I think it's time to address an actual issue in the MTG community.

This community, more so than other hobby communities, have an alarming number of people who base their entire personality around the game. Too many players who have magic as their only hobby. Too many people /x

who rely solely on this game to be their pass time, which ties life enjoyment to the quality of the game.

It's extremely dangerous to have such a strong connection to a hobby without having other hobbies to rely on.

It leads to issues when, like today, things don't go 2/x

well, we see an uptick in toxicity. There's a line between valid criticism and some of what has been put on display by some today.

I won't excuse myself from contributing to toxicity from time to time. I like to create chaos, which is a trait of mine I need to work on. 3/x

The only reason I bring up this issue is because it reminds of when addict behavior becomes its most dangerous.

For a few months before I entered rehab, all I did was heroin. I did not go caving, I did not shiny hunt Pokemon, I did not watch Anime, I did not color, 4/

I did not play magic, I did not listen to music, I did not garden, I did not bake, I did not rank children's cartoons with my friends. In fact, I did not have friends who didn't do heroin.

I worked to make money to buy heroin. My friends did heroin. My partner did heroin. 5/

If you were not doing or actively supplying me with heroin, you were not a part of my life.

My heroin addiction ended with massive head trauma that has messed up my memory, but I feel like right before I was doing heroin, it was magic. Even if that wasn't the case for me, it 6/

is the case for an alarming number of people.

Is the only hobby you partake in playing magic?

Do you spend all your extra money on magic?

Is your entire net of relationships tied to the game of magic?

Too many people answer yes to these questions, and that's an issue.

7/

I can recognize the problem, but I'm not sure the cause. Is MTG addictive to those without addiction prone genes? Is the price tag so higher it creates a sole focus? Is it the only thing that carried from high school to adulthood for young adults?

I don't know, but I feel it 8/9

needed to be said.

Finding the causation and how to solve this issue is a little beyond me.

I don't really know what else to say.

End thread

Thank you to everyone who has said extremely kind things about my recovery. I would love to reach o it individually to each of you, but I'm kind of overwhelmed with notifications at the moment