A Theory of Fun for Game Design - by Raph Koster (Summary - PIV)

Chapter 4: What Games Teach Us

As we age, we think things are more serious and that we must leave frivolous things behind. Is that a valid judgement on games or is it a value judgment on the content of a given game? Do we avoid the notion of fun because we view the content of the fire drill as being of great import?

• The very phrase "it's just a game" implies that playing a game is a form of practice for a real life challenge.
• Exploring possibility space is the only way to learn avout it. Most games repeatedly throw evolving spaces at you so that you can explore the recurrence of symbols withim them.
• Some of the really important parts of exploration involve memory. A huge number of games involve recalling and managing very long and complex chains of information. (ex: dominoes)
• In the end; most games have something to do with power. Even the innocuous games of childhood tend to have violence lurking in their heart of hearts.
• Action games for example, they are all about reaction times, tactical awareness, assessing the weakness of an opponent, and judging when to strike.
• We pay attention to the obvious nature of a particular game and we miss the subtler point.
• Many games, particularly those that have evolved into the classic Olympian sports, can be directly traced back to the needs of primitive humans to survive under very difficult conditions.
• We do in fact evolve games that are more suited to our modern lives.
• Traditional role-playing can reach the same heights as literature in the right hand. But it's an uphill battle nonetheless, simply bacause games are at their core about teaching us survival skills. As we all know, when you're worried about subsistence and survival, more refined things tendo to fall by the wayside.
• It's still valuable to train ourselves in some of the caverman traits, but we need to adapt. It's worth asking ourselves what skills are more commonly needed today.
• Some of the new patterns we need to learn in our brave new world run contrary to our instinctive behaviors. For example, humans are tribal creatures. Most games encouraging demonizing the opponent, teaching a sort of ruthlessness that is a proven survival trait. But these days, we're less likely to need or want the scorched-earth victory. Can we create games that instead offer us greater insight into how the modern world works?
• Since the introduction to the concept of grabbing and using a weapong in a game was introduced not much has changed. The difference is that, today, instead of a single weapon for us to use in the game, we have a bewildering array of weapons.
• Possible algorithm for innovation -> find a new dimension to add into the gameplay. Recent games have included more robust stories and even elements from role-playing games. Are there more dimensions on which to expand?