what is a video game

[grue]

Like I guess the real question is would you play Magic the Gathering on a computer if

a) you had a full collection of cards available,

b) there were people around willing to play with you and

c) the video game were no different in any way from the real thing (no cool animations, no automatic dice rolls or whatever, nothing a computer could do that a human can't or takes longer to do)?

a.) yes 
b.) yes if they wanted to play online too  
c.) wait what? the fact is if you put mtg on a computer, there would at the very least be some conveniences added, auto shuffle, dice rolling, taking cards out of the graveyard would even be less of a hassle if you could just click the deck and all the cards in there came up. I've never played mtg I just have the most basic idea of how it's played, and I am pretty sure the mtg online client is just a black screen with your cards on it, with those basic conveniences, and I have friends that play it together.

exactly. that's my point. I think if computers gave you an experience "as is real life" like that, nothing gained or lost, there would be no point to video games.

to me the idea that a group of people in the same room with prepared decks would prefer the computer instead is completely bonkers. mtg online is cool bc, well, that group isnt always around, and you can play whenever (therefore, meeting an impossibility)