Theory of Fun for Game Design, 2nd Edition

Appendix A. Epilogue: Fun Matters, Grandpa

It’s been a long journey for me, and I don’t doubt that as my kids continue to grow, it will seem even longer.

I have watched them start to learn the concepts of respect for one another.

I have watched them understand that resources are limited and that things must be shared.

Every day, they connect an astounding number of new neurons; they learn a flabbergasting number of new words, and they develop in ways I can barely remember and barely glimpse.

Games are helping them along that path, and for that I am grateful. I’m not immune to the desire that my children be better off, after all, and I’ll take any tool that helps us along that path.

A lot of old age is attributable to losing neurons, losing connections, losing the patterns we have built up, settling into fewer and fewer until all we can do is stand by helplessly as the world dissolves into noise around us. We’d all be better off if we kept our minds limber by pushing them to always tackle new problems.

Not too long before my grandfather died, he told me, “I’m thinking of getting one of those computer things. It doesn’t seem like the Internet is all that different from ham radio. Maybe I’ll give it a try.”

I learned of my grandfather’s passing when I arrived at a hotel in San Jose, where I was ...