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Opening Keynote At GDC 2005

Posted by Zonk on from the sorry-i-missed-it-raph dept.

RobotWisdom writes "Alice of the Wonderland weblog has managed to transcribe and post the opening keynote address by Raph Koster from the Game Developers' Conference. It was based on his book, 'A Theory of Fun'. My favorite quotes: 'Fun is the feedback the brain gives while successfully absorbing a pattern.' and 'The differences between Cheers, Friends, and a medieval morality play are NOT THAT BIG.' Very upbeat, thought-provoking and inspiring." As an FYI: I'll be leaving for the sunny western coast in less than 8 hours. Expect coverage all week starting as soon as I get over jet lag tomorrow.

3 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Review of his book by Orbruelor · · Score: 4, Informative

    Slashdot recently reviewed his book, and after reading the excerpt in TFA, I'm even more interested in checking his book out.

    Review here

    What he said definitely rings true with me. I enjoy playing games, but once I can read the patterns, it becomes monkey work to implement them - hence not fun. Similarly I find the same is true at work. I enjoy work that involves problem solving or analysis, however if the patterns seem too easy - I see it as monkey work and am turned off.

    Main point I took away: Fun lies between too easy and too hard, at the point where you "get" the patterns.

  2. Not the Keynote to GDC by VonGuard · · Score: 5, Informative

    Raph Koster was not the keynote speaker for the Game Developers Conference, as this story states. Raph Koster was the keynote speaker for the Serious Games Summit, a smaller event that takes place at the GDC. The real keynote speakers will be talking later this week, and are from Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. Sony consoles, that is, not Sony online, like Raph.

    --
    Don't Crease the Weasel!
  3. Re:Why San Francisco...? by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 2, Informative

    Anyway, why is the GDC in San Francisco instead of San Jose?

    Have you ever been to the Moscone Center?

    1. Sony Metreon - geek play-land, including the horribly named new "Walk of Game," a Warhammer store, a Playstation Store, a "gadgets" store, an anime/comics shop, and free wireless. In a cool, if already slightly dated techno-utopian piece of boom-era architecture.

    2. Yerba Buena Gardens.

    3. SF Museum of Modern Art.

    4. The best restaurants in the US.

    5. Culture.

    6. It's San Francisco. Even when it smells like pee, it's better than just about anywhere else in the US not smelling like pee. And it doesn't always smell like pee.

    San Jose is so... south bay.