Interviews and panels

Ptah: God of the Mud

“God of the Mud” was done by Laura Mollett, aka Seph, and is a good introductory article about muds and mudding in general.

Mud Connector

The Mud Connector interview was done when Legend won Mud of the Month in 1995, and it is mostly about how Legend developed and got started.

CRPG Tavern

The CRPGTavern interview from August 1997 is the only UO-related interview thus far that doesn’t deal solely with UO-centric material. Since it is about general design of muds and online games, I’ve included it here with the interviewer’s permission.

MediaMOO

MediaMOO Conference: Managing Deviant Behavior in Online Communities

Properly speaking, the MediaMOO conference is not an interview–it’s actuallya panel discussion that sort of turned into a roundtable discussion. The other invited participants were Scott Moore, formerly of WorldsAway, and Jennifer Glos, of the ThirdAge website community. January, 1999.

VaultNetwork Designer Dragon Interview: Community Building (April, 1999)

The VaultNetwork is one of the topnews websites relating to roleplaying games. They asked me to do an interview on the topic of community building online. It is reproduced here with theirpermission.

MediaMOO

MediaMOO Conference: Using 3D Graphics in Online Communities: Opportunities and Challenges (March, 2000)

Once again, MediaMOO kindly invited me to participate in a roundtable discussion to celebrate their anniversary. Other participants this year included Lili Cheng, of Microsoft Research; Wendy Kellogg, from the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center; and Hannes Vilhjalmson, from the MIT Media Lab.

Myschyf’s Roundtable: Fiction in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (June, 2000)

The Rantings of Lum the Mad decided to do some talks with many online game designers gathered in one IRC chat room, and this is what came out.

VaultNetwork Raph Koster Interview (September, 2000)

The VaultNetwork was doing a series ofgeneral interviews with various online game designers, and I was one of them.Reproduced with their permission.

Joystick101 interview (November 26th, 2000)

Kurt Squire of Joystick101.org did an interview with me on general MMORPG and mud design topics.

Myschyf’s Roundtable: Economic and Political Systems in MMORPGs (November 2nd, 2000)

As before, Myschyf over at The Rantingsof Lum the Mad decided to do a roundtable with a bunch of online game designers from abunch of different games. This is the result.

Shift.com’s Gaming the Matrix (June 13, 2001)

Shift.com did a four-part series onthe question of whether or not online game players would ever find themselves forgettingthere was a real world, as in the movie The Matrix. I was one of theinterviewees. Reprinted here by permission.

Rapping With Raph (November, 2001)

Computer Games Magazine, in theperson of Mark Asher, did a very lengthy interview as part of a major feature on onlinegaming. Reprinted here by permission.

What it Takes to be a Junior/Entry Game Designer

This was a little questionnaire that I did for the IGDA.

Building a Third Generation Persistent World

This panel is mostly lost, except for the somewhat famous “get over yourselves, the rest of the world is coming” quote — which is here along with a snippet of audio.

Warcry Interview, February 2004

This was one of a series of interviews done by Warcry with MMO developers, shortly after I became Chief Creative Officer at Sony Online.

A Conversation with Raph Koster

This interview first appeared in Game Studies, Volume 5, Issue 1, October 2005, but was actually conducted during GDC 2004.

GameSpy LiveWire interview, E3 2004

I did this interview during the publicity work for Jump to Lightspeed, the spaceflight expansion for Star Wars Galaxies.

Making the AAA Title: Letters from the Trenches (March, 2005)

An interview by Dan Arey of Naughty Dog, as part of his GDC presentation.

Masaya Matsuura: HyperPS2 interview (November, 2005)

Masaya Matsuura, designer of Parappa the Rapper, did this brief interview with me for Hyper PS2 magazine in Japan.

The KGC Interview: Define the Future (November, 2005)

The 2005 Korea Games Conference sent every speaker a set of interview questions. Here are my replies.

O’Reilly Village Interview (November, 2005)

Masaya Matsuura did a second interview of me for The Japanese O’Reilly Village website.

The Metaverse Roadmap Interview (May, 2006)

This was recorded at Stanford Research Institute International in Menlo Park, California, in May 2006 at the Metaverse Roadmap Summit. Recorded by the Imagining the Internet Center, a non-profit, global-good initiative of Elon University, located in North Carolina, USA, http://www.imaginingtheinternet.org

Raph Gone Wild

It’s late on Friday, the final day of the Austin Games Conference. Everyone is tired, hung over, or, most likely, both. And yet, much work remains to be done. A small corps of the 101st Fighting F13 platoon cornered a well-known game designer in an obscure, mostly-empty room tucked safely away from the receding tumult of the convention at large.

