Wikidata

User:CalvinBall/modelling Magic: The Gathering

< User:CalvinBall

Results edit

Timeline of MTG Sets using WDQS

Intro edit

Magic: The Gathering has a great knowledge base on wikipedia, exemplified by the MTG Portal.

There are a lot of things to model here, like the MTG lore, the game concepts, and novels and other fiction based on the MTG multiverse.

There's two things I want to model though:

- Magic: The Gathering card sets

- Magic: The Gathering pro players

Inspiration for which properties can be used to model MTG sets, designers, and players can be found in WikiProject Board Games and Wikiproject Video Games

Methods edit

Step 1 is listing the most important list and category wiki pages that are about these topics:

Notable Magic the Gathering Players

Magic the gathering Card sets

Modelling the high-level classes for MTG using Graftie to graph the current model of Magic: The Gathering card sets, we get this:

 

The actual item for Magic: The Gathering (Q207302) is not connected to the sets and blocks at the moment, and there's no clear hierarchy. Putting the model I have in my mind in a draw.io diagram results in this hierarchy of classes:

 
The first idea was to create a separate class for an MTG Core set and make it a subclass of an MTG expansion class, with an Magic: The Gathering block (Q22815096) also becoming a subclass of an MTG expansion. This is, I think, too complicated, and MTG core sets should simply be considered to be like any other Magic: The Gathering set (Q22815098), but with that Magic: The Gathering set (Q22815098) not being part of a certain Magic: The Gathering block (Q22815096). The only two items that still need to be made in this model are 'MTG player' and 'MTG adaptation'. Since players aren't organised in teams, the class MTG player probably doesn't need a superclass, all players can simply be an instance of the class MTG player. this simplifies that class a lot. the MTG adaptation class is a bit trickier. Clearly, a class like Magic: The Gathering video games (Q6730526) is a subclass of the MTG adaptation class, and all video games of MTG can be an instance of Magic: The Gathering video games (Q6730526). But what about things that are set in the MTG universe, but aren't real adaptations of the TCG? MTG novels shouldn't really be a subclass of MTG adaptation, because the game isn't adapted into another format, but the setting is used to create something new. Should there be a separate top-level class about MTG lore? I created a second version of the MTG classiciation model:
 


While doing research on how to model the expansions of MTG, I found out that WoTC discontinued the block model in 2018.[1] Instead, the three-and-one model is being used at the moment. This, together with the first few expansion sets that didn't follow a block model, made me realise that it's simply incorrect to try and fit all expansion sets in a block. So, the universal container that cards are in and is directly under the 'Magic the Gathering' class, should be Magic: The Gathering set (Q22815098). These sets can be subclasses of a block, but don't have to. They can also be typed as a certain kind of set, like a core set, a starter set, a casual supplement, etc. I feel like these should be qualifiers for the 'set' subclass. That said, I now have a point where I can start. I'll create the items for the first MTG sets, being Alpha, Beta and unlimited.
When editing the items for Alpha, Beta and Unlimited ( Limited Edition (Q22815202), Alpha, Beta, Unlimited (Q3612956) Alpha (Q3267110) Unlimited Edition (Q4994675) and Beta (Q4897240) ) I ran into the ontological issue of classes, instances, and parts of things again. Since P239 is a transitive property, everything that is instance of a certain class is also an instance of all its superclasses. An instance of Black Lotus is an instance of the MTG card named Black Lotus, but therefore also an instance of an MTG Set, an MTG expansion, and an instance of MTG as a whole. That doesn't seem right. I would say that the abstract ideas of MTG cards are part of a set, that are subclasses of blocks/decks, which are subclasses of MTG. MTG, in turn, is a single instance of a card game.
After a lot of more thinking and looking up, this is the third version of the MTG model:

 
third version of MTG model. Blue are classes, green are instances of those classes.


