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A Theory of Fun for Game Design
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A Theory of Fun for Game Design is not your typical how-to book. It features a novel way of teaching interactive designers how to create and improve their designs to incorporate the highest degree of fun. As the book shows, designing for fun is all about making interactive products like games highly entertaining, engaging, and addictive. The book's unique approach of provi
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Don't bother with this one. It's just $6 in the Kindle store, or else I wouldn't have even bought it, but I regret it now in any case. Luckily it's quite short, but even so I just skimmed a chapter or two.
To me, this is a collection of sometimes barely coherent stream-of-thought ramblings of a video-game executive, apparently about what makes games fun, though you'd barely know to read it. They don't really seem to have much purpose to it, except to draw attention to how educated and cultured th ...more
To me, this is a collection of sometimes barely coherent stream-of-thought ramblings of a video-game executive, apparently about what makes games fun, though you'd barely know to read it. They don't really seem to have much purpose to it, except to draw attention to how educated and cultured th ...more
Raph Koster, a rather celebrated game designer (and former creative head of Sony’s game department), tries to explain just exactly what video games are, and in the process of doing this takes on what he feels are common misconceptions about video games.
Like McCloud, Koster feels like his medium of choice (of course, he obfuscates this point - but more on that later) is misunderstood, and that it deserves a cultural status akin to that of literature and art. To defend his position, he goes on in ...more
Like McCloud, Koster feels like his medium of choice (of course, he obfuscates this point - but more on that later) is misunderstood, and that it deserves a cultural status akin to that of literature and art. To defend his position, he goes on in ...more
Excellent start for someone who has no idea even where to start when it comes to game design. The style in witch this book is written is quite casual and it doesn't go too much into details (as I said, good for absolute beginners).
I found this book very inspiring and deep, especially the parts where the author tries to connect games and arts and fun. Some parts of the book are abstract and a little bit hard to grasp as the book includes many metaphors. Nevertheless, many paragraphs still give me goosebumps as they are so true and profound. The author has many strong arguments and also very has high ideals when it comes to game designing. A game is designed not only for entertainment, but also for educating and helping pla
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If I ever teach a class on video games this will be the first book I add to the syllabus. A must-read for gamers, casual gamers and designers of interactive digital environments. More importantly, I think this book is a must-read for parents and teachers. Koster does a great job of explaining what it is about games that eat up so many hours of our kids' and students' lives.
This book is about what psychological elements of video games capture peoples attention. In particular which of these elements create a fun game.
Its very short and written in the format of a children's book with every other page being a full page cartoon of the concept discussed in the previous page. It is not a children's book since they discuss things like "grokking" and pattern recognition.
The author is one of the creative leads for Sony interactive entertainment, so you learn a bit about how ...more
Its very short and written in the format of a children's book with every other page being a full page cartoon of the concept discussed in the previous page. It is not a children's book since they discuss things like "grokking" and pattern recognition.
The author is one of the creative leads for Sony interactive entertainment, so you learn a bit about how ...more
Do not bother if you are looking for a book, where you can actually find tips on how to make fun games. The book is more of a visual guide to other writers that can be considered for finding the answers to those questions.
introduction into games and into computer games. Why games exist, how they are developed in terms of design - the underlying theory. The book is not tactics but about the underlying theory of games: why some games have high retention and others are not. Why some games are boring and others are not.
Surprisingly Dissapointing
I'm not a hard reader to please. If you have access to my reading history you will see easy 4-5 star reviews for most anything pickier readers consider barely palatable, but this book really pushed some of my buttons, and very few of them actually because of the contents itself
While the main message is something I disagree with - need for art to censor itself as for feeling of social responsibility - I have no beef with the way the argument is presented and with the res ...more
I'm not a hard reader to please. If you have access to my reading history you will see easy 4-5 star reviews for most anything pickier readers consider barely palatable, but this book really pushed some of my buttons, and very few of them actually because of the contents itself
While the main message is something I disagree with - need for art to censor itself as for feeling of social responsibility - I have no beef with the way the argument is presented and with the res ...more
A Theory of Fun for Game Design (2013) by Raph Koster describes Koster's view of what fun is and why we play computer games. Koster is a game designer and producer who worked on Ultima Online, various MUDS, Everquest and other games.
