Wizards of the Coast

March 27, 2001 12:56 PM

Wizards of the Coast was quite a strange place to work for in the early days. A gamer paradise of freebies, fun, and sex. A game or Truth of Swill changes everything. Now WOTC is owned by Hasbro and the February closing of the Seattle Gamecenter is the final nail in the coffin of gamer paradise.
posted by john (8 comments total)

I must have been working in the wrong companies over the years -- I can't imagine anything more terrifying than a workplace in which all of my colleagues are openly swapping partners and sharing details at company retreats.
posted by rcade at 1:06 PM on March 27, 2001

i dated a girl once who had a portrait on a magic card...done by one of the wotc guys.

*phils rule of dating #3*
never date a girl who in real life looks exactly like her portrait on a "Magic, the Gathering" card.
posted by th3ph17 at 1:32 PM on March 27, 2001

I always heard that the Seattle gamecenter was not the most gamer-friendly place in the world. But I've never been there, so I can't really say.
posted by toddshot at 3:35 PM on March 27, 2001

I never played gamer-stuff at the Seattle gamecenter - I was there only for the wonderfully maintained pinball machines. But the basement area seemed pretty friendly to gamers, although they started cutting off access to the lower area during weekdays in an attempt to cut costs. Their restrooms were some of the nicest on the Ave.
posted by gluechunk at 4:12 PM on March 27, 2001

Big deal...Warhammer & Warhammer 40k are way better games anyway.
posted by Brilliantcrank at 6:28 PM on March 27, 2001

now that wotc, fasa and all the smaller ones are gone the gameindustry is going down FAST !
posted by billbob232323 at 12:31 AM on March 28, 2001

Thanks for the interesting post, john. I played and loved the game for years, but it was disappointing to watch the game's original creativity and innovation go mainstream.
posted by Loudmax at 1:34 PM on March 28, 2001

No problem. I still play with my friends. In fact last Saturday we all chipped in for a box of the lastest set (Planeshift) and played a swiss draft tourny. I managed to go undefeated, but we decided to just distribute the extra packs fairly evenly anyway. It was fun.

Recently I fired up Fallout 2 in prep. for Fallout tactics and rediscovered the Tragic: The Garnering joke. The folks at Black Isle stuffed that game full of jokes and references to pop culture. I've been thinking about trying to annotate them at some point of boredom in my life.

Oh gsxl, I do play GW games as well. Yup, a regular gaming nut I am. I collect good games. My favorites of the GW games are Necromunda, Talisman, and WH40K. In that order.

As far as regular board games good I would have to recomend as a self-afflicted expert Tikal, Settlers of Catan, and Torres.
posted by john at 1:46 PM on March 28, 2001