Mr. MMM in the New Yorker magazine, regards to MTG

[Kaplin261]

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/29/mr-money-mustache-the-frugal-guru

Adeney had a Mustachian’s take on Magic. He refused to buy Simon new cards, at four bucks for each pack of fifteen. “Those booster packs are freakishly expensive,” he said. “Basically, it’s bullshit, and you need to call out bullshit when you see it.” Instead, they bought used ones in bulk from Amazon.

The booster-pack ban had created a quandary. Simon had been invited to a friend’s house to play Magic with some other kids. This was deemed to be a good thing, since Simon was no longer in school and had a reclusive streak. But the father of the friend had established a twenty-dollar-per-kid buy-in, to cover the cost of pizza and a few new booster packs. “We’ll pay for the pizza, but I don’t want to buy the cards,” Adeney said. “Is it a social obligation to spend money on stupid stuff?” Simi wondered if Simon could bring his own used cards—perhaps wrap them as though they were new. Would the other boy have an issue with this?

I agree with MMM about the packs being $4 a pack is BS. As a player of MTG in my earlier years to me buying booster packs wasn't to much different than playing the lottery. However making his son take used cards that have been wrapped so he can partake in a booster draft is a little weird if all the other kids are using new packs.

Yes he is teaching his son anti consumerism habits, but in this scenario was this the right choice?

[Kaplin261]

If a group of peers invited me out for dinner and drinks at a restaurant, would I ask if I could bring my own food and my own beers?

[Cromacster]

If a group of peers invited me out for dinner and drinks at a restaurant, would I ask if I could bring my own food and my own beers?

I dunno, I've definitely gone out to lunch with work people and brought my own food.

Would I need to buy a new Settlers of Catan board every time I went to a friends house?

I never knew you would need to buy new packs all the time.  When I played you made the best set out of the cards you had collected.

[MrDelane]

This article is being discussed at length here:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/new-yorker-article-on-mmm/

And MMM added his own thoughts specifically explaining the Magic topic:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/new-yorker-article-on-mmm/msg987552/#msg987552

Here is the relevant portion:

But yeah, some of the stuff Nick wrote seemed to be out of pure misunderstanding. Take the Magic the Gathering Cards debacle for example. In the NY story, it sounds like I tried to prevent my boy from hanging out with his buddies over 4 bucks. Here's what really happened:

- a friend invited him over to introduce him to the game. There was a $20 buy-in for whatever reason, as announced in the email from his dad. "Awesome!", we all said. We'll pay for you (rather than having him pay out of his own sizeable 'stash), since this is kind of a special thing more like a joining a sports team than just buying yourself a video game. He went, and had a great time

- at the big game night, each kid was given 4 decks of 15 cards each. These little packs cost $5 apiece. "Hmm, sounds like a bit of a racket", I thought to myself, but obviously this was not a big deal and I was glad he had a new pastime.

- Magic the Gathering really captured his imagination, so he dove in. We researched the game together and it turns out you can buy packs of ONE THOUSAND (1000) cards for 20 bucks on Amazon. You get a curated mixture of like-new and new cards from game shops, because the nation is swimming in Magic cards after 20 years of popularity. So we bought him a thousand-pack for his birthday, and another for Christmas. He built a huge portfolio of custom decks and started playing the game with friends all over town.

- Then another email comes from that first friend's dad: "Friday Night Magic Night again! Every kid should bring another 20 bucks!"

"Wait a minute - why would kids want to spend $20 on another few dozen cards when we already shared the news about the thousand packs and several of the kids bought them?" I asked his dad, who is a friend of mine.

"Oh, that's just what Tom likes to do, because he heard about these Friday Night Magic nights that the company that manufactures cards likes to promote"

It was at THIS point that I felt the conflict of trying to be easygoing vs. speaking out against what I feel is bullshit consumerism. So I told my son that he could certainly continue to go, but I felt it was a pretty expensive hobby for 9-year-olds, and he'd have to start using up his own money if he wanted to do so.

Meanwhile, I privately suggested to his dad that he squelch the $20 part of his son's game night and just encourage the kids to play for free.

As it turned out, his dad agreed and the game nights have been free since then.

That was a long sidetrack story, but I feel it represents the difference between the deprivation of cheapness and Mustachianism, which means pursuing only win/win situations. For example a bike is better for you AND cheaper. Working harder instead of being lazy makes you happier AND earns you more money.

[MasterStache]

On a general side (but related) note. Remember the purpose of a media article is simply to draw in your attention. Facts and reality are typically cast aside and replaced with sensationalism and half truths.

But yeah, as a poster above me pointed out, MMM already explained the actual story in much more detail.

[Kaplin261]

This article is being discussed at length here:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/new-yorker-article-on-mmm/

And MMM added his own thoughts specifically explaining the Magic topic:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/new-yorker-article-on-mmm/msg987552/#msg987552

Here is the relevant portion:

But yeah, some of the stuff Nick wrote seemed to be out of pure misunderstanding. Take the Magic the Gathering Cards debacle for example. In the NY story, it sounds like I tried to prevent my boy from hanging out with his buddies over 4 bucks. Here's what really happened:

- a friend invited him over to introduce him to the game. There was a $20 buy-in for whatever reason, as announced in the email from his dad. "Awesome!", we all said. We'll pay for you (rather than having him pay out of his own sizeable 'stash), since this is kind of a special thing more like a joining a sports team than just buying yourself a video game. He went, and had a great time

- at the big game night, each kid was given 4 decks of 15 cards each. These little packs cost $5 apiece. "Hmm, sounds like a bit of a racket", I thought to myself, but obviously this was not a big deal and I was glad he had a new pastime.

- Magic the Gathering really captured his imagination, so he dove in. We researched the game together and it turns out you can buy packs of ONE THOUSAND (1000) cards for 20 bucks on Amazon. You get a curated mixture of like-new and new cards from game shops, because the nation is swimming in Magic cards after 20 years of popularity. So we bought him a thousand-pack for his birthday, and another for Christmas. He built a huge portfolio of custom decks and started playing the game with friends all over town.

- Then another email comes from that first friend's dad: "Friday Night Magic Night again! Every kid should bring another 20 bucks!"

"Wait a minute - why would kids want to spend $20 on another few dozen cards when we already shared the news about the thousand packs and several of the kids bought them?" I asked his dad, who is a friend of mine.

"Oh, that's just what Tom likes to do, because he heard about these Friday Night Magic nights that the company that manufactures cards likes to promote"

It was at THIS point that I felt the conflict of trying to be easygoing vs. speaking out against what I feel is bullshit consumerism. So I told my son that he could certainly continue to go, but I felt it was a pretty expensive hobby for 9-year-olds, and he'd have to start using up his own money if he wanted to do so.

Meanwhile, I privately suggested to his dad that he squelch the $20 part of his son's game night and just encourage the kids to play for free.

As it turned out, his dad agreed and the game nights have been free since then.

That was a long sidetrack story, but I feel it represents the difference between the deprivation of cheapness and Mustachianism, which means pursuing only win/win situations. For example a bike is better for you AND cheaper. Working harder instead of being lazy makes you happier AND earns you more money.

Thanks for posting this. This is why I deprive myself of most media.

[arebelspy]

[MOD NOTE: Locking duplicate thread.  Leave comments in ongoing thread linked by MrDelane, above.]