exists. Because it's very easy to, you know, like, it's easy to read stuff, and people go, I love your stuff, it's great. That's easy to read. The, it's horrible, I hate it, harder to read.

But I equally feel that that stuff has to be read. But when you're interacting with social media, one of the challenges is, it is a tool that you have to understand understand and you have to learn how to utilize. The idea that you can just interact with social media with no practice and no technical understanding and just get everything you can out of it is not true. And that's one of the dangers of social media. Like I spend a lot of time on social media and a lot of time trying to understand social media. I spend a lot of time going to a lot of different places and, you know, and reading things that aren't

always so positive or reading things, you know. One of the most important ways to get feedback is to look past how people talk into what they say. This is a topic I talk a lot in that whenever I get feedback of any kind, the answer, the thing I always try to say is, what does this person care about? What is the issue that they're trying to say? And that there's a lot of very uncomfortable, uncompromising, unpolite messaging. Now, I do wish social media in general people could be more polite.

I say this a lot on my blog, that you can be critical without being mean, but the internet, as we'll get to, can be very mean at times. So the first thing to be careful of when you interact with social media is that if you're not careful, you can get messages that are simply not actually true per se. Like one of the reasons

we do a lot of market research is the audience on social media is not representative of our whole audience. It's representative of a certain section of our audience. And a lot of times, for example, there'll be a message, and the audience, clearly online, the online messaging is very loud about something. That doesn't mean it's what the majority of players want. It means it is what the segment that you're interacting with online want. And there's this tendency with social media for people for good or for bad

the internet brings out some bad qualities in people. And one of that thing is people are more likely to complain than to compliment. I've had this chat with some people who do magic content. And one of the things that's interesting is when they do videos that are critical of magic versus doing videos that are complimentary of magic, that the critical videos just get more hits. That it's more fun to complain

about. The internet likes people complaining, that that just gets more people more willing to go there to sort of dig into that negativity. And that you have to be careful online, that the messaging can get warped in many ways and people can sort of hop onto a message that one of the things that the internet can get warped in many ways, and people can sort of hop onto a message that one of the things that the internet loves to do, I'll get into this one in a second, but there really can be,

I guess my major message here is, you have to be careful that the echo chamber-ness of social media can lead you astray at times and give you information that is not sort of necessarily factually true. Okay, number two, the mirror side of the audience having a voice, the sense of entitlement,

which is, the positive thing about getting a voice is the audience can talk to you. And that is a wonderful, positive, great thing because it gives the audience a chance to sort of communicate their needs and desires. The dark side of that is the sense of, I've communicated something, where is it? That part of the way social media has worked is because they recognize that they as a group have said something, there is a sense of, they, as a group, have said something,

there is a sense of, okay, we've communicated what we want. Where is it now? And that one of the things that a game designer has to understand is that it is good to understand what your players want, but your player, well, two things. One, your players wanting it doesn't inherently mean it's the right thing to do. You know, one of the things I always say is dig deep to understand what problem are they trying to solve with this solution. Because oftentimes the problem they're identifying really is a problem, but the solutions they're identifying might not always be the right solutions.

And the other thing is that sometimes the echo chamber-ness of it, when they present something that is not necessarily something the majority of your players would want yes, it's, yes the the nature of the echo chamber

is people when, for example one of the things I've noticed is when I say, I don't think we're going to do something, people just jump in and like, oh, you should do that. And they're like, oh yeah. You know, and that,

me saying, I don't think we'll do something only makes more people voice that they want it to be done. You know, for example, if someone gives me a suggestion, I go, yeah, that's a good idea. We should do that.

Okay, maybe why don't you go chime in and say, oh yeah, I agree should do that. Okay, maybe one or two people chime in and say, oh, yeah, I agree to do that. When someone says we should do something, I go, well, here's why I don't think we will. A lot more voices chime in. No, you should do that. You should do that. You should do that. And that there is

this sense of, because we as a collective voice have said something, you have some obligation to not do the thing we've asked. And that's something I think not just game designers, but all artists really need. It's one of the downsides of social media is

the audience isn't necessarily the best at figuring out how things are going to work. I often get requests to do things that I know will be bad gameplay, that players wouldn't actually enjoy if we did. And then I'll try to, like, on my blog, I'll explain why the gameplay is problematic. I mean, the poster child to this on my blog is Vanilla Matters. I did a whole podcast on this. Not to say we can't do a card or two or something, but it is a really really hard theme to do at any volume.