Stratics Areae Interview (December, 2006)

Stratics posted this interview on Christmas Day, 2006, right after Areae was announced..

Talk of the Nation

A national NPR radio interview.

The Guardian: Raph Koster Talks Areae

This was one of the first interviews about what eventually became Metaplace. January 19th, 2007.

GDC07 – Raphing It Up

You read that right – we did actually sit down with Raph at GDC this year. Belatedly, we bring you the first in a short series of articles, consisting of transcripts from the marathon interview conducted at the very beginning of the conference.

f13 AGC07 Interview

Raph Koster, President of Areae, Inc., author, speaker and game designer, allowed us to interview him at this year’s Austin Game Developer’s Conference. He was joined by Areae’s Community Manager, Tami Baribeau. A productive and insightful interview, despite not being able to tell us exactly what his company is currently working on.

Warcry Network: AGDC 07 Interview with Raph Koster

This interview is presented in article format, and was given at GDC Austin in 2007.

Metaverse U: A Conversation with Koster, Ondrejka, and Rheingold

Stanford held a conference called Metaverse U in 2008 about the future of virtual worlds, and this panel was one of the centerpieces.

MIT Futures of Entertainment: Fan Labor

MIT hosts a conference on the Futures of Entertainment. This was a panel on the role of fans and the work they produce.

Raph Koster: The Escapist Interview

This interview was conducted by Dana Massey in 2008 and is another one associated with the round of press for Metaplace.

SoCalTech interview

Another interview related to Metaplace and its funding.

The MMOGamer: A Meeting in Rancho Bernardo

This enormous interview and article was done for The MMOGamer, and it’s got a wealth of information on Metaplace.

Rock Paper Shotgun: Raph Koster on the MMO.

I did this interview in 2008 while working on Metaplace.

Raph’s Happy Metaplace

It’s something of a tradition here at F13 for us to sit down with Raph Koster of Areae.net at least once a year and accost him with all manner of exotically-themed questions. This year is no different; while we weren’t able to meet up at the recent Austin Game Developers Conference, we did manage to get a few minutes of Raph’s time before he jetted off to London.

Metaplace e altre storie

This Metaplace-related interview from 2009 is here in both English and Italian.

The Metaverse Journal interview

Another Metaplace-related interview from early 2009.

Metaplace’s Raph Koster

This interview with Eurogamer took place in December of 2009, just as we were deciding to shut down the Metaplace service and switch over to social games. But I couldn’t talk about that yet!

The RPG Fanatic: Online Games – Raph Koster

Another broad interview covering a wide array of topics, this one is a video. 10/26/2011.

Inside Social Apps: Mergers and Acquisitions

At the Inside Social Apps conference in 2011, I took part in a panel. The description: “Some of the world’s largest media companies and game publishers have made major acquisitions of social game developers in the last 18 months. We’ve also seen consolidation in the space through several acquisitions of small-to-midsize developers. As we begin 2011, what do the shifting landscapes in the media and games industries mean for M&A activity, and potential acquisition targets, in the year ahead?”

OGDA interview

I met with the Omaha Game Developers Association in a Google Hangout for a couple of hours of interview-style questions. The whole thing was streamed live on YouTube and also captured afterwards, so here it is for those who have the patience.

MMORPG.com Live Forum Q&A with Raph Koster

This was a live forum Q&A, sort of an “Ask Me Anything.” The discussion was quite wide-ranging. It took place on 10/16/2013.

MMOFringe Q&A

This was another live forum Q&A.

Indie Grassroots Marketing

I moderated this panel at GDCNext in 2014, featuring Zach Gage. Rami Ismail, and Adam Saltsman.

Entrevista con The Force Peru Fan Club

This was an interview mostly on Star Wars Galaxies and the Star Wars franchise, given to a fan club in Peru during my visit there in 2015.

Entrevista con TEC TV

This was an interview done in Spanish while I was in Peru during my visit there in 2015.

Aweita interview

Yet another video interview done in Spanish while I was in Peru.

Gamer Channel TV

Yes, another video interview done in Spanish while I was in Peru!

MMORPG.com interview

In January, ArtCraft Entertainment, cofounded by J. Todd Coleman and Gordon Walton, announced that Koster was collaborating on Crowfall, which the company describes as “the unholy love child of Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and EVE Online.” MMORPG.com contributing writer Morgan Ramsay caught up with Koster to talk about his role on the ArtCraft team, Crowfall, and how they’re applying the lessons he has learned.

