After two incidents in recent days in which Wizards of the Coast issued statements clarifying enforcement issues regarding Magic:  The Gathering organized play after taking initially more forceful stances (see “Wizards Suspends, Reinstates ‘Magic’ Judges” and “WotC Clarifies Proxy Position on ‘Magic’”), ICv2 asked for comment on this question:

Has enforcement of company policies on its supporters gotten too heavy-handed?  And other than dealing with the specifics of these two situations, is any more general action being taken with regard to the way enforcement of policies is being handled? 

Wizards of the Coast Senior Director, Global Brand Strategy and Marketing Elaine Chase responded:

“There are a lot of people in our company with lot of different jobs to do, from coming up with exciting new characters, to protecting fans from counterfeit cards, to running great play events of all sizes, and all kinds of other important work. All of us want to grow the game and community that we love. One lesson all of us have learned from the past few weeks is to slow down, talk to each other and get an understanding of the bigger picture before coming to decisions and communicating them stores and fans.

“As you know, Wizards works to create a ‘virtuous circle’ with retailers, in which those stores that build community are most rewarded, and then these same retailers continue to invest to create and even stronger community.  This approach is working and we expect that Magic will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. As we go forward our role is to communicate as clearly, fairly and promptly as we can. We want to be a role model for the industry.”