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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 II

    Hours February 6, 2006March 8, 2018 Categories Game talk
    Comments 18 Comments

    On Trust

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

    In part I I gave the basic grounding for my take on the issues of trust, reputation, and policing. Now I want to dig into some of the deeper issues there.

    The relay problem
    Thus far, I have referenced two different broad models of trust: the communitarian model and the appeal to authority. Looking broadly at the two models, what we see is this:

    Read More “On Trust, Part II”

    Read More On Trust, Part IIContinue

  • The Sunday Poem: Outside School, Lima

    Hours February 5, 2006 Categories The Sunday Poem
    Comments 3 Comments

    Apologies in advance for a grim poem this week!

    Outside School, Lima

    I saw it on the flatbed: a horse
    belly slit open, large chunks
    of meat missing, hide flapping

    like a flag, tail dripping off
    the edge of the truck

    cars jostled to follow it, every one
    full of children like us, begging
    their mothers, asking
    for nightmares

    I got none, but I have to tell
    the story, or else the horse
    died in vain, and the children
    will have nothing to worship

    no flag to follow
    no rules to break and later obey

    Read More “The Sunday Poem: Outside School, Lima”

    Read More The Sunday Poem: Outside School, LimaContinue

  • On Trust (part I)

    Hours February 4, 2006March 8, 2018 Categories Game talk
    Comments 32 Comments

    On Trust

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

    Trust is a big topic. There’s a number of definitions out there related to different domains; everything from the famous Ronald Reagan “trust, but verify” dictum applied to international arms treaties, to “trusted computing” which is not about whether something is trustworthy, but whether it behaves predictably from a software/content provider’s point of view (and not necessarily the user’s!).

    In general, most people tend, of course, to assume that “trust” means what the dictionary says: someone or something on which you can depend.

    Read More “On Trust (part I)”

    Read More On Trust (part I)Continue

  • Video and audio of my PARC Forum “The Medium That Ate The World”

    Hours February 3, 2006 Categories Game talk
    Comments 7 Comments

    Thanks to the kind offices of the folks at PARC!

    Audio link.

    Streaming video link.

    I recommend the video, because you can see the slides, and there are some diagrams and stuff on those that I reference.

    Errata: it’s actually 51% of the bracket 36-50. (That will make sense if you listen to the whole thing). And it’s Higinbotham with one G.

    At some point, I’ll transcribe this and make it a page on the site…

    Read More Video and audio of my PARC Forum “The Medium That Ate The World”Continue

  • Lost Garden: The Blind Men and the Elephant: Thoughts on an integrative framework for understanding games

    Hours February 3, 2006 Categories Game talk
    Comments 4 Comments

    I am starting to think that I should just set up a feed so that all of Danc’s posts on Lost Garden show up here in-line. The latest: The Blind Men and the Elephant: Thoughts on an integrative framework for understanding games basically concludes that we should be using altruism as our core framework for why we make games.

    Just yesterday I answered one of a set of interview questions this way:

    You’re a self-described “idealist on a virtual crusade.” What, exactly, does this mean? Are you (forgive the wacky pun) questing for the phattest lewt of MMORPG design? What’s the ultimate goal of this crusade?

    It really just means that I have high hopes for what online worlds can be and do for people. Over the last decade and more, I’ve seen them make such big differences in people’s lives that I’m a true believer in their power to not only be incredibly entertaining, but also do more: teach people, bring people together, and empower them.

    Sometimes people think that means that I’m not interested in the game side of things, but that’s not it at all… I happen to believe much the same of games in general.

    Read More Lost Garden: The Blind Men and the Elephant: Thoughts on an integrative framework for understanding gamesContinue

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  • Blog
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