Koster's thesis is that all games are edutainment with low stakes with rewards that tickle our fancy. It's actually a bit limited and doesn't really capture the breadth of different types of games and their appeal. In the book Koster himself says that revelations of ...more
Koster's thesis is that all games are edutainment with low stakes with rewards that tickle our fancy. It's actually a bit limited and doesn't really capture the breadth of different types of games and their appeal. In the book Koster himself says that revelations of ...more
Journalist Tom Chatfield of Prospect has chosen to discuss Raph Koster's
A Theory of Fun
, on FiveBooks as one of the top five on his subject - Computer Games, saying that:
“Today we are seeing a new form of it, (Play) but in order to really understand it properly, we need to begin with this really deep evolutionary hold that games have on us. Koster looks at games as something that’s about learning above all, and they are in his phrase ‘chewy’ environments for our brains, where we are perform ...more
“Today we are seeing a new form of it, (Play) but in order to really understand it properly, we need to begin with this really deep evolutionary hold that games have on us. Koster looks at games as something that’s about learning above all, and they are in his phrase ‘chewy’ environments for our brains, where we are perform ...more
It's an incredibly insightful book, and genuinely useful for people trying to create games. Having said that, its basic premise is that all satisfying play is learning and I just don't buy that. The logic seems very flawed to me in this area. It seems to me quite plausible that play or certain kinds of games can be seen as highjacking the satisfaction that you would ideally be getting from an actual accomplishment in real-life, diverting your mastery and craft and intellectual stretching from th
...more
The game deserves respect, the core of this book. A great guide for a game developer.
I personly am fond of chapter 2&3 regarding the brain, game and its relationship.
"The human brain is mostly a voracious consumer of pattern, and games are just exceptionally tasty patterns to eat up."
"Music is ordered sound and silence. Noise is any pattern we don’t understand."
"The definition of a good game is “one that teaches everything it has to offer before the player stops playing. The games are in the en ...more
I personly am fond of chapter 2&3 regarding the brain, game and its relationship.
"The human brain is mostly a voracious consumer of pattern, and games are just exceptionally tasty patterns to eat up."
"Music is ordered sound and silence. Noise is any pattern we don’t understand."
"The definition of a good game is “one that teaches everything it has to offer before the player stops playing. The games are in the en ...more
This is 3.5 stars rounded down.
This book had some interesting ideas and it covered the history of game development really well. It also discussed the underlying features of many games and considered what a game needed to include to be fun and successful.
Having said that, at times it seemed a bit long winded. One of the most annoying things about the books is that end notes were denoted by an asterisk (instead of a number) and these were liberally peppered throughout the material. I ended up usin ...more
This book had some interesting ideas and it covered the history of game development really well. It also discussed the underlying features of many games and considered what a game needed to include to be fun and successful.
Having said that, at times it seemed a bit long winded. One of the most annoying things about the books is that end notes were denoted by an asterisk (instead of a number) and these were liberally peppered throughout the material. I ended up usin ...more
This was a very good book. While most of the other game design books I have read came across as textbooks, this one didn't. The way it was spaced out, it felt more like I was reading a novel than a textbook. The little cartoons on the right pages can piss of some people ("What the Hell is the point of them?"), but I enjoyed them, as they seem to illustrate the point of the text on the left pages a little more. While there are some things I would place into question, for the most part, the book d
...more
This book has some intriguing concepts but it fails to explore fun effectively both from an academic and game design perspective.
Its ideas may have been relevant when it was once published but right now it seem terribly outdated. All the discussions on themes, narrative and maturity of videogames as art completely ignore the last 15 years.
The book also tries to be academic without any proper citation or hypothesis. Finally, it uses old-fashioned ideas on cognitive behavior and evolutionary dyna ...more
Its ideas may have been relevant when it was once published but right now it seem terribly outdated. All the discussions on themes, narrative and maturity of videogames as art completely ignore the last 15 years.
The book also tries to be academic without any proper citation or hypothesis. Finally, it uses old-fashioned ideas on cognitive behavior and evolutionary dyna ...more
May 30, 2015
Noah
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
philosophy,
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A deeply researched treatise on video games. Raph Koster, who worked on Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, talks about the background of play and games and moves on to what games are and what games are not. He ends on what he thinks games should and could becomes. It is an informative and powerful book which is also peppered throughout with little cartoons that he has drawn to better illustrate his points.
How to describe this book? It is enjoyable, entertaining, and the best synopsis of what constitutes "fun" and more importantly, why. Highly recommended for both professional game designers and people interested in working in the field.
Surprise! I anticipated a dry read, and found instead a literate, fun and interesting romp through topics related to games and fun including: how the brain processes fun, ethics, what games teach us, why games matter and more.
Delightful and very readable (i.e., not particularly academic) discussion of "fun" in the context of game design. Well-considered and should be on every game developer's shelf.
Very nice book, easy to understand and with a lot of wonderful concepts about game design!
Recomend this book for non-gamers as well, it may make you see games in another perspective.
Recomend this book for non-gamers as well, it may make you see games in another perspective.
Outdated, banal, and surprisingly sexist.