In my research I created a bit of a model entity of the T206 Honus Wagner (Q3507660) to show how a specific instance of the class of a trading card could be modelled. I made Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner (Q61638925), which is arguably the most famous instance of the T206 Honus Wagner. In the same vein, specific MTG cards can be modelled, like the BGS 9.5 Alpha Black Lotus that openboosters opened in 2014 on his Youtube channel.[2] It would be nice to put logo's of the sets and blocks as images on those wikidata items. WoTC have a detailed description of how their IP can be used by third parties: [1]. These guidelines clearly state that symbols like the one for Red mana, the 'tapped' symbol, the symbol for Selesnya, and so on explicitly cannot be used in 'fan content'. I would say that, by extension, symbols like those that describe MtG sets are off-limits as well. That said, Wikimedia Commons has almost every logo and symbol in MTG uploaded to it. So for now I will use those that are uploaded to WM commons, but not upload any myself if they are not available. If they get taken down in the future, then so be it.

properties that could/should be used when modelling MTG card sets/expansions are:


properties that could/should be used when modelling MTG card blocks are:


edits made with quickstatements:

timeline of MTG sets on wikidata

=> Limited Edition (Q22815202)

=> Alpha, Beta, Unlimited (Q3612956)

Should there be a class about MTG lore?

On first sight, this seems logical. All of the worldbuilding, all the flavour text, all the stories set in the Multiverse need a place to live on wikidata. But where is the line between something being an MTG concept, and something being part of MTG lore? If almost all MTG concepts also fit into MTG lore, then there's little to no use in creating two separate classes. The best option I see here is to restrict items that belong to MTG concepts to only things that make up the actual TCG part of MTG. This includes things like MTG Keywords, mulliganing, card advantage, and so forth. In the class of MTG lore things like the world of Ravnica, Izzet drakes, Nicol Bolas, and the Purifying Fire. But how do we deal with things like Planeswalker (Q3301944)? According to MTG gamepedia, "planeswalkers are among the most powerful beings in the multiverse. Within the game, they represent the thematic identities of the players. Planeswalker is also a card type within the game."[3] This would put the term planeswalker in both the class concept and the class lore. We could split up the wikidata items on the Planeswalker as fictional character and the Planeswalker as MTG card type, but I feel like there are too many of these kinds of instances that would then warrant creating two separate wikidata items. You could go as far in this as to say that a mechanic like Trample also doubles as a relevant concept in the Multiverse of MTG, giving creatures like the Stampeding rhino its stampeding character. I'll need some help from people with more wiki and MTG experience for this. Paging @Kirilloparma:, @Achim_Raschka:, @Wittylama:, Template:Ping:Malore: do any of you have anything to add to this, any thoughts, or do you know people who you'd think could contribute?

digging deeper into MTG card modelling

so the top class of this should ofcourse be Magic: The Gathering card (Q23808824). An instance of that class would be Black Lotus (Q2258369). An instance of a card can be part of a Magic: The Gathering set (Q22815098). In the case of black lotus, is is also part of an MTG concept, namely the Power Nine (Q2436594) <br/

digging deeper into modelling MTG players

1: We need a wikidata item for 'MTG player'. This would unify all the current wikipedia categories for MTG players, allow to query all of the players at once, and might ultimately power the {{w:Template:Infobox_Magic:_The_Gathering_player}}. For this last one to work, several properties would have to be proposed and accepted (about five properties at the moment). Let's not aim to replace the infobox for now, but take the rest of the template as basic info for the player:

- name - nickname - image - caption - birth_date - birth_place - death_date - death_place - residence - nationality - debut - winnings

name
birth name (P1477) or given name (P735)
nickname
nickname (P1449) of the player
image
image (P18)
birth_date
date of birth (P569)
birth_place
place of birth (P19)
death_date
date of death (P570)
death_place
place of death (P20)
residence
countries where player has lived. If some are minor, select key countries
nationality
nationality of player
debut
instead of the first Pro Tour, which is what the template on wikipedia has now, this can just be when they self-proclaimed to have started playing MTG. an MTG player may be notable without having played in a Pro tour.


There are some other statements that could be added here. Trying to figure out which ones atm.

human
instance of (P31) = human (Q5)
gender
sex or gender (P21)
tournaments
Grand Prix (Q3113716) winner (P1346) point in time (P585) - year
Hall of fame
Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame (Q3126034) award received (P166) point in time (P585) - year




Things to work on

References

  1. ↑ https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Block
  2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRxCeO2KIS8
  3. ↑ https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Planeswalker
Retrieved from "https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=User:CalvinBall/modelling_Magic:_The_Gathering&oldid=1355160063"