MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
On the topic of favorites
Favorites. They're a feature that at this time we are all well acquainted with, and are the most common way to indicate that you like a card someone made. All you have to do is click, and then the world knows you like that card. Fast, simple, easy. Favorites are a driving force for exposure, too. A couple favorites on a card, and it shoots to the front page where everyone can see your creation. It's a wonderful chance for the world to see what you've made that others like.
But I worry that what favorites are have slowly become distorted. Perhaps I misunderstand; I've always been of the school of thought that favorites are for cards you genuinely like and enjoy. And perhaps I'm in a minority here with this thinking. After all, like I said, they are a excellent way to show support for smiths that make creations you like and they get exposure as a result. This works well. But therein lies an issue, and my fear and worry that what a favorite is has changed.
Nowadays, favorites almost seem to be treated like a mandatory thing, and if I'm being honest it's something that bugs me. It seems to be turned more into a popularity contest for points of sort, rather than just an indicator of expressing how you like something. A favorite is now an internet point and little more. Perhaps it was never more than that.
I would not have a problem with this if it were not for the occasional philosophy that seems to crop up that favorites are important. I personally think they are not. We do not smith as a means to an end for an internet point. We smith because, one way or another, it brings us enjoyment. And if we let the existence of something so frivolous get in the way of that, like when someone makes multiple accounts to favorite their creation, it interferes with the joy of creation.
That's my two cents, anyways. Just felt like posting about what's been on my mind lately. Was making this post a mistake? Possibly.
But I worry that what favorites are have slowly become distorted. Perhaps I misunderstand; I've always been of the school of thought that favorites are for cards you genuinely like and enjoy. And perhaps I'm in a minority here with this thinking. After all, like I said, they are a excellent way to show support for smiths that make creations you like and they get exposure as a result. This works well. But therein lies an issue, and my fear and worry that what a favorite is has changed.
Nowadays, favorites almost seem to be treated like a mandatory thing, and if I'm being honest it's something that bugs me. It seems to be turned more into a popularity contest for points of sort, rather than just an indicator of expressing how you like something. A favorite is now an internet point and little more. Perhaps it was never more than that.
I would not have a problem with this if it were not for the occasional philosophy that seems to crop up that favorites are important. I personally think they are not. We do not smith as a means to an end for an internet point. We smith because, one way or another, it brings us enjoyment. And if we let the existence of something so frivolous get in the way of that, like when someone makes multiple accounts to favorite their creation, it interferes with the joy of creation.
That's my two cents, anyways. Just felt like posting about what's been on my mind lately. Was making this post a mistake? Possibly.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
For me, I still use favorites as a way to commend smart card design. When I used to do contests, I would also use favorites as a way to reward cardsmiths who put in the work to make great cards. Favoriting cards for me is also a good way to archive them for the future.
In summary, I believe cardsmiths should get more validation from within, rather than outside. Internet points are merely that.
Maybe cards that are made by people with at least 1 follower? And only realistic? Or maybe a section for realistic, funny, proxy, and og art?
On another note, quite often favorites are used as a form of currency, examples being as rewards from contests and as a way to avoid leaving feedback on the "Post your cards here and see what others think forum. Using them this way is actually a loss in my eyes, as it skews the numbers from people enjoying the card to people "paying up", leading to some honestly awful cards getting likes that they don't deserve.
This sort of thinking seems to stem from the original problem, which is favoriting being used as internet points, and the even more basic problem of value. Favorites are currently one of two metrics that are used to show popularity, the other one being comments. And the one that shows more value of the two is definitely favorites, as comments can be anything from a statement of gratitude to a random conversation, to constructive criticism. Comments are indubitably more useful, but they give a lower endorphin reward than favorites, seeing as the number of comments doesn't say anything about the quality of the card.
I'm pretty sure that everyone can see where this is going.
Endorphin leads to pleasure. Heck, it is the chemical for pleasure. Humans like feeling pleasurable. Ergo, we want favorites, as they give us the endorphin which gives us pleasure. As such, there is a demand, and where there is a demand, there will be people trying to supply for the right price. Seeing as it is easy enough to favorite something, it becomes a common trading good; a form of currency with a fairly low denomination. When that happens, the use of "favorite" to determine a good card disappears.
There are a couple of possible solutions.
