Author:: [[Raph Koster]] DateFinished:: Rating:: Tags:: #📩 # Theory of Fun for Game Design  ## Highlights ##### Chapter 1. Why Write This Book? ##### Chapter 2. How the Brain Works Simply put, the brain is made to fill in blanks. We do this so much we don’t even realize we’re doing it. ([Location 360](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=360)) most of what we see is also a chunked pattern. We rarely look at the real world; we instead recognize something we have chunked and leave it at that. ([Location 391](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=391)) - Note: This reminds me of how our brain functions on system 1 and system 2 thinking. Chunking as a process uses system 2 but once a chunk is ingrained it becomes part of system 1. There’s really next to nothing in the visible universe that is patternless. If we perceive something as noise, it’s most likely a failure in ourselves, not a failure in the universe. ([Location 414](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=414)) “Grok” is a really useful word. Robert Heinlein coined it in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land.* It means that you understand something so thoroughly that you have become one with it and even love it. ([Location 428](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=428)) This is the intuitive part of the brain burning neural pathways into our brain, working on turning newly grasped patterns into something that fits within the context of everything else we know. ([Location 467](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=467)) - Note: Playing games is a process of taking patterns we don’t yet understand and mastering them. ##### Chapter 3. What Games Are Games might seem abstracted from reality because they are iconic depictions of patterns in the world. ([Location 477](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=477)) Since our perception of reality is basically abstraction anyway,* I call it a wash. ([Location 479](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=479)) The only real difference between games and reality is that the stakes are lower with games. ([Location 485](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=485)) They are concentrated chunks ready for our brains to chew on. Since they are abstracted and iconic, they are readily absorbed. Since they are formal systems, they exclude distracting extra details. Usually, our brains have to do hard work to turn messy reality into something as clear as a game is. In other words, games serve as very fundamental and powerful learning tools. ([Location 487](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=487)) what a book will never be able to do is accelerate the grokking process to the degree that games do, because you cannot practice a pattern and run permutations on it with a book, and have the book respond with feedback.* ([Location 502](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=502)) Games that fail to exercise the brain become boring. This is why tic-tac-toe ends up falling down — it’s exercise, but so limited we don’t need to spend much time on it. As we learn more patterns, more novelty is needed to make a game attractive. ([Location 509](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=509)) - Note: Games must stay inside of the Goldilocks zone to keep us in flow. Fun comes from “richly interpretable” situations.* Games that rigidly define rules and situations are more susceptible to mathematical analysis, which is a limitation in itself. ([Location 514](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=514)) the more rigidly constructed your game is, the more limited it will be.* To make games more long-lasting, they need to integrate either math problems we don’t know the solutions to, or more variables (and less predictable ones) such as human psychology, physics, and so on. These are elements that arise from outside the game’s rules and from outside the “magic circle.” ([Location 518](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=518)) Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. ([Location 534](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=534)) - Note: What about fun from playing with friends shooting the shit? Like stardew valley. Boredom is the opposite of learning. When a game stops teaching us, we feel bored. ... This doesn’t mean it necessarily craves new experiences — mostly, it just craves new data. ([Location 537](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=537)) - Note: This is why I can write and not feel bored while doing so. If I’m writing about something different it’s the same experience but with different data. The definition of a good game is therefore “one that teaches everything it has to offer before the player stops playing.” ([Location 568](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=568)) ##### Chapter 4. What Games Teach Us we do in fact evolve games that are more suited to our modern lives. ([Location 666](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=666)) Games also seem to have a sweet spot. They do very well at active verbs: controlling, projecting, surrounding, matching, remembering, counting, and so on. Games are also very good at quantification. ([Location 682](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=682)) It’s worth asking ourselves what skills are more commonly needed today. Games should be evolving towards teaching us those skills. ([Location 694](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=694)) If anything, the question to ask might be why the most popular games are the ones that teach obsolete skills, while the more sophisticated ones that teach subtler skills tend to reach smaller markets. ([Location 759](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=759)) Remember, we live most of our lives in the unconscious. Action games let us stay there, whereas games that demand careful consideration of logistics might require logical, conscious thought. So we play variations on old, often irrelevant challenges because, frankly, it’s easier. ([Location 762](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=762)) - Note: This is why I don’t believe video games or games as a medium are completely useless, if you play the right ones. Dungeons and Dragons for instance can teach many real life skills like role playing, social skills, arithmetic, storytelling, negotiation, and more. Games have these characteristics: They present us with models of real things — often highly abstracted. They are generally quantified or even quantized* models. They primarily teach us things that we can absorb into the unconscious, as opposed to things designed to be tackled by the conscious, logical mind. They mostly teach us things that are fairly primitive behaviors (but they don’t have to). ([Location 786](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=786)) ##### Chapter 5. What Games Aren’t Games are not stories (though players can create stories from them).