And one of the biggest problems essentially is, in order to make it work, I have to play with cards that don't do anything. And then when I draw the cards that matter, then it matters. But if I have a game in which I don't draw the cards that matter, which happens because

you have a randomized deck. Like if I have a game in which I don't draw the cards that matter, which happens because you have a randomized deck, like if I have enough vanilla things that when vanilla matters, matters, that when I don't draw the vanilla matters cards, I'm just playing a bunch of vanilla creatures. And that is not particularly, you know what I'm saying? It's like, I want to do something that's inherently boring that maybe if I draw the few cards that I need to,

will make it not so boring. I'm like, oh, but that means a certain portion of your games, just nothing's happening. And that's not the most dynamic magic. And it's one of those things that the more I explain why it doesn't work, like I've done an entire podcast on this, the more they dig in about, you should do it. Another example came when we talked about doing,

somebody online, Maria, from Good Luck High Five, talked about setting in the blind eternities. And I'm like, okay, that doesn't really make much sense. And from a design standpoint, like it's not even a place. So there's no, there aren't islands and swamps and mountains, and there aren't really creatures in a traditional sense, and there aren't people

casting magical spells, you know, it's like, everything we need to make a world, none of it has, because it's not even a world, and the audience is like, oh, but it sounds like a challenge, and I'm like, that doesn't, that in and of itself doesn't make a good magic set, you know, you thinking like, oh, wow, how would you do that? Well, sometimes we go, how do we do that? I don't know how we do that. You know, and the answer is, oh, I don't know if we should do that. But the social media does create

the sense of, because we voice something, you should do it. And another sort of connectivity to that is that one of the things that social media does is that it at times can create a mob mentality

where somebody has some agenda they want and they can rile up other people. Like I said, it is, a lot of people on social media have more fun sort of complaining than enjoying. I don't know what it says about human nature,

but it's much easier to get a crowd when you're trying to sow discontent to a certain extent. And that there is a lot of, a lot of sort of negativity can form because, you know, while I do think there's a lot of sort of negativity can form because, you know, while I do think there's a lot of community building, I didn't mention this on the good side, which I should real quick. It's something I did not write down, but it's good. Like, one of the things I do love about social media

is that it can form communities and that it can allow people of like-minded things to meet other people like themselves. And so, let's say you really enjoy cosplaying. Well, guess what? You can interact with the cosplaying community and meet all the magic cosplayers and share tips about making costumes and all that. Or, you know, if you're really into the art or the story or collecting or whatever

the facet of magic that you love or you're into Commander or Draft or whatever format you like, you can go find people like yourself and interact with them directly. And that is awesome. The fact, you can go find people like yourself and interact with them directly. And that is awesome. The fact that you can find a sense of community, huge positive social media. And I think it enhances the game and really allows your game to find communities. But the dark side of that, the flip side of that, is that it really allows people who have an agenda

to find people who will share in their agenda. And especially if you have sort of a negative agenda, it is very easy to sort of whip up a crowd in the Internet, much easier than it was prior to that. That social media, like I said, it's a tool. And it's a tool that can be used for good, but it's a tool that can be used for bad. And there are people who definitely use social media

as a means to get audiences sort of riled up and then use that negativity as a weapon. is sort of riled up and then use that negativity as a weapon. And I think that is a very, that's an ugly side to things. So it ties into another thing that I see with social media, that one of the natures, like psychologically speaking, the fact that you can sort of message where there's a sense of space. Like if I talk to somebody directly, I walk up to them and talk to them, I have to interact with them face to face. And there's a certain civility that comes with that. And that when people get on the internet where they're sort of saying things in the privacy of their own home and there's less kind of direct accountability, there's a lack of stability.

