'Originality in Duel Masters'
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AlphadiosThe2nd
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'Originality in Duel Masters'
Kaijudo_Kid Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:40 am
'Originality' in Duel Masters
Written by Tom Rogers
Duel Masters is a Trading Card Game in which players are allowed to select any cards they like and place them in their most prized collection. This collection is placed into a smaller, neat pile and is sometime covered with plastics. We call this exclusive collection today a "deck." Such is the way deck-building began; decks are meant to be a personification of our inner self. Because this is a strategy game, it is easily understood we will rely on tactics we are the most familiar with in our everyday lives and apply them here. Weather it is waiting until you can fully understand what is going on to make a calculated decision, or blazing forth without fear of the unknown, your strategy is "you." Such is the way we are understood.
An avatar can be defined as a manifestation or aspect of a continuing entity. The concept of this term in relation to the Duel Masters strategy game is most commonly seen in Bell's Fan Fiction for DuelZone.Org. She describes the creatures most commonly associated with the players using them as "avatars," and later explains that they represent "the way they duel." Following the traditional outline for anything that can be considered an avatar, this teaches us cards may be specifically associated with other players.
Let's think back for a moment to our earliest days playing the Duel Masters card game. Many of us often found ourselves playing with a select few players, weather close friends in school at lunch, the other monks in the Shao-Lin Temple of China, or the sleek tables of a local comic shop hosting tournaments. We remember the first few people we played the game with, and more specifically..."their" card. There was always a card you associated with them. It may have been a card they loved using, one they collected, or something they just used regularly. Whatever it was, you used it to define the entire way they played when you imagined a game with them in your mind. You would sit across from them in the mindspace, shields deployed, dueling for the sheer enjoyment of the experience. You would play a card you loved, the card they would associate you with, and they would respond by playing their own card. These cards are avatars because they represent our entirety while playing the game. They encompass all of our strategies, possible courses of actions, special talents, and assign us a large array of other traits. Such is the way we think.
Despite the possibility that your entire deck may have been honed around this one card, there were cards that performed various other tasks. Many cards were used to cover your "blind-spots," strategies you may be weak against. Some were "filler," cards we selected to make the cut for our personal decks because we either owned no other cards to support or theme or there wasn't a large selection of cards in that civilization you'd like to use at the time. A phrase players at this stage respond with if you ask why they use a certain card is "I like it. It does this, and if it doesn't, I can always play it as mana." While seasoned players may actually find such a statement silly, it is actually an example of conditional logic, a tactic we employed when we first started the game. Unfortunately, many players left behind their conditional logic in favor of the method of practical logic. This method focuses on labeling everything around you, so that you can identify it easily, understand it, and in Duel Masters, counter it. Such is the way "deck types" emerged.
Did you ever notice players with conditional logic will consistently defeat players employing practical logic? The reason this is so is because the conditional mindset is the way strategy games are meant to be played: have a basic idea, and be able to shift through time according to "flow." The players using practical logic immediately attempt to decipher your strategy while following a set of uniform moves they rarely vary from. They come to a conclusion of what your strategy is, and make the moves they deem the most effective to defeat your strategy. Unfortunately for those players, they are thrown heavily off-guard when a slightly different play is made. This causes a huge whole in their strategy, but why?
It's because they are now trying to interpret your avatar. The player is trying to understand the way you play, without actually paying attention to your cards. They are completely convinced they are the better player before the game even plays, and any loss they may encounter is because they did something wrong. Never once do they let the thought that another player may just be better than them at the time cross their minds. This is an example of the "god player" mentality a lot of strategists are using in an effort to simplify the game.
This is not a tactic of intelligence. This is a tactic of sloth, of an inability to fully analyze the opponent's psychological actions and their actual play as one in order to play the best they can. These players have reduced themselves by lazily labeling everything so they can defeat their own definition of it, or a commonly accepted one...which leaves them open to anything out of what they consider "ordinary." Such is the way exchanging "deck lists" has crippled intellectual advancement.
Do you remember your younger years? I personally have a vague memory of them, but I am able to remember particular incidents where other children my age would do something I do, or "copy" something from me. I would enjoy it at first, but if it persisted, I would become irritated. I've asked several people, and the overwhelming verdict is that is the way every child acts. Have you ever noticed that as you get older, the things you are worried about people "copying" from you become more trivial? It's almost not even worth fighting over -- almost. Such is the way the struggle for "originality" is born.
