Problems Faced by Malaysian Duelist

*The problem faced are the common ones not specific problems faced by oneself *

A month ago, Rauzes posted something regarding on the condition of YGO in the South East Asian region. For a tourist, the point he laid out in his post was very good. But he didn't went in depth enough, not blaming him as he did his best and that was an amazing job for someone who just seen the situation once.

For me, I think that the biggest problem among others are the lack of players. Its really rare to see YGO players aside from popular hang out spots in Malaysia(or at least the Selangor region). Card games in general aren't really a big thing as most of the countries people are playing PC games. Its hard to really spot a duelist in your everyday life as they try to not show their identity as a duelist. I am the same too as I don't really wanna hear things from my peers. Malaysian in common treat YGO as a children game, while most duelist are around 17 years of age in my country, and alot are above 25. The environment is discouraging.You will only find out someone as a duelist when you go to hangout spots or by friends. The lack of YGO in the media also contributes to this, and the mass production of fake cards in the market makes this game looks cheap in most Malaysian eyes, those who don't are those who play or those who make a living out of selling them.

Pointed out by Rauzes in his post is the lack of tournaments. I would like to elaborate in this point more. The lack of big tourneys is one thing. Big tourneys are only held once every 3 months, and I do not know any other places that held them outside of my usual hangout spot. This is evident as I see alot of people coming from other states just for the tourney. unlike most country which have their tourneys at some places with great competitive environment. Our tourney is held at a corner of the shopping mall, next to a Karaoke box and along shop lots. Making it very noisy and the air conditioning aren't good either. For us to trade or duel someone during the breaks, it would be sitting on the floor in front of the tourney area as the Shop would be filled with people.

Locals, although are held twice weekly, the amount of contestant are minimum. 10 would be a very good number as most of the time 6~8 people are there. The format is Swiss, so people aren't playing Top Tier deck, which is good, and the fun atmosphere is what I enjoy the most, some of the best moments of my life these few years are at the locals. But one thing the locals lack is the prize. I've seen some of the prizes given out in locals at the US and Japan, and even Singapore are a lot better. The prizes Singapore locals gives out are good Holos while we get Tournament Packs, which was suppose to be free to all participants. And the worst thing is the Winner gets 3, the runner up has 2. Each tourney pack is worth RM5 each if you find them in stores, and the locals cost us RM5 to participate... in other words, you don't really get anything for winning. I think thats the reason why no one bother joining, if they were to have better prizes, say, Holos? I bet the people joining would be alot more.

Price of the cards are really a trouble to many. For College students like myself, I could affort the cards as my allowance is higher(and I don't eat alot, nor do I have a girlfriend). people who have jobs or at least part time could also balance this off, these people are those who have trade binders that you would drool at. But for pre-uni YGO players... this is gonna be hard, although I see kids these days are loaded, I sold my E.HERO Darkbright for RM40, an amount that I won't pay till today unless the card is extremely rare, or maybe thats just me. YGO is an expensive hobby here, not sure how it compares to online games(the main stream games here) thou. A booster pack is RM9, and a deck is RM70, which mentioned by Rauzes can buy you food for the whole week, thats true you know. I spend less than RM60 for food a week(but thats because I stay with my parents and dinner's on them). For a kid to buy more than 2 packs are hard. I have trouble buying more than 5 packs weekly(although I do buy boxes, I can't do it for every set). to get cards like Bronaic, DDB or Natural Beast would cost you your right arm.... although there are also people who can pay for them easily, and make a profit out of it.

lastly, I would like to talk about the non-increase in the umber of duelist. The numbers of YGO players don't seem to increase, a new player would be a rare sight, or maybe they just play with their friends at home... the numbers of duelist quitting are extremely low also, cause those who play gave their souls to the devil Konami and God Takahashi-Sensei. I mean, when is the last time you saw a new player? new players tend to hide from us or just quit due to the above reasons. I seen alot of reviews on how to teach a new duelist how to play pr build his deck for him, but its not happening in Malaysia. and chances of meeting a female duelist is like... pulling 2 Ghost rare from 2 packs(from different boxes of cause). I've only seen 1 so far. I really wish I was in Hong Kong or Taiwan, or at least Singapore, then it would be a blast for me(Japan is a bit too expensive... the living cost...).

well, thats at least how I feel about the YGO community in Malaysia, if you have points to elaborate on, let me know, as I may miss a few details or so. I think that there are quite an amount of YGO players in the Subang region as the packs disappear quickly as compare to Klang(where I stay), packs as old as TDGS are still available... if you are a YGO player thats in Malaysia, please let me or the other Malaysian YGO blogger know your existence, as I think we all want another player in our community.

Thanks for reading this F'king long post!!