chris-crawford
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GDC Online 2012: Raph Koster's keynote on a Theory of Fun, 10 years later
Ten years ago at GDC, Raph Koster gave a talk called A Theory of Fun. The presentation turned into a book, and after a series of printings and reprintings, that book has arguably become the best-selling game design book of all time. At GDC Online this week, Koster revisited his Theory of Fun to look at what still applies and what's changed. Read on for highlights from this GDC keynote address.
Game designer Chris Crawford gets his grump on
Veteran game-designer (though he hasn't released a game since 1991) gets his grump on in this interview with Gamasutra. They begin by asking about his recent statement at the Game Developer's Conference that video games were "dead," in which he elocuted, "We put food in, shit comes out." Indeed. So with the industry already dead -- or, as he equivocates, just braindead -- how do we resuscitate its limp and fallow body? According to Crawford, it's as simple as this: interactive storytelling, a fourteen year project of his. Like he did at GDC, Crawford swings the ideal of "innovation" around like a blunt instrument; a straw-man argument wherein games are (brain)dead since every single one doesn't expand the medium. By his metric, both cinema and literature have been braindead for years although, somehow, he manages to excuse them using a slightly different metric. Really, the more I read and hear his arguments, the more confused and confusing they become. Crawford sounds like someone who's been left behind by the rapidly evolving games industry, frustrated by his marginal role and lack of influence. For anyone who heard the volley of questions leveled at Crawford following his GDC rant, it's clear many people in the industry -- while often frustrated -- don't share his doom and gloom prognosis. For a companion rant, check out Gamerjunk's blow-by-blow rebuttal.
