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My son has had his own windows account. Recently he asked about learning to play Magic the Gathering. I thought the best way would be for him to learn the basic game would be the Duels of the Planewalkers computer game on the PC.

When he launches the game under his windows account, Steam connects as me, it has all my few achievements unlock etc, and my name.

Can he play the game with own achievements and progress? Would he have to have his own Steam account and BUY the game himself?-(Which seems nuts to me)

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  • The tag magic-the-gathering does not uniquely identify the game. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_Online. However, duels-of-the-planeswalkers is too long to be a tag. Ideas?
    – Larry Wang
    Commented Sep 1, 2010 at 12:30
  • @Kaestur I always knew the 25 character limit would be a nuisance, but the recent slew of perfect 26 character cases is absolutely distressing at this point...
    – Grace Note ♦
    Commented Sep 1, 2010 at 12:34
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    @Kaestur I suggest [magic-the-gathering-dop]. It's obviously about magic and it will appear as suggestion when "magic" is inputted in the tag field, and the "dop" part should identify it to players familiar with it.
    – Oak
    Commented Sep 1, 2010 at 14:00

2 Answers 2

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Yes, he would have to have his own steam account and buy the game separately if you want to track achievements independently. A single Steam account is intended to be used by a single person only, so it is not surprising this is how it works.

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    This is especially important because you cannot transfer games between accounts.
    – badp
    Commented Sep 1, 2010 at 11:37
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    Never realised that Steam would limit me using games like this...Think i'll wait for the PS3 version to come out before buying another copy...
    – Mesh
    Commented Sep 2, 2010 at 10:04
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    @Adrian Actually, if I were you, I'd consider buying another Steam copy to gift to him. The controls on the PC will most likely be easier to use than those on the console, not to mention the fact that having two Steam copies of the game would allow you to play with your son on your network or whatever.
    – GnomeSlice
    Commented May 22, 2012 at 16:44
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Yup, he's going to need his own account and his own copy of the game.

The alternative is that you reset your game, losing all your progress and let him play from there. He won't be able to get any achievements you have already gotten (as you can't reset those), but it will still be enjoyable.

All that being said Duals of the Planewalkers is a fantastic way to learn. I used to be semi-competitive (far from pro, but I went to regular tournaments) and quickly was pigeonholed into one playstyle. DoP has taught me to effectivly use all the colors, and a lot of different playstyles.

The flipside is go pick up the DoP decks and play real magic with him! As long as you really understand the rules, and you're playing with the intention of teaching (not winning) it can really be an enjoyable experience for the both of you. The computer player will most always make the "right" decisions making it difficult for new players to see openings. Perhaps a combination of the two would be the best way to teach. I apologize for rambling a bit here, but getting kids to play games that require somethinking gets me going sometimes.

Good Luck!

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