Poll of the Day > Hate the trend that all lootboxes = gambling.

(+) Yeah! (+)

benbeverfaqs posted...

Except cards you print yourself are not tournament legal. They're not valuable, tradable or sellable

Which is really kind of silly. Obviously they don't have any resale value (unless you make such a close facsimile that it can pass for legitimate, but then that is definitely piracy), but for the game-specific purpose of dictating what mechanics should be engaged and how players should respond to them, there's no real reason not to treat them as legitimate, provided they do match the official card's text in all meaningful aspects. Policing that gets hard, but really, saying self-printed cards aren't tournament legal is just a way for the company behind it to keep people buying their stuff.

benbeverfaqs posted...

and it's copyright infringement ;)

I'm not actually entirely sure about that. Images of most cards are officially available publicly for no cost (looking specifically at MtG, not entirely sure about others). Nothing is stopping me from printing one out if I want to, and nothing is stopping me from printing it onto card stock. Going so far as to make counterfeit cards and selling them would definitely be no bueno, because the art is copyrighted, but printing off a copy for personal use seems to be fair game, as far as I can tell.

Furthermore, even if it weren't freely available like that, you don't need the art to have a functional card. Gameplay-wise, all the card has to do is tell you how much damage your opponent takes (or whatever other mechanic happens), and that can be done without infringing copyright. You might have to alter the wording slightly to steer clear of an exact copy, but I don't think they can enforce copyright on the basic concept of what a given card does. Plus, again, if it's just for personal use, it's not likely to become an issue.

benbeverfaqs posted...

Some people open trading cards with the express purpose of making money, or profiting. There's a whole business of selling singles of popular TCG's, complete with shady practices like weighing booster packs.

Oh, I know. There's a huge secondary market. I'm just saying that the only value the cards themselves really have is for collecting purposes, which is defined by the consumer and/or the secondary market and therefore the company can't be held accountable for presenting an opportunity to gamble. In the company's eyes (at least legally), every card is equally valuable, and people are just buying these packs because they feel like it.
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its economic darwinism. in fact we need more of it. also while we are at it, lets remove warning labels from everything also.
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NightShift posted...

also while we are at it, lets remove warning labels from everything also.

That's generally an awful idea. Deaths from allergies alone would skyrocket.
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you hush.
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bump for awareness.
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pipebomb_phil posted...

bump for awareness.

You don't need to make us aware that you're wrong. We know.
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