I'm not saying people can't be very nice. I'm not saying, like one of the things I do enjoy about the internet and social media in general is there's a lot of reaffirming and positivity. I've seen people that are really down about something and the group can rally to cheer them up or help them. Like one of my favorite things about watching the magic community is when somebody's in pain or somebody needs help, that the community can rally around them and help them. I love that about the magic community. And that's a really positive of social media. But a lot of it, as you can see, and the flip side is

that there's a lot of these you can see and the flip side is that there's a lot of ability to um for the lack of stability like one of the things i try in my blog really strongly and even i at times in trying to answer a criticism don't do it strong enough is the lack of stability of one of the things that i've learned having interacted with the public for a long time on social media, is you've got to grow a thick skin. That there are people who will say very mean things to your face. And you kind of have to... One of the things that you have to learn to do is separate...

People interact on social media differently than real life and you have to sort of learn that. Another thing about social media is you have to learn about how people are different on social media and through social media and you have to sort of understand that there is a negativity and a lack of civility that if you're not prepared for can be hurtful.

And I know there's a lot of people who haven't learned to sort of that it's hard to grow that thicker skin and that there's things out there they have to sort of avoid stuff because of the lack of civility and the sort of the coolness can be a bit much. Now one of the things about my job is I really want to hear the stuff, even when it gets negative. Not that I don't condone the lack of civility or the negativity, but I do want to hear the messages, and so I will go places

where people are very uncivil. I try, in places where I have any control, like my blog, I try to create some sense of civility. But there are many places where I go for messages that I have no control. I'm just there to sort of get the message. And you've got to sort of wade through people being very, very rude at times. And the one thing I always stress to people is, and this is just a general social media thing, is people will read your stuff. If you say something about somebody, you have to assume, you have to assume that person might see what you're saying. And this is true of

anything, true. That the people who make the thing that you love or interact with, they care about what they're doing and that, you know, try to write on the internet what you would say in person to somebody to their face. And, I mean, I do think that the more civil you are on social media, even when you don't like something, even when, you know, it's important. And be aware that this idea that I'm sitting alone so anything I say doesn't matter, that it doesn't have the weight of me talking to someone face-to-face, just isn't true. I've seen people in tears looking at stuff

that they've read online just because people can really cut to the bone in kind of their cruelty on social media. And anyway, my plea to you is to think about what you do and that there are ramifications of what you say. The other thing that I do not like, and this is another side effect of social media, is while there's a lot of community building and there's a lot of building people up and helping people,

there also is tearing people down and hurting people. And that one of the things that social media can do is that there are people, like there are people, for example, that can go to social media who are hurting

and be helped by social media. And I love that. But there are people that are merely just enjoying what they're enjoying, and that social media can also hurt people and insult people. And that's something else that I try whenever I see. Like, one of my basic feelings is, let people enjoy what they want to enjoy as long as it's not hurting somebody.

You know what I'm saying? If somebody enjoys some aspect of the game, even if it's an aspect I don't enjoy, as long as they're not harming anybody. You know what I'm saying? If somebody enjoys some aspect of the game, even if it's an aspect I don't enjoy, as long as they're not harming anybody, you know what I'm saying? If somebody just really enjoys collector numbers or, I don't know, some silly thing that they enjoy and you don't enjoy it, who cares?

You know what I'm saying? Let them enjoy the thing they enjoy. You don't need to belittle their enjoyment of it. You don't need to speak ill of it. There's really no reason to, like I said, unless what they're doing is actually hurting people, and then it's okay to speak up. I'm not saying that if someone is, if what someone enjoys is hurtful to other people, that they have the right to hurt that without any feedback. Not saying that at all. But I am saying if somebody's doing something

that's not harming anybody, that I do believe, you know, that let people enjoy what they want to enjoy. That, you know, just because it's not your cup of tea doesn't mean you have to sort of create negativity of it. Oh, and the other thing, by the way, is, as somebody who produces content, thing, by the way, is, as somebody who produces content, if you like what somebody does, that is fine. That's great. Let them know you like it. It's very good for content producers who like it. If you don't like it, that is also fine. I ask you, you know, be polite in your critical response. You know, they're much politer with, in general, if you could explain why you don't like what they're, something, or, or if, you know, I do something that somehow upsets you, whatever, I want to know that, you know, I, I, I want the feedback, or if you just don't enjoy