794.81536 KOS 2014
2nd edition
Avery rate 2:
Games he design
ultima online(linux,windows)
LegendMUD (award-winning text-based virtual world)
Star Wars Galaxies
the game Will Wright design
The Sims, SimCity, SimEarth, Spore
the game portraying concepts like social good or honor by Dani Bunten Berry
M.U.L.E; Seven Cities of Gold
Essays
Declaring the Rights of Players
The Laws of Online World Design
Prologue: My grandfather wanted to know whether I felt proud of what I do
P178 A game like trellis, a trellis can ...more
2nd edition
Avery rate 2:
Games he design
ultima online(linux,windows)
LegendMUD (award-winning text-based virtual world)
Star Wars Galaxies
the game Will Wright design
The Sims, SimCity, SimEarth, Spore
the game portraying concepts like social good or honor by Dani Bunten Berry
M.U.L.E; Seven Cities of Gold
Essays
Declaring the Rights of Players
The Laws of Online World Design
Prologue: My grandfather wanted to know whether I felt proud of what I do
P178 A game like trellis, a trellis can ...more
From playing cops and robbers to playing house, play is about learning life skills.
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Fun, as I define it, is the feedback the brain gives us when we are absorbing patterns for learning purposes.
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Games aren't stories. Games aren't about beauty or delight. Games aren't about jockeying for social status. They stand, in their own right, as something incredibly valuable. Fun is learning in a context where there is no pressure, and that is why games matter.
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Before I put these ideas into my ...more
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Fun, as I define it, is the feedback the brain gives us when we are absorbing patterns for learning purposes.
-----
Games aren't stories. Games aren't about beauty or delight. Games aren't about jockeying for social status. They stand, in their own right, as something incredibly valuable. Fun is learning in a context where there is no pressure, and that is why games matter.
-----
Before I put these ideas into my ...more
I like the beginning concept: games are fun because they provide a space to learn with no real-world consequences.
Beyond that, there are some problems with the text due to its age and others due to some contradictory stances the author presents. Koster openly admits in the afterword that this whole thing was written basically in a weekend, so it isn't surprising its coherency suffered.
Throughout the book it felt like Koster couldn't make up his mind whether entertainment was art, or if art need ...more
Beyond that, there are some problems with the text due to its age and others due to some contradictory stances the author presents. Koster openly admits in the afterword that this whole thing was written basically in a weekend, so it isn't surprising its coherency suffered.
Throughout the book it felt like Koster couldn't make up his mind whether entertainment was art, or if art need ...more
This was a good book on the philosophy of video games. Video games are obviously a medium, so can you make them into art? I always thought sure, of course, but I found that Koster corrected some of my ideas about what is unique to games, in an engaging style.
To my surprise, the core contribution games offer is a learning experience. Koster unpacks this box throughout the book.
Underlying any game is an abstraction, the system that the player is offered to master in the journey of experiencing the ...more
To my surprise, the core contribution games offer is a learning experience. Koster unpacks this box throughout the book.
Underlying any game is an abstraction, the system that the player is offered to master in the journey of experiencing the ...more
Koster wrestles with what games are, their formal systems, and what every designer should know before embarking on designing a game. His argument focuses on games needing to surpass just being about fun, as they'll never be considered a true medium until a designer can make a game about, say, loneliness, or other aspects of the human condition.
Personally, I think Koster has an exaggerated romantic view of games. The games that tend to increase empathy, and explore what it means to be human, have ...more
Personally, I think Koster has an exaggerated romantic view of games. The games that tend to increase empathy, and explore what it means to be human, have ...more
Koster talks about games as our desire for both repetition and challenge (and out of that, the pleasure of learning), the concept of "fun", and how games are formal systems that reward skills that are either primitive (shooting, speed, aiming) or questionable (gaining power, resolving issues with violence, concerns with status hierarchies). He says that games should instead be designed and approached more like art rather than entertainment, and that games have a great deal of potential to be tra
...more
The basic premise is games are important because games = learning = fun. Games that are fun: 1) teach us vital skills (spacial analysis, exploration, timing, accuracy, power projection, etc.), 2) present the player with multiple possible solution paths, and 3) offer enough variety to keep teaching lessons. Once learning stops (either because there's nothing left to learn, the lessons have become too hard and/or seem irrelevant, etc.), the game ceases to be fun.
Koster also presents an argument f ...more
Koster also presents an argument f ...more
This may not be the book for you if you're looking for something with concrete examples and exercises. As the title suggests, this is a book about broader concepts. It's a simple and enjoyable read, and probably a good choice for someone quite new to thinking about games as systems. I also like that he includes a games as art and games ethics section, as not all Game Design books speak on that topic.
I wish, however, that Koster had been a little more scholarly, and taken the time to include sou ...more
I wish, however, that Koster had been a little more scholarly, and taken the time to include sou ...more
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Raph Koster is a veteran game designer who has been professionally credited in almost every area of the game industry. He's been the lead designer and director of massive titles such as Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies; and he's contributed writing, art, soundtrack music, and programming to many more titles ranging from Facebook games to single-player titles for handheld consoles.
Koster is wid ...more
Koster is wid ...more
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“Noise is any pattern we don't understand. [...] If we perceive something as noise, it's most likely a failure of ourselves, not a failure of the universe.”
—
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“That’s what games are, in the end. Teachers. Fun is just another word for learning.”
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