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Raph Koster

Raph Koster

Game designer, author, speaker

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Raph Koster
Raph Koster
Game designer, author, speaker
  • On Trust, Part III

    Hours March 13, 2006March 8, 2018 Categories Game talk
    Comments 26 Comments

    On Trust

    • Part 1
    • Part 2
    • A side note
    • Part 3
    • Part 3.5: Balkanization

    I ended part II by concluding that the reason that the differing models of trust mattered is because at some point, solutions from one model would be applied to the problem domain best suited for the other model.

    Read More “On Trust, Part III”

    Read More On Trust, Part IIIContinue

  • The Sunday Poem: Housebuilding Near Montague Farm

    Hours March 12, 2006March 12, 2006 Categories The Sunday Poem
    Comments 1 Comment

    When I was a kid, after my parents divorced, my dad worked on a commune in Massachusetts called Montague Farm. This was the real deal: a working farm where I first saw chickens get their heads chopped off, where I first (and last) picked spinach in the sun, and also where there were blond girls named Sequoia running around and piles of anti-nuke comic books sitting on the end tables. My favorite featured a three-legged frog. If anyone has a copy, let me know.

    Read More “The Sunday Poem: Housebuilding Near Montague Farm”

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  • Hail in San Diego

    Hours March 11, 2006March 11, 2006 Categories Misc
    Comments 7 Comments

    Usually, San Diego has lovely weather. It’s one of the first things you notice when you step off the plane. Winter is two weeks of rain in February or March.

    When it has bad weather, it usually goes from “perfect” to “weird” in short order. As in this case:

    Hail on the grass in San Diego

    Yes, that is hail in my back yard. It came down hard for about 15 minutes, then stopped. Kristen tells me we had a small recurrence today.

    Temperature? 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit. Go figure.

    Read More Hail in San DiegoContinue

  • PowerPoint Presentation – Putting the Fun in Functional

    Hours March 11, 2006 Categories Game talk
    Comments 18 Comments

    Amy Jo Kim has a great presentation from ETech called Putting the Fun in Functional that not only articulates how to use some of the fundamental building blocks of games for other purposes, but calls out in stark form what some of those principles are.

    Read More “PowerPoint Presentation – Putting the Fun in Functional”

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  • Shaping perceptions

    Hours March 10, 2006March 10, 2006 Categories Game talk
    Comments 38 Comments

    First, read this.

    Short form is what we already knew:

    • People defer to tall people.
    • People like attractive people.
    • People like those who look like them.
    • People like those who act like them.

    Then, ask yourself the following questions:

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  • Blog
    • Blog Home
    • Recommended posts 1998-2012
    • Recommended posts 2012-2017
    • Recommended posts, 2017-2025
  • Game Design
    • Game Design Home
    • A Theory of Fun site
    • Presentations
    • Essays
    • Interviews and panels
    • Snippets
    • Laws of Online World Design
    • The Online World Timeline
    • MMO History Links
  • Books
    • All the Books
    • Postmortems
    • Theory of Fun
    • Sunday Poems
    • Other writing
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      • Poetry
      • Lit Crit
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    • My Music
    • After the Flood
      • Amazon
      • iTunes
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    • Listen
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    • Art Home
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  • About Raph
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    • Contact Raph
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      • Emulation
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