On Ethics

Some of the people on MTGSalvation.com forums have expressed ethical concerns with the Pack to Cube Quest. I’ve discussed it a bit on those forums, but I’d like to make a few things clear. First up, here’s some of the more well-written critical posts:

Looking at the usual pack to power trades, this seems to be an excercise in begging other people to give you free stuff. Or just merciless sharking and ripping others off. To upgrade your 25cent rare into anything playble you’d have to pick to be either a) an annoying beggar, b) one of the scum of the earth that rips off newbs or c) both.I don’t approve.

me neither.

when i read about the original project by medina i thought it was pretty disgusting. the success of the mission is directly related to other people getting a raw deal. even if it’s made incrementally, ultimately every single person you dealt with was ripped off intentionally. that was the entire purpose of the exercise.

I realize these people have valid points. Inherent to the idea of any “Pack to Power” or in this case “Pack to Cube” challenge is the idea of trading cards that are worth less by some measure – usually money – for cards that are worth more. That means that the people being traded with are taking a hit in value. I don’t want to rip any of my friends off (for that’s who I’ll be trading with), but I do plan to make trades that are advantageous to me. I don’t however, intend to trade people out of their good cards by convincing them that they are not good. I will simply  attempt to acquire cards that one person wants and get cards from that person that another one wants, but the first one doesn’t. Once I have a decent supply of cards to work with, I will begin trading for cards I need for the cube.

The other thing is that I am making the cube to enjoy with my friends, who are the ones I trade with. In a way, this project will be similar to a cube built from donations, but with more trading and more fun!

Hopefully, my first trade is coming up soon. A friend has expressed interest in the Hellkite Igniter, and as soon as he brings some cards to trade I should be able to start the quest in earnest!