Business

The game is changing — quickly.

For as long as I can remember, this hobby has been grassroots, organic and homegrown. Honestly, it’s what I’ve always loved about it.

It’s a hobby that has been passed down through generations and a passion that has been carried on from parent to child again and again.

But lately, I’ve noticed the hobby shifting — morphing into something I’m having a lot of trouble recognizing and reconciling.

Huge corporations are not only getting in the game, they’re reshaping it.

And there is little any of us can do about it.

Our hobby is becoming more mainstream, and although we always wished for this in some way or another — we probably weren't ready for the cost of this wish coming true.

I know I wasn’t

I have a friend, Brad, whose family owned a local hardware store in my hometown for three generations.

It was where everyone went to buy everything from lightbulbs to nuts-and-bolts and everything in between. Along with the merchandise, the place was staffed by folks who really knew what they were doing, what they were talking about, too. If you weren’t sure how to fix the leaky faucet, then Steve, who worked there for more than 20 years, was a plumber by trade and would talk you right through it.

But then something happened, a Lowes opened up about two miles down the road. They offered a wider selection, cheaper pricing and all the awe of a giant national corporation.

Brad closed the doors of his family’s hardware store about two years ago and the neighborhood isn’t the same.

For years I wrote these articles at a small cafe nearby, grabbing an early morning coffee and writing nearly every day. I did this for the better part of 10 years — until the Starbucks opened down the street and the cafe closed down.

Now, don’t get me wrong, capitalism is wonderful, and there is a certain survival of the fittest aspect to it all.

However, the hobby should be a safe haven for this, against this.

Tell me, are we really better off if Dicks Sporting Goods, Ebay or GameStop close down our LCS?

Not everything has to be about the bottom line, right?

Please tell me it doesn’t.

If you’re going to sit here now and argue the benefits of this in our economy, save your breath. I have a minor in Economics and I get it, trust me.

That said, not everything has to be about that.

Sorry to say though, I’m seeing the hobby shift to that mentality — and blame whomever you like, too. Bad actor social media stars who use flashy thumbnails about how much they spent or made at a show. Blame the card companies, the grading companies… me. It doesn’t matter, really.

But when I go to shows now, I’m seeing too many kids, kids for crying out loud, tossing cards out onto showcases and talking about comps and values and last sales, not who their favorite player is, who they collect.

Do I have a solution to all of this?

Sadly, I don’t.

Our culture is conditioned now to gravitate toward big and flashy and cheap — and these giant corporations understand that so they build huge buildings and dress them up with everything shiny and sparkly and bright.

And they fill them with lots of stuff, cheaper stuff, that also shines and sparkles.

And we flock to it like Lemmings, hoping to save a buck or two and desiring to be a part of this big and shiny movement.

Our hobby is losing that moniker folks — quickly. It’s too mainstream now, it’s too business now in a way that isn’t good, if you ask me.