“The Sense of Wonder”: Gaming Capital and Nostalgia for Inexperience in Magic: The Gathering

Abstract

Popular culture media is a potent wellspring of nostalgia. From remakes and revivifications to perpetual production, aesthetics of nostalgia are commonplace among fan communities who continually encounter and experience both collective and personal pasts during engagement. Existing research has overlooked the role that fans’ gaming capital holds in the emergence of nostalgia, especially in leisure communities such as the trading card game, Magic: The Gathering. Drawing from qualitative interviews with Magic: The Gathering players in Australia, this paper applies the theory of gaming capital to illustrate how the continual acquisition of knowledge ultimately results in nostalgic attachment to times in which one knew very little. While the experience and knowledge gained by transitioning from novice to adept is seen positively, this paper argues it is nonetheless permeated by a pervading sense of loss. Paradoxically, gaming capital bifurcates into a parallel stream of value, specifically nostalgia for lost wonder and inexperience.