The fact that it is played with cards is part of Dominion's charm.
Not really. How many games have you played? How many works of random fantasy art have you stared at for just as long.
Remember: the only reason IRL is played with cards is because _there is no other way to do it_.
In Vegas, for example, many tables are replacing cards with digital tables, and they are well received so far.
Just like email is no longer posted mail - it's something different entirely.
No, the purpose of it is the same. To communicate.
Militia is a card. It isn't an actual group of irregular soldiers rounded up. The card represents an abstract idea.
If you play a computer version of Monopoly, do you get rid of the board? Do you stop playing with the little iron, thimble and battleship? Do you suddenly make it all abstract? No. You don't.
Who said you had to make it abstract?
You do get rid of the shaking of die (they are rolled automatically), you get rid of the cash, the deeds, and, most importantly, the banker, which the computer handles. And then you add some things, like sound effects (cash register noises), video effects (rather than being little static pieces of iron, the avatars move and interact with each other).
Now let's get to the practical point of selling this computerized game. If you try to market Iso for the general market, as is, no one will buy it.
Which is why I suggested giving options to users. For example, why not visually represent the elements interacting with each other using 3D animations. Gosh, if cards is all we're doing, then Iso does that already with one of those plugins.
Whereas Goko, flawed as it is, is what we have come to expect from a computerized gaming experience.
Not me. I expect either full interactive with creative animations or something completely streamlined. Not something that just cut-and-pastes design over from a card game.
For a designer, you seem to know very little about the general public's mindset on design. You may like modern minimalism, but most other people don't.
You haven't paid any attention to anything I've said so far. Have an argument with someone else. I'm not sure you are capable of grasping my point.