* ([Location 884](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=884)) Games tend to be experiential teaching. Stories teach vicariously. ([Location 886](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=886)) Games are good at objectification. Stories are good at empathy. ([Location 886](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=886)) Games tend to quantize, reduce, and classify. Stories tend to blur, deepen, and make subtle distinctions. ([Location 887](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=887)) Games are external — they are about people’s actions. Stories (good ones, anyway) are internal — they are about people’s emotions and thoughts. ([Location 888](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=888)) Games are generators of player narratives. Stories provide a narrative. ([Location 889](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=889)) My personal breakdown would look a lot like Lazzaro’s: ([Location 910](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=910)) Fun is the act of mastering a problem mentally. ([Location 911](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=911)) Aesthetic appreciation isn’t always fun, but it’s certainly enjoyable. ([Location 912](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=912)) Visceral reactions are generally physical in nature and relate to physical mastery of a problem. ([Location 913](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=913)) Social status signals of various sorts are intrinsic to our self-image and our standing in a community. ([Location 914](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=914)) All of these things make us feel good when we’re successful at them, but lumping them all together as “fun” just renders the word meaningless. So throughout this book, when I have referred to “fun,” I’ve meant only the first one: mentally mastering problems. ([Location 915](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=915)) so fun can appear in any of those settings. That’s because all of these are feedback mechanisms the brain gives us for successfully exercising survival tactics. ([Location 918](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=918)) Beauty is found in the tension between our expectation and the reality. It is only found in settings of extreme order. ([Location 948](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=948)) Fun, as I define it, is the feedback the brain gives us when we are absorbing patterns for learning purposes. ([Location 956](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=956)) Fun is primarily about practicing and learning, not about exercising mastery. ([Location 959](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=959)) The lesson here is that fun is contextual. The reasons why we are engaging in an activity matter a lot. ([Location 961](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=961)) I think there’s a good case to be made that having fun is a key evolutionary advantage right next to opposable thumbs in terms of importance. ([Location 973](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=973)) - Note: If you can learn to derive fun from just learning like I do all of life can become a profoundly fun experience. fun isn’t flow. You can find flow in countless activities, but they aren’t all fun. Most of the cases where we typically cite flow relate to exercising mastery, not learning. ([Location 990](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=990)) - Note: Meditation for instance. Fun isn’t the only reason to play a game with a system, of course: ([Location 993](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=993)) Practice. Practice is a very common thing to do with games. ([Location 994](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=994)) Meditation. Although meditation is poorly studied in the sciences, there are common elements that recur in various practices around the world: using a focus object of some sort, such as a mantra or breathing pattern, and engaging in repetitive behavior. Many games work well for this. ([Location 997](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=997)) Storytelling. Some games come with stories, and of course, a player can always construct a narrative of events after the fact. ([Location 999](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=999)) Comfort. The act of playing in a space which is fully understood, where one can exercise mastery with little risk, can provide a welcome break from a challenging life. ([Location 1002](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1002)) ##### Chapter 6. Different Fun for Different Folks Anecdotally, players tend to prefer certain types of games in ways that seem to correspond to their personalities. There is an effort now by game designer Jason VandenBerghe to find hard data on correlations between the Five Factor Model and the types of games that people play.* ([Location 1054](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1054)) This may seem obvious, but different people bring different experiences to the table. This implies they will have differing levels of ability in solving specific types of problems. ([Location 1057](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1057)) As games become more prevalent in society, we’ll likely see more young girls using the amazing brain-rewiring abilities of games to train themselves up and become more comfortable with the kinds of games the boys always liked. There has been research showing that girls who play “boys’ games,” such as sports, tend to break out of traditional gender roles years later, whereas girls who stick to “girls’ games” tend to adhere to the traditional stereotypes more strictly.