Theory of Fun for Game Design, 2nd Edition

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to all those who have helped me clarify the thoughts that went into this book, through their writing and direct conversation and by challenging my assumptions. The following are in no particular order:

For the original edition: Cory Ondrejka for passionately dreaming the dream; Ben Cousins for “ludeme” and pursuing empirical approaches; David Kennerly for loving the ludemes; Gordon Walton and Rich Vogel for mentoring, mentoring, mentoring—and letting go; J. C. Lawrence for creating the forum; Jesper Juul for questioning the premise; Jessica Mulligan for opening the art question; John Buehler for the emotion questions; John Donham for indulging and interest; Lee Sheldon for insisting on story; Nicole Lazzaro for introducing me to research on emotion; Noah Falstein for treading down a similar path—keep an eye out for his book; Richard Bartle for the playspace, and for advocating authorial intent; Richard Garriott for injecting ethics; Rod Humble for listening to very long rambles; Sasha Hart for the human condition questions; Timothy Burke and many other players for forcing me to consider the question; Will Wright for insight into formal game systems.

Extra special thanks to those who helped make the book in its original form come together: Kurt Squire for introducing Ben to the original presentation, Ben Sawyer for editing, Dave Taylor and Patricia Pizer ...