Theory of Fun for Game Design

Raph Koster is a veteran game designer who has been professionally credited in almost every area of the game industry. He's been the lead designer and director of massive titles such as Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies; and he's contributed writing, art, soundtrack music, and programming to many more titles ranging from Facebook games to single-player titles for handheld consoles. He has worked as a creative executive at Sony Online and Disney Playdom, and in 2012 was honored as an Online Game Legend at the Game Developers Conference Online.

Chapter 1 Why Write This Book?
Chapter 2 How the Brain Works
Chapter 3 What Games Are
Chapter 4 What Games Teach Us
Chapter 5 What Games Aren’t
Chapter 6 Different Fun for Different Folks
Chapter 7 The Problem with Learning
Chapter 8 The Problem with People
Chapter 9 Games in Context
Chapter 10 The Ethics of Entertainment
Chapter 11 Where Games Should Go
Chapter 12 Taking Their Rightful Place

Appendix Epilogue: Fun Matters, Grandpa
Appendix Afterword: Ten Years Later
Appendix NOTES
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
Afterword