1. A "funny" (symbol being a wink& tounge out emoji)
2. A "like" (being a thumbs up),
3. A "needs improvement" (probably a hammer hitting an anvil),
4. A "flawless" (IDK the symbol),
5. And a "flavor approval" (chef hat or @Faiths_Guide , whichever you like)
Ok, so maybe not having @Faiths_Guide be a symbol. Might be slightly annoying. But the rest of that is serious. This helps determine at a glance the main merits of the card. Favorites would be reserved to, well, all time favorites. Obviously, if you do hit the needs improvement symbol, please leave an actual improvement suggestion in the comments. Flawless means that you think that everything about the card mechanically is perfect, and it is costed right. Funny is just that, funny. Probably reserved for silver-bordered or joke cards. "Like" means that you liked the card, which probably would become the new internet points, and that is fine. Liking a card is a lot less of a strong statement than faving it, and so would be a lot more of a reasonable "point" system. Again, adding in a previous solution would dramatically increase the effectiveness of that system.
But that's just me, and only sometimes.
I have a theory. What if, they had a "second favorite"?
Like @Ranshi said, an "archive". So now, your favorite cards are liked, and the others are just stored.
There are currently THREE ways to influence a card page...
Favorites - The obvious one
What do you think? - SIX options
Ratings - Which relies on you to comment on the card and rate it.
All we need to do is use them!
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/greenblade-pirate
But still, I think that a part of being a cardsmith is seeing wether people do actually like (or even notice) your cards. Doing what you like is extremely important, but even just a comment saying "this is a good card" is a really big motivator to improve and keep it up.
I understand where you're all coming from. Personally I reserve "Faiths_Guide Faves" for winners or honorable mentions in contest I (co)hosted. That does, however, give me an idea for an alternate solution whereby you make a second account--like I have--where you give out faves to whatever cards/smiths you like without feeling like your wasting currency :P
There is an unspoken disdain towards favorites from many smiths, and that attitude discourages activity on the site. Despite what some cardsmith's think, refraining from favoriting isn't the answer, because there already is people who refrain from favorites. It doesn't do anything to help the activity of the site. Think about it. If they did away with the favorites altogether and just had the rating section, and a way to show recently published top rated cards for 'thumbs up' or 'angry' or 'funny', etc. etc. people would complain about the ratings section like they do the favorites section. But at least you will know more about how the card is being rated as overall. Just an opinion!
I didn't always feel this way though... Not 5 months ago me and my brothers would fav every single one of each others cards. Just to get onto the hotlist and be seen... @Ranshi took the time to point out to us how unfair and selfish what we were doing was(Not in those words) And I stopped being so free with favoriting their cards. As a result, both of my brothers became somewhat inactive because they "Never got on the hotlist" Life isn't all about being famous ok!?
I'll admit, I do randomly fav only halfway decent cards that new cardsmiths make, because I've been in the position were 3 favs was the best thing in the world. Heck, I remember when my most favored card had 7.
I do not think that favorites are a bad thing, but I do think that favoriting every card you see that tickles your fancies isn't a good thing. Look at the card. If it is either:
1. Very well made (Good grammar, formatting, and balance)
2. Nicely flavored (Name fits the card. And maybe some nice flavor text that helps that happen)
3. You just right out love the idea of it.
I have trouble finding cards that fit into any of those categories. But then, I don't exactly browse through the cards very much.
All in all, it is my opinion to reserve your favorites for either:
1. Amazing cards.
2. To encourage new cardsmiths to keep making cards. (Just one or two every once and a while to remind them that you're watching.)
If anyone sees anything wrong in this comment please tell me so that I can fix it. It's just my opinion.
Were as 3 months ago I would've been disappointed.
I'll have you know that in December my average number of favs per card was 5-10. That got me over confident and a more than a little careless. All it took, was for me to slow down, and let other cardsmiths get some fame and glory for once, to see that favs really don't mater that much.
Because, I liked the general idea of the card, it could've used some work on formatting, but otherwise I felt that it was well balanced for a 3/1 for 1.
Edit:
Remember that a card doesn't HAVE to be a mythic legendary to get favs. I find that it is much harder to make a good and balanced common or uncommon. Most people just want to make OP cards, but when I see a nice design for a common or uncommon I fav it to encourage the production of those rarities. Which btw is very low right now. (Those people who are making rares and mythic with common set symbols don't count.)