I was watching television and I saw my first Magic: The Gathering commercial. It's funny that a card game makes enough money to warrant a television commercial. Yes, Magic is quite popular, but it's still just another non-computer game. I think I've seen commercials for Risk, Life, and Sorry! But those are family games with a bigger audience.

Wizards of the Coast, who make Magic and other Collectible Card Games, just got bought out by Hasbro. But before then they were one of the biggest board game companies around. I don't count computer game companies since the computer industry works on a totally different scale.

But before WotC became this big company they were a small company selling role-playing supplements. I forget what their first books were called, but they were a series of books for creating a so- called "realistic" pantheon for a campaign. Deities, religions, and so forth. Maybe it's just me but I didn't like them. They did have nice book titles though, based on a chess theme.

So they published a few books which sold ok for roleplaying game books. Then they needed funding to continue publishing (and maybe to release Magic, I wasn't paying attention) so they publicly asked for people to invest in their company. I think it was $5000 per investor.

This is the kind of subject that comes up during our weekly gaming sessions. Eric and Shannon keep up to date with industry news, so the rest of us get to listen in on some interesting conversations. And one of them was about one of the smaller RPG companies seeking funding.

Now that WotC is a multi-million dollar company, I wonder some- times if I should have invested. But the only answer I come up is no. At the time WotC made a product that I didn't believe in. And they don't make a product I believe in now.

I support a company because I believe in their products. I believe that a company's products (at least for small companies) are all of about the same quality. A company that puts out one good product will put out more.

One company that I wished I could have invested in was Arsenal Publishing. They published this game, TacOps, for the Mac OS. It's one of the really cool military simulations made. No fancy graphics, no animation, simple sounds. But it simulates modern battalion-level warfare remarkable well, with a computer intelligence that is quite sophisticated in its limited sphere.

But back then I didn't have the money, and I still don't. $5000 is quite a bit. Anyway, Arsenal eventually folded and TacOps is was bought by Avalon Hill and has recently returned to its author. Still, if I had the money I probably would have invested it in Arsenal, even if I knew there was a good chance of them going under.

It's not about money, it's about supporting a company which has put out a product I really like. I guess it's another form of loyalty for me. Once I decide that this is a company I like I want to support it through thick and thin. I'm funny that way.