Smmenen on Vintage: A Manifesto on Reviving Vintage [/i]
All of the discussion about Vintage has helped clarified my thinking on how to strengthen and sustain Vintage as a tournament format. It's helped to see all of the misconceptions that people harbor, and especially the reasons for these misconceptions.
I have been making this argument for several months now,
here and
here.
There is often alot of discussion about "Growing" Vintage, or "Healthy" Vintage, or "Sustainable" Vintage. But what does this really mean?
Too often, it's reduced to the view that we need to find ways to get new players into Vintage or to increase attendance at the next major tournament. Let me propose something more specific.
In my view,
The Goal for Vintage (at least in America) should be to find ways to sustain 4-5 tournaments per year of 200 players. This is goal, for me, is a critical revelation.
What is a healthy tournament? 100 players? 1000 players? American Grand Prix's have vacillated, depending on the format and location, between 400 and 1500 players in the last half decade. No one thinks that Vintage tournaments should or even could reach that size or scale. The SCG $5K tournaments seem to be around 400 players for Standard events. If P9 retails around $3500, then how many people at $25 a person would you need to break even? To me, that is the critical question.
I propose that if Vintage tournaments can get 200 players per tournament for 4-5 events per year, that is more than enough to sustain Vintage as a healthy, viable tournament format. At 200 players, you make $5000 at $25 a person. That should support the price of P9 on a regular basis, and allow for more prizes and profit besides.
It is sustainable, in that it wouldn't create such an increased demand for power that it would cause power to go up beyond that number, and even if it did, entry fees could adjust to $30 a person to compensate.
it's also enough to keep a thriving scene by any definition.
But how do we get there?
There are only two ways to increase tournament attendance:
1) Recruit New Players
2) Retain Existing Players
It's a simple stock and flows issue:
If you increase the number of new players, you can increase the player base. If you slow down the number of players leaving Vintage you can increase the player base.
However, both of these things are difficult to do. Let me take each in turn.
1) Recruiting New Players
There are numerous difficulties with this objective.
Each of the Magic formats create a pipeline into other formats. Most tournament magic players enter Magic either via limited or Standard. Standard is a pipeline to Extended. Players who play Standard, over time, will become familiar with cards and interactions that become the basis for Extended. And over time, this familiarity extends to Legacy. Eventually, players come accross Vintage. However, the pipeline to Vintage is by far the slowest and lightest trickle.
The barriers to entry are enormous. The price barrier alone is significant enough to keep the vast majority of Magic players away. But that may not even be the most significant barrier to entry. Two other significant barriers to entry are card pool/metagame knowledge and, for lack of a better term, "flavor" issues. Even if someone could afford the cards, players tend to be very hesitant to try Vintage simply because it is so alien and strange. It takes quite a bit of coaxing and confidance to step into a format where you could lose on turn one. People often need to test before they'll even consider playing in a Vintage tournament, which means they need to know someone who plays Vintage and is willing to test. There are so many interactions, from understanding basic cards used in Legacy like Chalice of the Void and Unmask, to more complicated cards like the interaction of Mana Vault and Necropotence, the errata on Time Vault, how Mana Drain actually works, and how to stack Smokestack and Tangle Wire, and finally basic skills like how to use tutors like Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor optimally.
Someone in one of the forums reminded us that there are Magic players who may not even be aware of the fact that there are Magic cards with pre-8th Edition frames, let alone obscure rules knowledge like what happens if there is a Magus of the Moon and a Tomb of Yawgmoth in play, or if a Tarmogoyf is Duplicanted. Unlike other formats, where format learning is a natural product of testing for a tournament, the lack of visible tournaments and wizards support is a disincentive to ever actually learning Vintage in the first place. Players do not play in tournaments for formats in which they tend to be unknowledgeable, since they will not feel comfortable that they can compete. Without testing, players will not learn Vintage. And without learning Vintage, there is no way to overcome many of the stigmas and breakdown many of the stereotypes about the format. Also, Vintage is just too fast and brutal for many players. People who enjoy attacking with creatures or creature combat often find Vintage distasteful. Also, there is a perception, not just of a turn one kills, but that Vintage is a format that is mostly luck-based. That also turns people off it.
These barriers are all significant.
2) Retaining Existing Players
The problem here is that there are significant life changes that make it less feasible for people to play and test Vintage. Not to mention, the monetary investment in the format often demands liquidation for other reasons. Getting married, buying a house, graduating from college: all of these are cited and given as precipitating factors that result in Magic being abandoned. Moving to an area where people don't play Magic. Other life events can interfere with tournament participation, the least of which is a demanding job, etc. This accords with the traditional view of Magic (and Vintage) that people will "grow out of it" as they leave college and build families.
These facts are significant, and so long as there are Vintage tournaments, there will always be people who quit participating in them for these reasons and more.
However, I believe that much, much more emphasis should be given to retaining existing players than we currently do. Two feature are significant:
1) We Could Do Alot Better Job of Retaining Players
The idea that people will inevitably quit Magic is anachronistic, but still persists. It is similar to the idea that 'Magic will eventually die," and the related belief that "Magic is a fad." 17 years of Magic has shown no signs of slowing in the game, and has started to undermine the idea that people can't enjoy Magic for the duration of their life. As Magic ages, so too does the player base.
