Raph, You probably don’t remember me, but I played Metaplace a while back. We talked a lot about your ship game and you shared a link with me of the music you made. I cannot find that conversation!! Nor can I find the music on your site (unless I forgot what it was called). It [...]

We chop the poor trees down, then stick them in embalming fluid to keep them alive for a few weeks while we use them as our helpless servants; then we throw them away to wither in a landfill. If that isn’t a zombie, what is? This little ditty came about because of something my daughter [...]

Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of A Theory of Fun as a book. The publisher is planning a second edition in full color! The contract isn’t signed just yet, because I owe them an outline for the revisions. Needless to say, I get to do revised text, and this is [...]

I have finally gotten around to posting up the slides and the notes for my talk delivered in Shanghai just before Thanksgiving. The notes are actually pretty representative of the actual speech as delivered — we had real-time translation going on, so I kept the pace very deliberate and avoided my usual rattle-stuff-off-a-mile-a-minute sort of [...]

I’ve been sadly neglectful of this blog! In the last few weeks, particularly, because I have been fighting off some sort of nasty flu thing… still have a lingering cough, in fact, and it’s been more than two weeks! So that meant that while I was flat out in bed, I missed the official announcement [...]

Well, we basically winged it, but it was a blast. We told stories, mostly out of order; fessed up to bad code and goofy decisions and being painfully young; and lamented the loss of that sens of crazy freedom. Luckily, Gamasutra has you covered if you weren’t in the full house. In the alpha, the [...]

Last night i was given the Online Game Legend Award at the GDC Choice Online awards show. Rich Vogel gave a touching introduction. I think he was more nervous than I was! This is a reasonable facsimile of the little acceptance speech I gave. The real thing was filmed and is up on twitch.tv or [...]

Here are the slides for the design track keynote I gave yesterday, as a PDF. Among the topics: a recap of Theory of Fun, discussion of what I would change about it today, and all the thoughts it led me to: game grammar, games as art, games as math, the ethics of games, gamification, etc. [...]

Dear Raph Koster, I want to become a Game Designer. As a child I used to judge games very harshly on things like graphics and funness. Although as I’ve grown older I’ve seen there is a lot more to games then meets the eye. I don’t want to sound all professional and stodgy, I’ve just [...]

Dear Raph Koster, I want to become a Game Designer. As a child I used to judge games very harshly on things like graphics and funness. Although as I’ve grown older I’ve seen there is a lot more to games then meets the eye. I don’t want to sound all professional and stodgy, I’ve just [...]

A long while ago, I pointed readers of the blog towards Freedom Bridge, a notgame about Freedom Bridge. I also later mentioned that the creator was doing a Kickstarter to go off for a few years and live in Asia and make games like these about his experience. I just got email from Jordan Magnuson [...]

A long while ago, I pointed readers of the blog towards Freedom Bridge, a notgame about Freedom Bridge. I also later mentioned that the creator was doing a Kickstarter to go off for a few years and live in Asia and make games like these about his experience. I just got email from Jordan Magnuson [...]

Today was the fifteenth anniversary of the launch of Ultima Online. For those who would like to read up on some of the stuff I have written in the past, you can do so by clicking here. Warning: rambling ahead… Here’s something that I think no one has ever seen. My wife and I were [...]

Today was the fifteenth anniversary of the launch of Ultima Online. For those who would like to read up on some of the stuff I have written in the past, you can do so by clicking here. Warning: rambling ahead… Here’s something that I think no one has ever seen. My wife and I were [...]

On Saturday I met with the Omaha Game Developers Association in a Google Hangout for a couple of hours of interview-style questions. The whole thing was streamed live on YouTube and also captured afterwards, so here it is for those who have the patience. Among the things we talked about: how I got into games [...]

On Saturday I met with the Omaha Game Developers Association in a Google Hangout for a couple of hours of interview-style questions. The whole thing was streamed live on YouTube and also captured afterwards, so here it is for those who have the patience. Among the things we talked about: how I got into games [...]

So the third thing I will be doing at GDCOnline has now been announced: A Theory of Fun 10 Years Later Design | 60-Minute | Track Keynote | All TBD Ten years ago, at the very first Austin Game Conference, online gaming pioneer Raph Koster delivered an inspiring keynote on why games matter, how they [...]

So the third thing I will be doing at GDCOnline has now been announced: A Theory of Fun 10 Years Later Design | 60-Minute | Track Keynote | All TBD Ten years ago, at the very first Austin Game Conference, online gaming pioneer Raph Koster delivered an inspiring keynote on why games matter, how they [...]

Today the press release went out announcing that I was selected to receive the Online Game Legend Award at the GDC Online Choice Awards. This award is voted on by fellow developers, and it’s basically a lifetime achievement award. The Online Game Legend Award recognizes the career and achievements of one particular creator who has [...]

Today the press release went out announcing that I was selected to receive the Online Game Legend Award at the GDC Online Choice Awards. This award is voted on by fellow developers, and it’s basically a lifetime achievement award. The Online Game Legend Award recognizes the career and achievements of one particular creator who has [...]

Game Developers Conference | Check out the origin of Ultima Online at GDC Online 2012. This is one of three things that I’ll be doing at GDCO in Austin this October. I’ll let you know what the other two are as they get announced. Have you registered yet? Why not? Speaker/s: Rich Vogel (Independent), Raph Koster [...]

Game Developers Conference | Check out the origin of Ultima Online at GDC Online 2012. This is one of three things that I’ll be doing at GDCO in Austin this October. I’ll let you know what the other two are as they get announced. Have you registered yet? Why not? Speaker/s: Rich Vogel (Independent), Raph Koster [...]

In which I act like a crotchety old man urging the kids off my lawn. Between this piece at Gamasutra by Neils Clark (and especially Keith Burgun‘s comments in the discussion thread), and this blog post that caught my eye, “Designing for Grace”, I am struck once again by the way in which the gap [...]

In which I act like a crotchety old man urging the kids off my lawn. Between this piece at Gamasutra by Neils Clark (and especially Keith Burgun‘s comments in the discussion thread), and this blog post that caught my eye, “Designing for Grace”, I am struck once again by the way in which the gap [...]

  Game Developers Conference Online 10.09.12 – 10.11.12 | Austin, TX. This will be the tenth anniversary of what was once known as just the “Austin Game Conference.” It has always been focused on online, from the first day, back when getting together enough people to talk about online games for multiple days was a [...]