Original can be defined as the first product following ones are copied from. We associate this term with the term "unique," or "one of a kind." As amusing it is to entertain the thought of originality in Duel Masters, the reality of the matter is that there are only so many cards. Although there are a seemingly infinite number of card combinations we can create, there are combinations others will have thought of. This should by no means discourage anyone. There will always be subtle variations in one part of game-play no matter how alike, as it is strategy derived from our own individual thought processes. However, the more we are pulled towards practical logic, the more we drift away from our avatars. We, as humans, are possessed with a strong competitive nature, no matter how much we try to hide it. Everybody wants to win, no matter how modest they seem. It is always fun to win, but it can be fun losing too. "J. Matt", a well-respected player of the Duel Masters community, once wrote "we learn much more from a loss than we ever do from winning." This statement is arguably one of the most important things ever recorded in the progression of the game. We must lose in order to become stronger. We must be flawed to cover those very flaws.
However, the competitive nature, sometimes not even realized by the players themselves, takes control of them at some points. Numerous players have resorted to using other player's decks card-for-card, or similar strategies, because they don't want to try their own and fail. They are 'afraid,' afraid of losing...of losing respect. What is respect? One cannot truly understand this concept, because it is a matter of perception. There is a similar thought we entertain called appreciation. We greatly appreciate our family members, friends, and teachers, for they contribute a wealth of intellectual knowledge to us whenever we seek it.
The practical logic being employed in the current era of dueling has to stop. It contrives the deceiving falsehood that playing skill can only go so far, and we can only learn so many things. It contradicts conditional logic, which suggests there is always ways to improve. Once you employ this method of logic, you have halted your progression as a duelist. This stops you from creating interesting new card combinations to show to your friends, create an unpredictable state of game-play, and often, in common scenarios...deplete the enjoyment of the game.
Players who use practical logic have recently been complaining about the lack of "originality" in the Duel Masters trading card game "metagame" (a strange word used to describe what everybody else is using, as if we can capture it all under one category). Though, most of these players are using similar decks, they don't realize they are different as well. I'd like to use the words of C. S. Lewis here, because these words have guided me with my own personal progression and may greatly contribute to your own.
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.
Written by Tom Rogers
Duel Masters is a Trading Card Game in which players are allowed to select any cards they like and place them in their most prized collection. This collection is placed into a smaller, neat pile and is sometime covered with plastics. We call this exclusive collection today a "deck." Such is the way deck-building began; decks are meant to be a personification of our inner self. Because this is a strategy game, it is easily understood we will rely on tactics we are the most familiar with in our everyday lives and apply them here. Weather it is waiting until you can fully understand what is going on to make a calculated decision, or blazing forth without fear of the unknown, your strategy is "you." Such is the way we are understood.
An avatar can be defined as a manifestation or aspect of a continuing entity. The concept of this term in relation to the Duel Masters strategy game is most commonly seen in Bell's Fan Fiction for DuelZone.Org. She describes the creatures most commonly associated with the players using them as "avatars," and later explains that they represent "the way they duel." Following the traditional outline for anything that can be considered an avatar, this teaches us cards may be specifically associated with other players.
Let's think back for a moment to our earliest days playing the Duel Masters card game. Many of us often found ourselves playing with a select few players, weather close friends in school at lunch, the other monks in the Shao-Lin Temple of China, or the sleek tables of a local comic shop hosting tournaments. We remember the first few people we played the game with, and more specifically..."their" card. There was always a card you associated with them. It may have been a card they loved using, one they collected, or something they just used regularly. Whatever it was, you used it to define the entire way they played when you imagined a game with them in your mind. You would sit across from them in the mindspace, shields deployed, dueling for the sheer enjoyment of the experience. You would play a card you loved, the card they would associate you with, and they would respond by playing their own card. These cards are avatars because they represent our entirety while playing the game. They encompass all of our strategies, possible courses of actions, special talents, and assign us a large array of other traits. Such is the way we think.
