phyrexiathings asked: Constructive criticism: I, as well as others I know do not like the recent social justice turn the art has taken. This includes but is not limited to: weird hair colors in battlebond, blatantly non conformist depictions of men and women alike (but mostly women ie. Estrid the masked and warlord rada), and no sexy men or women. If you, (or more properly the art direction team) would change his we would be very pleased.

One of the things I like to do with my blog is use it to help educate. I believe a lot of the narrowness of the world comes from people simply not being exposed to a wider range of ideas.

Let me start with one of the most important life lessons I’ve learned being a game designer for over twenty years. The world is not designed solely for one person’s (or one group’s) perspective. For example, I don’t design Magic so that every card is aimed at the same player. There are tons of different Magic players and they each want something different out of the game. If I designed every card for the competitive Standard player, for instance, a lot of players wouldn’t be getting the cards they want.

The art and the creative elements of the game are the same way. What is exciting to one player might be of no interest to another player. The colored hair, which you seem not to like, might be the very thing that makes another player connect to that character.

The goal of art diversity much like the goal of mechanical diversity is to allow as many different players as possible to find things that they connect with. This means that not every card creatively is for every player just as not every card mechanically is for every player.

But there’s something even more important at stake. By providing a wide range of offerings, we let people sample things they might not be aware of if they only self-select for the portion of the world they’re familiar with. A Standard player, for example, can be introduced to the world of Commander, something they would never learn about if we only made competitive Standard cards.



Another thing that can happen as you open yourself up to diversity is an expanding of what “beauty” can mean. Everyone needs some beauty in their life and holding tight to such a narrow definition can actually restrict your ability to be happy and enjoy the world around you.



Finally, it’s important to understand the impact of what you’re asking for as it relates to the needs of others. Asking for everything to cater solely to you (or your group) at the expense of other people’s needs can cause actual harm. Part of growing as a person is understanding that your needs don’t exist in a vacuum and that you have to take other people’s needs into account.