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Raph Koster

Raph Koster

Game designer, author, speaker

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Raph Koster
Raph Koster
Game designer, author, speaker
  • Beowulf

    Hours December 17, 2005December 18, 2005 Categories Game talk
    Comments 11 Comments

    I mentioned in the comment thread for part one of “Do Levels Suck?” that I ought to post one of the old LegendMUD quests I designed and implemented way back when.

    So here it is, offered up as proof that I don’t just do sandboxes. 🙂

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  • Do levels suck?

    Hours December 16, 2005March 1, 2006 Categories Game talk
    Comments 82 Comments

    I’ve said in the past that levels suck.

    A few things that have been written about lately, however, prompt me to dig a little bit more at that long-held tenet of mine, because while constant self-doubt is debilitating (trust me), it also often opens up surprising new doors.

    My objection to levels in the past has been based around the following:

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  • Go visit LegendMUD

    Hours December 16, 2005December 16, 2005 Categories Game talk
    Comments 6 Comments

    Visit the LegendMUD website I added a button to the sidebar on the right so that all of you Johnny-and-Jane-come-latelies can go see what I am referencing constantly, and get a taste of why I say that MUDs are basically the same as MMORPGs, and have a look at old-school text gaming. Let me know what you think. 🙂

    Read More “Go visit LegendMUD”

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  • Omoshiroi-no game design

    Hours December 16, 2005 Categories Game talk, Writing
    Comments 9 Comments

    My friend Masaya Matsuura, he of Parappa the Rapper fame, tells me

    Yesterday, I got the japanese version of “A Theory of Fun.” It is a “red” book instead of blue, and looks a little different from the original, but I think people from O’reilly Japan has been committed to make good book. Only one thing I told them was about the japanese title. Original title they named was “Omoshiroi game design” This sounds a little like, “fun of game design” So I said was, “Omoshiroi-no game design” sounds like “how game design can make fun?” also this sounds a little like strange japanese, english person speaks.

    So if you are in Japan, this might make a lovely gift. 🙂

    Also, I see that Amazon.com is almost out of the American edition, so if you want one for the holidays, you had better buy it now!

    Read More Omoshiroi-no game designContinue

  • Appealing to women

    Hours December 15, 2005 Categories Game talk
    Comments 37 Comments

    I hesitate to include this link because it demonstrates, in a nutshell, everything that is wrong with how the gaming industry markets in order to garner larger audiences. By the way, the link is Not Safe For Work.

    The irony is that it works. I just linked it, it’s #9 on the viral charts, and I am sure that it connects strongly with a certain demographic.

    An immature demograhic, mind you.
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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
      • Fiction
      • Poetry
      • Lit Crit
  • Music
    • My Music
    • After the Flood
      • Amazon
      • iTunes
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    • Listen
    • Instruments and tunings
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    • Art Home
    • Pencils
    • Pen and Ink
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  • About Raph
    • About Me
    • CV
    • Contact Raph
    • Press kit
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      • Emulation
      • Fish tanks
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