Despite the possibility that your entire deck may have been honed around this one card, there were cards that performed various other tasks. Many cards were used to cover your "blind-spots," strategies you may be weak against. Some were "filler," cards we selected to make the cut for our personal decks because we either owned no other cards to support or theme or there wasn't a large selection of cards in that civilization you'd like to use at the time. A phrase players at this stage respond with if you ask why they use a certain card is "I like it. It does this, and if it doesn't, I can always play it as mana." While seasoned players may actually find such a statement silly, it is actually an example of conditional logic, a tactic we employed when we first started the game. Unfortunately, many players left behind their conditional logic in favor of the method of practical logic. This method focuses on labeling everything around you, so that you can identify it easily, understand it, and in Duel Masters, counter it. Such is the way "deck types" emerged.
Did you ever notice players with conditional logic will consistently defeat players employing practical logic? The reason this is so is because the conditional mindset is the way strategy games are meant to be played: have a basic idea, and be able to shift through time according to "flow." The players using practical logic immediately attempt to decipher your strategy while following a set of uniform moves they rarely vary from. They come to a conclusion of what your strategy is, and make the moves they deem the most effective to defeat your strategy. Unfortunately for those players, they are thrown heavily off-guard when a slightly different play is made. This causes a huge whole in their strategy, but why?
It's because they are now trying to interpret your avatar. The player is trying to understand the way you play, without actually paying attention to your cards. They are completely convinced they are the better player before the game even plays, and any loss they may encounter is because they did something wrong. Never once do they let the thought that another player may just be better than them at the time cross their minds. This is an example of the "god player" mentality a lot of strategists are using in an effort to simplify the game.
This is not a tactic of intelligence. This is a tactic of sloth, of an inability to fully analyze the opponent's psychological actions and their actual play as one in order to play the best they can. These players have reduced themselves by lazily labeling everything so they can defeat their own definition of it, or a commonly accepted one...which leaves them open to anything out of what they consider "ordinary." Such is the way exchanging "deck lists" has crippled intellectual advancement.
Do you remember your younger years? I personally have a vague memory of them, but I am able to remember particular incidents where other children my age would do something I do, or "copy" something from me. I would enjoy it at first, but if it persisted, I would become irritated. I've asked several people, and the overwhelming verdict is that is the way every child acts. Have you ever noticed that as you get older, the things you are worried about people "copying" from you become more trivial? It's almost not even worth fighting over -- almost. Such is the way the struggle for "originality" is born.
Original can be defined as the first product following ones are copied from. We associate this term with the term "unique," or "one of a kind." As amusing it is to entertain the thought of originality in Duel Masters, the reality of the matter is that there are only so many cards. Although there are a seemingly infinite number of card combinations we can create, there are combinations others will have thought of. This should by no means discourage anyone. There will always be subtle variations in one part of game-play no matter how alike, as it is strategy derived from our own individual thought processes. However, the more we are pulled towards practical logic, the more we drift away from our avatars. We, as humans, are possessed with a strong competitive nature, no matter how much we try to hide it. Everybody wants to win, no matter how modest they seem. It is always fun to win, but it can be fun losing too. "J. Matt", a well-respected player of the Duel Masters community, once wrote "we learn much more from a loss than we ever do from winning." This statement is arguably one of the most important things ever recorded in the progression of the game. We must lose in order to become stronger. We must be flawed to cover those very flaws.
However, the competitive nature, sometimes not even realized by the players themselves, takes control of them at some points. Numerous players have resorted to using other player's decks card-for-card, or similar strategies, because they don't want to try their own and fail. They are 'afraid,' afraid of losing...of losing respect. What is respect? One cannot truly understand this concept, because it is a matter of perception. There is a similar thought we entertain called appreciation. We greatly appreciate our family members, friends, and teachers, for they contribute a wealth of intellectual knowledge to us whenever we seek it.
The practical logic being employed in the current era of dueling has to stop. It contrives the deceiving falsehood that playing skill can only go so far, and we can only learn so many things. It contradicts conditional logic, which suggests there is always ways to improve. Once you employ this method of logic, you have halted your progression as a duelist. This stops you from creating interesting new card combinations to show to your friends, create an unpredictable state of game-play, and often, in common scenarios...deplete the enjoyment of the game.
Players who use practical logic have recently been complaining about the lack of "originality" in the Duel Masters trading card game "metagame" (a strange word used to describe what everybody else is using, as if we can capture it all under one category). Though, most of these players are using similar decks, they don't realize they are different as well. I'd like to use the words of C. S. Lewis here, because these words have guided me with my own personal progression and may greatly contribute to your own.
