Why do you think it's an "obvious scam"? I played MtG for many years. I spent money, sure, but nothing obsessive and I got a lot of enjoyment out of it: the game is interesting and always changing, I went to tournaments, met people, and then there was the economy: trade, trying to predict cards whose price would go up, etc. I remember doing arbitrage at some point when a card appeared in a preconstructed deck for €X and was selling for like €X+5 (it didn't last much, of course). I also learned some foreign languages because I had cards in various languages. I think it was money well spent, and I have no doubt it would be a good experience for my kid as well.

I still have the cards, they have a resale value. More than I spent on the game, as some have become difficult to find. Of course, this could change (I don't really think they'll become worthless because MtG is not just any CCG, it's quite iconic due to its history, but it could happen), but at the very least they are a physical item that remains there and can be played with. When my son grows, he will probably enjoy them, regardless of their value.

Loot boxes for games that give you a virtual item that you can't even sell or gift and will probably be worthless in 4 years when the server closes... now that's a scam, unless in exceptional cases (small one-time purchase to support devs, etc.). I don't spend money on that and I wouldn't let my kid either.

I too, played Mtg, starting at 3rd edition, playing through fallen empires. I have some of them still, but nothing very valuable.

The thing missing from these virtual items are a framework to ensure they can actually carry value.

And that could be NFTs or something similar. It makes sense to me, even if some of the “valuable” assets so far do not.

But then again what does my almost-tournament winning goblin grenade deck mean to a roblox player now? Presumably, little.

We had an unfulfillable mania to complete our collection (which we now know is was VERY difficult/expensive due those 1-2-5 cards that were super rare). Supporting the developers with a couple of dollars didn't hurt anyone. As long as the kids won't try to "complete the collection of all hats). That would teach them to control their spending, understand that they can't just 'buy what they see' (as some young adults get to do on their first paychecks), and chores-chores-chores!

I spent a fair amount of money on MTG, but it gave me lots of fond memories. I think I would encourage future children of mine to play it, in the unlikely event it hasn’t become online-only by then.