Talk:Richard Garfield

Untitled
I had the amazing experience of meeting Richard Garfield when he was a student. Not only was he there, but some other incredibly brilliant mathematicians including his thesis adviser, Herbert S. Wilf, who, along with Doron Zeilberger, developed an amazing theory in combinatorics. We all were hanging out together, talking about Gauss' identities and how to reprove them, about games and gaming strategy. Writing on napkins, Richard Garfield was developing his ideas for games. It is exciting to think that "I knew him back then". There should be articles about Herb Wilf and Doron Zeilberger too; they are brilliant, funny, and accomplished, as is Garfield.

MathStatWoman 18:54, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

There is a surprising lack of information on Richard Garfield on the Internet. Some sources appear incredibly inaccurate (such as this "Making Magic" article, in which the one paragraph that mentions Garfield has at least three mistakes: "Peter Atkinson", saying that Garfield was a Whitman professor in 1991, and calls early Magic "Mana Flash").

A few statements I added to the article need confirmation. I computed his 1966 birth year from the 27 Dec 1998 article that said he was 32. Also, 1985 for his bachelor of science in "computer mathematics" is from a rough Babelfish translation of that German PDF.

There are some other interesting things that could be mentioned if someone can provide more information. Since 1999-2000, the U. of Penn. has been awarding a "Richard Garfield Scholarship". Is he a millionaire/similarly compensated for designing Magic? Has he given back to Penn?--Mrwojo 02:18, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)

NPOV Dispute: Creation of MTG
The artical is too positive of him in the light of his help in the creation of M:TG when it has already been shown that he did not do it alone, much less do most of the work as many people worked on M:TG. This violates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research as well as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons and as such the artical needs to be cleaned up to reflect these facts. Other articals are also being used as support of these NPOV violations, and these knots of NPOV issues need to be unraveled. Belgarath TS (talk) 00:22, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

In a short article for the Duelist Magazine (reprinted here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/41a), Pete Adkison is very clear that Magic was Richard's invention. From the article: "While I'm thankful for the role I played, I've never lost sight of the fact that Magic is Richard's invention. I may have inspired him in the right direction, but Richard is the one who had the "eureka" idea and designed the game to follow." Pete Adkison is a co-founder of Wizards of the Coast and was the first CEO of the company. I think this is clear support for the claim that Richard was the primary creator of Magic. Most other people who claim levels of involvement were testers for the game. I would support that Pete's article from the Duelist Magazine is primary support for Richard being the inventor of Magic: the Gathering. While it is true that today Magic is created by dozens if not hundreds of people, the original game was the brainchild of one man. Alamoth (talk) 13:58, 1 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I have deleted the NPOV and factual accuracy tags due to the extended amount of time that this discussion has been dormant, and the fact that the concerns brought up here have been addressed both here on the talk page and in the text of the page, with multiple sources cited for support. If I am mistaken and there is further dispute, feel free to re-add these tags and explain. 24.18.201.214 (talk) 22:06, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

M:TG
The article references but does not mention the others who helped him playtest and create M:TG in Walla Walla. It instead cites him as the sole creator, when this is not the case. I am adding a 'disputed' tag to this article as it currently cites him as the sole creator of M:TG despite the publicly acknowledged fact that others in Walla Walla helped him create it. Belgarath TS (talk) 22:52, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

I have provided the reference you need above. There is no dispute that Richard is the sole creator of Magic and his public claims that other people helped him are a sign of his humbleness and humility. Alamoth (talk) 13:59, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Billionaire
What is the source for his wealth? --SparqMan 17:09, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I've removed the statement that claimed he's a billionaire. --Mrwojo 21:00, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

He did design the world's first and most successful CCG ever made (Magic: The Gathering) and presumably held a lot of stock in Wizards of the Coast, which was bought by Hasbro, Inc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.137.99.10 (talk • contribs)
 * That is actualy disputed. Please see my notes above Belgarath TS (talk) 00:10, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
 * No doubt, Mr. Garfield is wealthy, but we need proof of those supposed billions. --SparqMan 19:14, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
 * For a bit of perspective, Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast for $325 million (with an m). --Mrwojo 02:07, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
 * From which Garfield made $100 million 1, unlikely he's increased that by a factor of ten. Jgbaxter (talk) 20:12, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Creator
Didn't he create the game? Then how did he join Wizards AFTER the game was made?--70.16.21.224 11:52, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

He started designing the game on his own. He needed someone to publish it, so he went to Wizards.Nanosauromo 05:10, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Home page
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/rb10 Mathiastck 21:14, 29 December 2006 (UTC)


 * This is not his homepage, by the way. It's about the development of an early Magic expansion called Legends. --Mrwojo 02:04, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Biography - Lacking
This confuses me, how come this article doesn't even mention things such as his nationality, age, parents and where he was born? o_O --Muna 01:32, 1 March 2007 (UTC)


 * The article gives enough information for readers to deduce his nationality and age. I think the biography needs better coverage of his involvement in game design, especially post-Magic. --Mrwojo 23:10, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Henry Rollins cousin
User:71.183.164.229 added:
 * Richard Garfield is cousin of seminal punk vocalist Henry Garfield, also known as Henry Rollins.