Moreover, our experience with Vintage has shown that the demands of life tend not to be as significant with Vintage as it is for other formats. Vintage never rotates. The demands of other formats are not as pressing here. Once you learn most of the card interactions they need not be retaught. It's like riding a bicycle.
We need to get over the idea that eventually everyone will quit magic. It's an outdated, outmoded idea that belongs to an earlier era. People may not be able to compete at the Pro Tour level indefinitely, with all of the work that that entails, but there is no reason why people can't enjoy Vintage indefinitely.
We can do alot better job of retaining players in many ways.
We Can Redesign the Tournament Experience With This Understanding in Mind. How? Without being exhaustive, I think a number of things can be done:
Tournament Organizers Must Treat Their Vintage Crowd Like AdultsAdults like being with other adults. Adults don't like going into a smelly gaming store with little kids running around and obnoxious teenagers hyped up on candy and soda. Adults don't like obnoxious TOs treating them like children, or judges who are disrespectful. Professional Adults sometimes cringe at the thought of walking into a gaming store under these circumstances. Adults like being treated like adults. That means being respectful in tone and substance.
Venue matters. The nicer the venue, the more enjoyable the experience is for the Vintage player. The more likely they are to return.
Attitude Matters The TO should conduct a tournament with a tone that is respectful. A TO should never talk down to players or conduct a tournament as if the players are being taking for granted.
Convenience matters Is there plenty of parking at your venue? Is it easy to find or reach? Do you have a clean restroom? Is there a nearby airport? Are you taking account for traveling needs, such as easy access to food? Have you considered a sensible lunch break? Traveling long distances can wreck havoc on one's diet, sleep patterns, and nutrition. Having a McDonalds nearby or a Wendy's nearby is nice, but most adults do not like eating McDonalds. Most adults will need a lunch break. These things add to the tournament experience and make it more likely that people will find traveling long distances attractive.
Find Ways to Support your Players: Intangibles Matter Blocking rooms at a hotel at a discount matters. Trying to help players set up car pools and organizing car pools for your players matters. Pre-registration is nice. Also, things like trivia or trophies, team sign-ups, and other things that are common at Ray Robillards tournaments add to the fun factor. Vintage players not only like to play Vintage, they like the community. Finding ways to support community increases the fun of the tournament.
Timing Matters A Vintage tournament is not Friday Night Magic. In fact, most Vintage players can't play Friday Night Magic. They have girlfriends, wives, and other commitments.
For most major events, adults will have to take off at least a day or a half day of work. Setting up your tournament times and dates at times that take account for major holidays with families will increase attendance.
By having more adults come to your event, other adults will have a more positive experience, and will be more likely to return.
These facts are not the future: they are the reality now. The more sensitive that Vintage tournament organizers become to this reality, the better the retention of existing players will be.
2) We Could Do Alot Better at Enticing Older Players Back Into the Format
Here is something everyone should consider:
Almost every one will quit Magic at some point.
However: Almost Everyone Will Consider Getting Back Into it At Least OnceWhat happens is that the life event that caused them to quit changed again such that Magic became an option once more. For example, we are finding that many married players no longer feel the stigma of magic and consider playing once again.
We can call this moment: Re-entry Opportunity. Unfortunately, too often the re-entry opportunity is missed because the player has a bad experience or finds the format not as much fun as they remembered.
Look at this graph once again:
I contend that of all the arrows on this card, the one at the top is the most important.
We can try to encourage new players to enter Vintage, but the barriers to entry are enormous and our efforts will add little to the natural fllow of players who encounter Vintage. It's alot of effort for little reward.
We can do more with the arrow on the right. The Vintage community can do alot more to find ways to keep people from quitting in the first place. A smaller amount of effort here can lead to greater net gains for the Vintage community. Call up that player who hasn't played in some time and invite them over with some of your friends for some test games. Once they get the bug again, they will be hooked.
But by far the greatest rewards in terms of efficiency of effort expended for increased tournament attendance is at the opportunity for re-entry point. The good news is that the things that can bring players back into Vintage are the same things that will keep them playing it. And because almost every players will have an opportunity to re-enter Vintage, little effort has to be made to ensure that this moment is a positive moment that will draw the player back into Vintage more permanently. These players already have the know-how, experience, and often the wherewithall to re-enter Vintage. All it takes is a little push.
I strongly believe that if the Vintage community is better at Retaining Existing Players and Finding Ways to Re-Engage players we can easily meet the goal of having 4-5 200 player tournaments per year in the US. It's simple stock and flows. Slow the loss of tournament players and you will be growing the Vintage scene without even intending to do so just as plugging up a drain can fill a sink even if the sink is flowing at a trickle.
The problem is that the Vintage community, and not just TOs, are stuck in the past, with preconceptions and misconceptions of the past. With outdated notions that Vintage is always dying, that the answer is new players, and that we can take existing players for granted.
It's time for us all to grow up. And that doesn't mean quitting Vintage.