something I'm doing, I want to know that as well, um, don't need to be mean about it, And one of my biggest pet peeves of social media is this need to, the backhand compliment, where, for example, I'll write a comic, and somebody likes the comic. They could just say, I like your comic, and I would feel good. But they have to say, oh, finally, a funny comic, or something like that. Or, I don't normally enjoy your comics, but this one was funny. And I'm like, did you, you know what I'm saying? It's like, um, you know, like there's, if the goal was to say you like something, this idea that I somehow have to defend it, like somehow,

I don't know if you feel open to criticism from others for liking something, A, you need to get over that. It's okay for you to like something. Others belittling you for liking something, I mean, I wish they didn't do that, but you have to learn to like the things you like and not let other people,

don't let other people dictate what you can or can't enjoy. That is one of the powers. One of the big life lessons I've had is don't let people take away your enjoyment of something because it's something that, for some reason, they don't want to enjoy. You know, that don't let people who don't have your best interest at heart

dictate how you feel about you or the things you care about. That if you enjoy something and it brings you joy Makes you happy, enjoy it And find people who also enjoy it And the people who belittle it, ignore them And the people who belittle you for enjoying it You gotta grow a tough skin for that too

I wish people wouldn't do that But anyway, if you're going to interact with somebody about something you like Especially with a creator You don't need, somebody about something you like especially with a creator, you don't need just tell them you like it the backhanded compliment drives me batty it's like you were trying to say something nice except before I say something nice, let me insult you

why? it's almost, to be honest I'd almost rather you not say anything than insult me while complimenting me. Well, then just don't compliment me. I'd rather not have the compliment than the backhanded compliment. It's just not necessary.

And, in general, there's very few people where every piece of content they make, you universally love. You know, if you like an artist, there's very few people where every piece of content they make, you universally love. You know, if you like an artist, now, either you like an artist, probably the majority of things they make, you are positive, that's why you like them,

but an artist might make something you're not so crazy about, or might make something where, you know, you merely like it rather than love it, you know, and that is just the nature of making art. Not every piece of art is going to hit for every person, you know. I do a lot of content, and not every piece of content I make is necessary for every person, and I make content I know that some people will love and other people may not enjoy at all, but that's okay. I make my content for the person who I really think is going to enjoy it, and that the people that don't enjoy it

don't have to participate in it. You know, if you don't like my podcast, don't listen to my podcast. Or if you only like certain podcasts, you know, I put my topic. Or listen to the first few minutes. You know, I'm not saying you have to listen to every podcast I do.

I can do podcasts that you hate. Okay, you know, don't listen to those podcasts or that podcast or my podcast in general. But don't belittle those that do and let the people enjoy the things that they enjoy. So anyway, I am driving up to work. Mostly what I wanted to say today is I find social media to be an important tool of game design. I think that if you are designing your game and you are not on social media, you are missing out on something that I think is a very valuable tool.

I believe, like I said, I believe that social media allows you to enhance your game. It allows you to communicate your game. It allows you to interact in ways that help you improve your game. that there's a lot of great things that come from social media. There's a lot of, that social media really, I don't think in today's day and age that you can design a game without using, like you're missing out. Not having social media in today's age is, you are lacking a tool that will help you

in designing your games. That said, there is negative sides that come with social media. There is a lot of negativity and there is means by which you can misunderstand. Social media is a tool that takes time to use. You're not going to start right off the bat and know exactly how to use it best. And like I say, I've been doing social media since it began, essentially. I've been interacting with the public

since I first got to Wizards, before I got to Wizards. But even I, with all the experience I have and all the different social media I do, I'm still learning every day. It is a tricky tool. It is a tool that is powerful

and valuable, but also has a dark side. And, you know, it is something that, if not handled correctly, really can do some negativity to you, the designer. So you have to be careful with it. So kind of what I'm saying today is it's an important tool, but it can be a dangerous tool at times. You have to be careful with it.

Okay, that said, I'm now at work. So we all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. See you guys next time.