It just feels like that shit has ramped up. Like it's gotten particularly scummy and bad lately?
Capitalist countries have always covered everything in advertising, sure, but lately it seems even spaces that used to be safe from it are being poisoned by the most scummy adverts.
For example, I can't believe people are paying sometimes more than $1000 for a phone and then, boom, there is advertising in the settings menu.
I've also noticed that a lot of products and services are just openly scammy now too. Like really fucking bold in being greedy in a way that was at least slightly covert in the past. It's hard to explain what I mean, but just as example look at this:
"Pay us $200 for the opportunity to pay us another $150 and for a security app that probably is the same as the one the phone comes with, also customer support that we should be doing for free?"
The proliferation of AI. Windows adding advertising directly into their OS. You lift any modern device out of sleep mode and that shit has a push notification telling you to buy. Subscription streaming services that have the gall to charge you an overpriced subscription and then insert advertising and lock some shows behind a second paywall? This is just becoming like a parody you'd see on Futurama. It's just suffocating.
Oh yeah, one more thing. I've noticed there has been an increasing trend to shame people for not using a certain product. That's always been a thing, but it's getting worse. Like people saying that using a card to pay for things instead of a phone is for boomers. Like it's literally the same thing except if I use my card Google might get a little less predatory advertising data from me. People are increasingly not giving a shit that corporations are making a profile of what you buy, when and where you buy it. All data that can be used to flood you with advertising or even bought by scammers. You're treated as weird for caring about this kind of thing, even as the US is making collecting "lists" of trans people and "illegals".
I'm particularly worried that young people might be becoming more consumerist but I have to remind myself that when I was younger I was trapped in the same mindset. It just feels like there is less of a counterculture to consumerist BS these days.
A lot of my hobbies have me staying at home and avoiding them because they've gotten so enshittified. Even before covid, I was losing interest. For example, I've played Magic: the Gathering since 5th. Edition. I've never completely quit the game, just played less frequently.
But that's changed. I'm seriously considering selling off all my cards for the first time in my life and leaving it altogether. I used to play multiple tournaments a week. Now I play only one prerelease every few months and only because my friend uses it to get out of the house and socialize. It's only a matter of time before they replace everything with AI artwork.
And it's like this with everything. Hobbies/games aren't even necessary. The stuff that really affects people (like food, healthcare, housing, etc.) is infinitely worse. Some of my interests would be tolerable if it wasn't for my disability and the lack of proper care for it. Anymore surgery or treatments are completely off the table since my insurance won't cover it.
yeah i should sell my cards, hasbro isn't going to turn around it's just going to get worse as the shareholders demand more and they break the dumbass reserve list.
does anyone even give a shit about "current" rotating formats? i heard they figured out EDH is the wildly most popular thing and they've been ruining that for ten years too
The reserve list needed to go a long time ago. I used to play Vintage in paper circa 2003 (though I owned no power) because people were still able to afford it. Even up to 2013, a white bordered Black Lotus could be found for $800ish. Now? It's over $10k for a damaged one. Even if people could afford it, nobody wants to be carrying around the price of a house in a small box that can be easily stolen.
Currently, the non-reserve list formats (Standard, Modern, and Pioneer) are all a hot mess. There's a turn 3 kill in Standard right now, the first one since Kamigawa block, that is wildly consistent and WotC refuses to do a ban because it would mean admitting their mistake. There have been more bans since 2019 in Standard than the previous 25ish years combined, including the initial ban list when Type 1 was separated from Type 2, Urza's block, and Mirrodin block. Playtesting has been poor due to the increased number of releases (over 6 sets per year as opposed to 4 from the previous rotation schedule), resulting in bad design.
Modern has been "soft rotated" by power creep due to Modern Horizons. Previous format staples like Cryptic Command, Path to Exile, Phyrexian Obliterator, etc. are all unplayable. Even Tarmogoyf is barely holding on. What's worse is these straight to Modern sets have resulted in a bunch of bans because they've resulted in non-games.
Legacy is actually in a decent spot because the more powerful cards in other formats aren't stronger than what already exists. For example, in order for them to power creep Brainstorm, they'd have to make something that straight-up draws 3 cards with no drawbacks. We already have that card, it's Ancestral Recall. And even WotC isn't stupid enough to print an Ancestral Recall that draws 4 cards. But again, the Reserve List means fewer people are able to play the format how they want. Burn and Death & Taxes are still cheap as shit, but even decks like Elves have gotten expensive due to shit like Gaea's Cradle going for $1k.
EDH is actually going to be taken over by WotC soon. With Sheldon passing away, the Rules Committee wants to hand it off. There was a bunch of drama a while ago over Mana Crypt (I made a post about it because the reactionaries were having a meltdown and it was hilarious), but I think people are actually kinda relieved because we'll get a banlist that makes sense. EDH is a deeply unserious format people want to play competitively for some reason. Sol Ring and Demonic Tutor are legal while meme cards like Sway the Stars are banned. WotC is taking a harder look into things and will have "brackets," sort of like point-based banned lists.
There's all kinds of other shit, but those are the main ones.
oh shit sheldon died? damn. i liked his writing. i thought they had already absorbed oversight in the last year or so though. hardly matters because they fucked over the format after the first round of purpose-made cards as usual. They did their best work for it with the bigger sets designing cards for a multiplayer format that nobody actually played instead of the one people do.
i've thought going back to since i knew what competitive play was that it should be governed by a body not answerable to wotc but you can't have that with corporatized sports.
Yeah he died a while ago from cancer on September 7, 2023.
dang
i figured magic the gathering was fucked once I saw licensed franchises with MTG cards
Crossover shit is just advertising people pay to see. It's getting into everything since making new IPs is more expensive. You see it mostly in video games, but capitalism is running out of space so it's spilling over into everything else.
I don't mind some crossover stuff but the whole thing about MTG is it having its own developed lore and art and stuff and suddenly having X Men MTG cards or whatever is really imo immersion breaking. But i don't play MTG so idk that's just my opinion
Yeah a lot of us feel that way, myself included. It's especially bullshit because they're doing it to avoid commissioning artists and writers. The new Final Fantasy set had promo cards where the art was just screenshots from the games, on top of using concept art done in traditional media.