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.
Kaijudo_Kid- Just Entered Our World
- Number of posts : 9
Age : 33
Registration date : 2008-06-13 -
Re: 'Originality in Duel Masters'
AlphadiosThe2nd Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:56 am
We remember the first few people we played the game with, and more specifically..."their" card. There was always a card you associated with them.
Yes, it's true. For me, it's King Tsunami, Ultimate Galaxy Universe, Crystal Spinslicer and Super Divine Star Mercury Gigablizzard.
AlphadiosThe2nd- xP
- Number of posts : 571
Location : I live in Singapore but come from Malaysia ^^
Registration date : 2008-06-10 -
Re: 'Originality in Duel Masters'
Ahmed_Tariq Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:11 pm
Yes, you are definitely right, Kaijudo_Kid. I have experienced this.
Ahmed_Tariq- Teh Ownage
- Number of posts : 271
Age : 29
Location : Lahore, Pakistan.
Registration date : 2008-06-10 -
Re: 'Originality in Duel Masters'
dark_boy Sat Jun 14, 2008 1:59 pm
agreed.AlphadiosThe2nd wrote:We remember the first few people we played the game with, and more specifically..."their" card. There was always a card you associated with them.
Yes, it's true. For me, it's King Tsunami, Ultimate Galaxy Universe, Crystal Spinslicer and Super Divine Star Mercury Gigablizzard.
dark_boy- Card of the Week Editor
- Number of posts : 142
Age : 33
Location : Bangladesh
Registration date : 2008-06-11
Re: 'Originality in Duel Masters'
AlphadiosThe2nd Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:46 pm
that card normally changes with time, though. but there's always a "unique"... 
AlphadiosThe2nd- xP
- Number of posts : 571
Location : I live in Singapore but come from Malaysia ^^
Registration date : 2008-06-10 -
Re: 'Originality in Duel Masters'
nickngyuheng Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:43 pm
Ahmed_Tariq wrote:Yes, you are definitely right, Kaijudo_Kid. I have experienced this.
Agreed.
nickngyuheng- Global Moderator
- Number of posts : 233
Age : 28
Location : Singapore, Singapore
Registration date : 2008-06-10
Re: 'Originality in Duel Masters'
AlphadiosThe2nd Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:27 pm
nickngyuheng wrote:Ahmed_Tariq wrote:Yes, you are definitely right, Kaijudo_Kid. I have experienced this.
Agreed.
You have? O.O
AlphadiosThe2nd- xP
- Number of posts : 571
Location : I live in Singapore but come from Malaysia ^^
Registration date : 2008-06-10 -
Re: 'Originality in Duel Masters'
Ahmed_Tariq Wed Jul 02, 2008 1:35 am
AlphadiosThe2nd wrote:nickngyuheng wrote:Ahmed_Tariq wrote:Yes, you are definitely right, Kaijudo_Kid. I have experienced this.
Agreed.
You have? O.O
Yes, I have.
Ahmed_Tariq- Teh Ownage
- Number of posts : 271
Age : 29
Location : Lahore, Pakistan.
Registration date : 2008-06-10 -
Re: 'Originality in Duel Masters'
AlphadiosThe2nd Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:48 pm
Ahmed_Tariq wrote:AlphadiosThe2nd wrote:nickngyuheng wrote:Ahmed_Tariq wrote:Yes, you are definitely right, Kaijudo_Kid. I have experienced this.
Agreed.
You have? O.O
Yes, I have.
what is it for you? :S
AlphadiosThe2nd- xP
- Number of posts : 571
Location : I live in Singapore but come from Malaysia ^^
Registration date : 2008-06-10 -
Re: 'Originality in Duel Masters'
metal_boy Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:23 pm
me too.dark_boy wrote:agreed.AlphadiosThe2nd wrote:We remember the first few people we played the game with, and more specifically..."their" card. There was always a card you associated with them.
Yes, it's true. For me, it's King Tsunami, Ultimate Galaxy Universe, Crystal Spinslicer and Super Divine Star Mercury Gigablizzard.
nice article.
metal_boy- Getting Started
- Number of posts : 40
Registration date : 2008-07-10
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