Any sources for this? I've removed it in the meantime because a google search revealed nothing about this. --Mrwojo 01:02, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Henry revealed this on the 4/27/07 episode of his show that featured the Mars Volta.:

Suggest Removing a Category
I'd like to put forth the suggestion of removing the category "Collectible Card Games." Although he is important to the genre, he is not a collectible card game which is what the section is predominantly reserved for (with the exceptions being key rules of card games such as "Tap" and "Booster Pack" which are terms commonly used in CCGs). I'd like to reference WP:Category for the moment to explain the reasoning.

''1. Categories are mainly used to browse through similar articles. Make decisions about the structure of categories and subcategories that make it easy for users to browse through similar articles.''

He is not a card game, the similar articles are all (with the exception to one, which is have a standing discussion suggestion there as well) card games or card game related terms. There are no other card game creators there making Richard Garfield the only one.

''5. Articles should be placed in categories with the same name. However, the article and the category do not have to be categorized the same way. The article can also be placed in categories populated with similar articles. The category can be put into categories populated with similar subcategories. For an example of this see George W. Bush and Category:George W. Bush. ''

There are no similar articles to Richard Garfield in the current category. They are all card games.

''7. Bend the rules above when it makes sense, but only if no other solution can be found. ''

"When it makes sense" is very loose terminology. In this case it currently makes sense since there is no alternative; however, being the lone wolf of the category I'd like to pose a possible solution. "Category: Card Game Creators" would be a good option. There are over 50 CCGs listed, I have no problem personally going into all the creators' pages and adding this to all the creators Wikis. Cadwal 06:40, 17 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Maybe a new category Card game designers should be made under the category Card games. Or maybe he should be categorized under Category:Board game designers, as there are other card game designers in there. --Jhattara (Talk · Contrib) 09:24, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Personal Life
No mention of his marriage to Lily Wu or how he created a Magic: The Gathering card "Proposal" and several others for major events like the birth of his children. 69.137.101.62 (talk) 07:13, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

I am Richard Garfield. Please don't mention my personal life. Especially don't mention my children.Angryangrymouse (talk) 18:14, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Fame
Richard is known by Magic fans throughout the world. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.234.3.77 (talk) 14:13, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Renaming the page
This Richard Garfield appears to be a different person that Richard Garfield, nursing professor at Columbia University. So this page needs to be renamed, with Richard Garfield becoming a disambiguation page.

I suggest that this page be renamed "Richard Garfield (game designer)". I will thus rename (move) it unless I hear a better idea here. DougHill (talk) 20:30, 8 June 2009 (UTC) Done. DougHill (talk) 18:24, 10 June 2009 (UTC)


 * A couple of points: the existence of another person with the same name does not necessarily mean that the page needs to be renamed. The links directing people to this article appear to indicate that he is in fact the primary topic of the search term. Second, while there does appear to be a professor with this name at Columbia University, not all professors are notable under WP:PROF, and the information you've presented doesn't appear to indicate that he qualifies to have his own Wikipedia article. If that's the case, this article's plain title would be unambiguous and the article should return to its previous location. Dekimasu よ! 13:15, 12 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Agree with Dekimasu. The game designer is by far the most well-known person of this name. —Lowellian (reply) 00:45, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

I edited out some junk
I don't remember proper protocol, but I deleted a line in the first paragraph saying ",this man became known as GOD". That's a pretty big citation needed, I'd think. Feel free to delete this note if you like. 76.98.145.131 (talk) 10:16, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

Engagement to Ko-Eun Kim?
Is there a source for this statement? I can't seem to find anything other than a fairly sketchy Korean website that backs this claim, nor can I find any for Garfield's divorce. I've edited it for now; feel free to revert it if evidence does happen to arise. Xiaoqiuyueming (talk) 19:50, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Please see WP:ALIVE. Since Garfield is alive, we have to treat this topic differently from normal. "Biographies of living persons ("BLP"s) must be written conservatively and with regard for the subject's privacy." Also, "The burden of evidence for any edit on Wikipedia rests with the person who adds or restores material." In light of Garfield's personal request, I've eliminated the family section. Leadwind  (talk) 00:59, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

Request for Privacy
I am Richard Garfield. I deleted the personal history section, I respectfully request no history (of relationships) be listed for me. If it must be included then include it correctly, I am divorced, and engaged to Ko-Eun Kim. Also, I INSIST you don't include the names of my children or any information about them. They are minors.Angryangrymouse (talk) 17:41, 14 May 2013 (UTC)


 * John Broughton from the BLP Noticeboard stepped in to clarify things for us. He pointed to this section of WP:ALIVE: "The names of any immediate, ex, or significant family members or any significant relationship of the subject of a BLP may be part of an article, if reliably sourced, subject to editorial discretion that such information is relevant to a reader's complete understanding of the subject." He said that it's a gray area but that we should use our editorial discretion to keep the family material out. Leadwind  (talk) 13:37, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

Minor correction on Whitman College professorship
Article indicates he was hired "as a professor" immediately upon completion of his Ph.D., though it is impossible to be hired at full professorial rank so early in a career; tenure track professors begin at Assistant Professor rank. Overall it was unclear whether he was hired into a tenure track position (Assistant Professor), or if it was a temporary post-doctoral position. Upon inspection, it appears he was hired as a Visiting Professor, which is a non-tenure track, fixed term position. It isn't necessary to go into such detail here, as it is discussed in the Professorships wikipedia article, so I have simply amended the article to read that he was hired as a Visiting Professor.

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