>>I say this to you as somebody with hundreds of thousands of dollars in MtG cards in his collection and I still consider myself a player first.
You are just proving my entire point by saying you consider yourself a player first. I didn't say that the cards should be valueless, I'm stating that with comic books and card games the value is created by the readers/players and in order for there to be value the product needs to service it's purpose (a story that is enjoyable to read, a game that is fun to play).
Sports cards just need to exist, the window dressing IS the product and owning a particular variant of some card is the end goal. Sports cards are booming by releasing tons of variants and gimmicks because it just gives the collectors more to speculate on. It isn't as effective in the comic book and trading card industry because all of the windowing dress is meaningless if the stories aren't interesting or the game isn't good.
You are just proving my entire point by saying you consider yourself a player first. I didn't say that the cards should be valueless, I'm stating that with comic books and card games the value is created by the readers/players and in order for there to be value the product needs to service it's purpose (a story that is enjoyable to read, a game that is fun to play).
Sports cards just need to exist, the window dressing IS the product and owning a particular variant of some card is the end goal. Sports cards are booming by releasing tons of variants and gimmicks because it just gives the collectors more to speculate on. It isn't as effective in the comic book and trading card industry because all of the windowing dress is meaningless if the stories aren't interesting or the game isn't good.