GDCOnline: A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later
Here are the slides for the design track keynote I gave yesterday.
And here they are as a PDF. Edit: thanks to Alexandre Houdent for providing a version of the PDF that works on all OSes…
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. With a dash of Classical philosophy.
I had the shakes bad before I started… but it felt like it came together in the end.
Apologies to anyone whose face I rendered unrecognizable. And the unlabelled woman is Jane McGonigal.
The press coverage so far:
- Gamasutra has a detailed article
- Games.com has an unfortunate headline, but a nice brief overview
- PocketGamer.biz also has an in-depth piece
A challenge for you all: can you name all these people without peeking at the slides?


I couldn’t name them all. I only knew 8!
Thanks for all your work and congrats on your award.
Thank you for sharing the slides! Answered a lot of questions I had about it.
I could not name all the people but I got 10 of them I think.
RT @dingstweets: Do read @raphkoster’s #gdco keynote “A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later” http://t.co/NhRmxZbe
RT @dingstweets: Do read @raphkoster’s #gdco keynote “A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later” http://t.co/NhRmxZbe
RT @dingstweets: Do read @raphkoster’s #gdco keynote “A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later” http://t.co/NhRmxZbe
RT @raphkoster: Retweet with hash tag this time: @raphkoster: Blog: #GDCOnline : A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later slides http://t.co/SioivpbK
RT @raphkoster: Blog: GDCOnline: A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later http://t.co/SioivpbK
RT @raphkoster: Blog: GDCOnline: A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later http://t.co/SioivpbK
Raph Koster’s A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later http://t.co/ahT01P3P
GDCOnline: A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later http://t.co/EMSvolBU
RT @dingstweets: Do read @raphkoster’s #gdco keynote “A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later” http://t.co/NhRmxZbe
…. looks for self in slides… oh.
(MASSIVE WINK)
I was just scared to pronounce your name, Tadhg. 🙂
If you missed @raphkoster re-visiting A Theory of Fun at #GDCOnline, check it out on his blog here: http://t.co/PbqohB9S
“A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later” by Koster – get this splendid recap of Theory of Fun http://t.co/kIBYwtda
Great presentation, a real great follow-up to the book, which gave me the confirmation that how I was thinking about games.was not unique. I love the game atom concept, which is something I had been toying with for some time. Maybe I should put online what I wrote one day.
RT @dingstweets: Do read @raphkoster’s #gdco keynote “A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later” http://t.co/NhRmxZbe
I suppose, now your book has been out 10 years, I ought to confess that although I’m a big fan of it, I don’t think its view of the relationship between fun and learning covers the heart of why people find MMOs fun. I see that more to do with self-actualisation. I guess you could describe that as “learning who you are” but, because it’s a two-way process that isn’t entirely persuasive.
@raphkoster God this makes me feel old… http://t.co/FYQpDfe7 Congrats!
GDCOnline: A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later. http://t.co/agbdVOzj (via @raphkoster)
GDCOnline: A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later http://t.co/Hh0QcoGS #gamedesign
RT @Playdom: If you missed @raphkoster re-visiting A Theory of Fun at #GDCOnline, check it out on his blog here: http://t.co/PbqohB9S
GDCOnline: A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later http://t.co/KaG0CSZe
ICYMI last week RT @dingstweets: Do read @raphkoster’s #gdco keynote “A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later” http://t.co/9r7g2Jd2
ICYMI last week RT @dingstweets: Do read @raphkoster’s #gdco keynote “A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later” http://t.co/5lciUIoJ
A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later http://t.co/2B8T7D0c « followup by @raphkoster