Raph Koster is a veteran game designer who has been professionally credited in almost every area of the game industry. He started out as a hobbyist, making games himself starting in his teens. Eventually he played a key role on LegendMUD, an award-winning text-based virtual world. He’s been the lead designer or director of massive online titles such as Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies; a venture-backed entrepreneur heading his own studio, Metaplace; and he’s contributed design work, writing, art, soundtrack music, and programming to many more titles ranging from Facebook games to single-player games for handheld consoles.
Koster is widely recognized as one of the world’s top thinkers about game design, and is an in-demand speaker at conferences all over the world. His book A Theory of Fun for Game Design is one of the undisputed classics in the games field, and his essays and other writings such as “Declaring the Rights of Players” and “The Laws of Online World Design” are widely reprinted.
He was born in 1971, has lived in four countries and over a half-dozen different states, and is married with two kids. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Washington College in English/creative writing and in Spanish, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Alabama. While in college, he also spent time studying most everything in the humanities, including music theory and composition and studio art. He is a past member of the famed Turkey City science fiction writing workshop. His music has been featured on television, and he has released one album, After the Flood.
In 2012, he was named an Online Game Legend at the Game Developers Conference Online. This award recognizes the career and achievements of one particular creator who has made an indelible impact on the craft of online game development.
Visit his website at http://www.raphkoster.com, or this book’s website at http://www.theoryoffun.com.
Get Theory of Fun for Game Design, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
