In the last few days, I’ve seen this huge huge spike in the web traffic for the book’s website. I have no idea why. Glancing at the logs, I see that a lot of it seems to be driven by downloads of presentations such as the keynote I gave at Training Fall 2005.
This got me curious as to whether this was driven by academic traffic, since that group was trainers and educators. Are you using A Theory of Fun as a text?
- Seton Hill
- USC
- New Mexico State University
- MIT
- RIT
- Purdue
- Trinity
- University of Washington
- Austin Community College
- NC State University
- UT San Antonio
- UC Santa Cruz
- Brown
- Utah State
- Georgia State
- Georgia Tech
- Clarkson
- Ohio University
- Plymouth State
It can be hard to tell which of these are using the original PDF as opposed to the book, by the way. Plus it looks like Cornell and the University of Florida have at least told their students to pick it up as additional reading as part of coursework.
In any case — to satisfy my curiosity, any of you readers out there the Intarweb seen it being used this way, or use it this way now?
Oh, and if you do, what do you wish it had done differently? I didn’t write it as a textbook, obviously.
18 Responses to “Are you using A Theory of Fun as a text?”
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I’ve been promoting the book via the top page of the website for the past six months or so. I would hope that some of them may have passed it on. That would probably account for a percentage of the UW hits.
I kept coming across it on Amazon.com due to my particular buying history as a game art and design student at the Art Institute Online. I’m graduating soon and am planning on recommending the book to my portfolio instructor, Jeannie Novak, if she hasn’t already read it. I think it would be a great book to add to the curriculum for our “Game Design and Game Play” class or others. It was probably more informative as a casual book than an equivalent “textbook.” As you said *in* the book, learning is fun! 🙂
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I did visit the book’s site the other day, just to see if anything extra/new had been added.
But I did just finish reading the book today (not as part of a class). More because I enjoyed reading your blog and insights that you share. I really enjoyed it and I’m sure that it is will one that I will read again. There are so many things that we take for granted. For me, I find that it is good to stop once in a while and really think on those “granted” issues, because we may not see the real root of the problem. 5 Stars 🙂
Weird. Since I’m a poor college student, I requested your book at our library yesterday so I have something to read on the plane to SGS. Personally, I chalk it up to the holloween season and everyone wanting to have fun 🙂
If this matters: I requested the book from the Denver Public Library, which didn’t have a copy, so they are borrowing it from either the Denver University Library or the Colorado State University Library.
I don’t know if I will be using it in a strict academic sense with all the proper MLA citations and what not, since I’m done with my game design classes. However, I consider it part of my overall (self) education and I’ll be sure to cite you if it becomes applicable in the future. Nevertheless, I look forward to an entertaining read!
I’ve been recomending it a lot on campus! It’s cool, because several different academic disciplines are really starting to get into games over here in Norway and I always recomend this book as a starting point for people. Firstly because it’s just such pure joy to read and secondly, because your arguments open a lot of doors to new ways of thinking about games. And I also find it is a great defining theory of what games really are. So, I don’t know if this is creating any extra traffic, but I’ve certainly been writing your name and “A Theory of Fun” on a lot of notes lately!
Otherwise, I’m using you myself when I try to define what the hell ‘fun’ really is! I’ve found that I don’t agree 100% with you, but I’ll leave that discussion for a later date when I’m more certain!
[…] (Leave a comment) 10:16 pmraphkoster[Link] Are you using A Theory of Fun as a text?http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/RaphsWebsite/~3/39448361/https://www.raphkoster.com/2006/10/20/are-you-using-a-theory-of-fun-as-a-text/In the last few days, I’ve seen this huge huge spike in the web traffic for the book’s website. I have no idea why. Glancing at the logs, I see that a lot of it seems to be driven by downloads of presentations such as the keynote I gave at Training Fall 2005. […]
Mostly we should be concerned that a book that has no foundation in reality is being used in ‘higher learning’.
You can add Georgia Tech to the list. I’m using it in one of my classes this term (the book, not the PDF). But we’re using it as a book in a theoretical part of our syllabus, not as a game design textbook (as you note, it’s not a textbook).
Don’t worry about that, skeptic. It happens all the time.
Raph, isn’t it obvious? Next Gen listed your book as one of the top fifty books to read in the industry.
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3962&Itemid=34&limit=1&limitstart=2
Philip, I know; I blogged about it at the time. That wouldn’t explain why the most hit file is the Training Fall presentation, though.
I’m using it next semester in a course on narrative in new media (along with a more traditional book on narrative theory, and lots of example new media things).
I don’t use it as a text, but I have mentioned it several times to my students. You’re just a popular guy 🙂
I neglected to mention (just above) this is a course at Clarkson University in the Communication and Design department.
{humbled}
I recommended it for the General Design Fundamentals class at Full Sail when I went through the course. I talked to the instructor for the class a few months back and she said she was intending to add it to the reading material, but I don’t know whether she has yet or not.
I’d hardly say I’ve contributed massive quantities of web traffic from it, but I did read A Theory of Fun for my game design fundamentals semester (self-designed curriculum). I discuss it several times in my bachelor’s thesis (did I mention I went to a bit of an… alternative college?), which you can read in snippets at Critical Games, or you can email me and I’ll send you the full PDF (and the keynote presentation I gave to accompany it).