* ([Location 1085](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1085)) This argues pretty strongly that if people are to achieve their maximum potential, they need to do the hard work of playing the games they don’t get, the games that don’t appeal to their natures. ([Location 1089](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1089)) ##### Chapter 7. The Problem with Learning Once players look at a game and ascertain the pattern and the ultimate goal, they’ll try to find the optimal path to getting there. ([Location 1113](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1113)) In other words, many players are willing to cheat. ([Location 1116](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1116)) the destiny of games is to become boring, not to be fun.* Those of us who want games to be fun are fighting a losing battle against the human brain because fun is a process and routine is its destination. ([Location 1165](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1165)) most games in history have been competitive head-to-head activities. It’s the easiest way to constantly provide a new flow of challenges and content. ([Location 1210](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1210)) Historically, competitive game-playing of all sorts has tended to squeeze out the people who most need to learn the skills it provides, simply because they aren’t up to the competition and they are eliminated in their first match. This is the essence of the Mastery Problem. Because of this, a lot of people prefer games that take no skill. These people are definitely failing to exercise their brains correctly. Not requiring skill from a player should be considered a cardinal sin in game design. ([Location 1212](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1212)) Most classic games consist of relatively few systems that fit together elegantly. ([Location 1235](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1235)) - Note: This makes them easy to learn but hard to master. The lesson for designers is simple: a game is destined to become boring, automated, cheated, and exploited. Your sole responsibility is to know what the game is about and to ensure that the game teaches that thing. ([Location 1238](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1238)) But no system should be in the game that does not contribute towards that lesson. ([Location 1240](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1240)) ##### Chapter 8. The Problem with People The holy grail of game system design is to make a game where the challenges are never ending, the skills required are varied, and the difficulty curve is perfect and adjusts itself to exactly our skill level. Someone did this already, though, and it’s not always fun. It’s called “life.” Maybe you’ve played it. ([Location 1246](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1246)) But is this futile? I mean, all these designers are trying to expand the possibility space...and all the players are trying to reduce it, just as fast as they can. You see, humans are wired in some interesting ways. If something has worked for us before, we’ll tend to do it again. We’re really very resistant to discarding prior learning. We’re conservative at heart, and we grow more so as we age. ([Location 1264](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1264)) Making you feel good about yourself in a pretend arena isn’t what games are for. Games are for offering challenges, so that you can then turn around and apply those techniques to real problems. Going back through defeated challenges in order to pass time isn’t a productive exercise of your brain’s abilities. Nonetheless, lots of people do it. ([Location 1304](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1304)) ##### Chapter 9. Games in Context engaging in interaction with games need not be fun, either, but might indeed be fulfilling, thought-provoking, challenging, and also difficult, painful, and even compulsive. ([Location 1390](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1390)) The reason why the rise of critique and academia surrounding games is important is that it finally adds the missing element to put games in context with the rest of human endeavor. It signals their arrival as a medium. Considering how long they have been around, they’re a little late to the party. Once games are seen as a medium, we can start worrying about whether they are a medium that permits art. All other media do, after all. ([Location 1396](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1396)) If anything, the great irony about games, put in context with other media, is that they may afford less scope to the designer, who has less freedom to impose, less freedom to propagandize. Game systems are not good at conveying specifics, only generalities. ([Location 1500](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1500)) ##### Chapter 10. The Ethics of Entertainment ##### Chapter 11. Where Games Should Go Games thus far have not really worked to extend our understanding of ourselves. Instead, games have primarily been an arena where human behavior — often in its crudest, most primitive form — is put on display. ([Location 1633](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1633)) The reason why games as a medium are not mature, despite their prehistoric origins, is not because we haven’t reliably mastered creating fun, or that we do not have a vocabulary to define fun, or terminology to describe features or mechanics. It’s not because we only know how to create power fantasies. It’s because when you feed a plant through a musical trellis, the trellis-maker can shape the plant into many possible forms. When you feed a plant through a literary trellis, the writer can shape the plant into many possible forms. When you feed a player through a game trellis, right now, we tend to speak only of “fun” and “boring.” Mastery of the medium of games will have to imply authorial intent. The formal systems must be capable of invoking desired learning patterns. If they can’t, then games are a second-rate art form, and always will be. ([Location 1661](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GK5SRFY&location=1661)) ##### Chapter 12. Taking Their Rightful Place