Getting2Alpha: The Nature of Gaming

This interview was done for Amy Jo Kim’s Getting2Alpha podcast.

Markee Dragon: Designing a Game on the Fly

This interview was done during AGC16, and is about game design and inspirations.

Gaming Legends with Dr. Cat

Dr Cat did a 13 hour marathon session of Twitch stream hangouts with fellow game developers, and I was one.

GamesIndustry.biz Podcast on GDC17

I joined Justin Ma of FTL fame for a discussion moderated by Dan Pearson while at GDC 2017. The discussion ranged around the GDC experience, trends we saw, and a discussion of the state of indie development as a business.

Abstract Games

“Games are the art of math”, argues Raph Koster. “They are teaching us the system of themselves.” Looking through his collection of ancient, abstract games, Koster brings to life these seemingly narrative-free objects in front of us with stories about the societies that created them – Ur is about life in a competitive society, Tafl is about the paradoxical vulnerability of the ruling class.

Game Thinking Live

This interview was done as part of the Game Thinking Live event hosted by Amy Jo Kim.

Clockwork Game Design: Game Grammar and Game Design Theory – Interview with Raph Koster

Keith Burgun of the Clockwork Game Design podcast interviewed me; we talked about videogame emulation, game grammar, and more.

Ludology Episode 169: Raphic Design

Welcome to Ludology, an analytical discussion of the how’s and why’s of the world of board games. Rather than news and reviews, Ludology explores a variety of topics about games from a wider lens, as well as discuss game history, game design and game players. Gil and Geoff are thrilled to welcome Raph Koster, author of A Theory of Fun, and video game designer. We talk about a wide range of topics, include MMOs, keeping players engaged, emotions in games, and, of course, fun.

AI Wish List: What Do Designers Want out of AI?

In 2012 and 2013, long-time game designer Warren Spector called out the discipline of AI in games as being too focused on “combat and pathfinding”, urging designers to expand into non-combat behaviors, social interactivity, and other areas. To this end, this panel brings designers from across the industry together and asks, “what is YOUR wishlist for AI?” Whether it be character AI, procedural content, animation, speech, or “director”-style pacing and content delivery, the panel won’t necessarily focus on the practical of “what can we do” but explore “what COULD we do?” The goal is to give AI programmers ideas for “what SHOULD we do?” This panel was moderated by Dave Mark and also featured Richard Lemarchand, Laralyn McWilliams, Noah Falstein, and Robin Hunicke.

Spam Spam Spam Humbug interview

What better way to mark the 20th anniversary of Ultima Online than by hearing stories from the original designer thereof? This pair of podcast interviews were done around September of 2017, and posted on the podcast in two parts on October 4th and 18th.

UOForever livestream

On April 29th 2018 I was invited to hang out on a livestream on UOForever, one of the many grayshards that emulate Ultima Online. This is the resulting conversation, chock-full of old UO stories and images of design notes never seen before.

Jømp interview

While I was in Norway for Konsoll 2018 I did an interview with Jømp. It touches on the challenges of working with established intellectual properties and big brands, what consulting is like, and other topics.

Designing With Systems featuring Mike Sellers and Raph Koster

What is systems thinking? And why is it crucial for product leaders, designers and executives to understand it? Dive into this timely topic with my guests today on the Game Thinking Talk Show: Raph Koster (author, Theory of Fun) and Mike Sellers (author, Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach). Both Raph and Mike are experienced game designers who specialize in MMOs – massively multiplayer online worlds that connect thousands of people and deliver compelling shared experiences. Listen in and level-up your understanding of how to build, tune and understand the systems that drive long-term engagement.

Origins of Game Thinking

In this interview with gaming legend Raph Koster, we explore the origins of Game Thinking during the dawn of online MMOs.

Vision for Game Design in a Streaming Future

The legendary Amy Hennig and a panel of experts explore the exciting possibilities presented by Stadia, Google’s new gaming platform. Take a look at what Google’s approach to streaming means for developers. Host Erin Hoffman-John welcomes Hennig and industry veterans Raph Koster, Gary Snethen from Crystal Dynamics, and San Mehat from Google.

In the Long Run

Game development is more than the mere developing of games. The industry is still young, and sometimes immature. As individuals, developers can be fragile and frail, sometimes more enthusiastic than realistic. They build circles of trust out of necessity among family and friends, but can’t always think further than the next project. This session will talk a bit about the long term perspective, “the long run”, about a full (and long) life in game development. The speaker will discuss how developers as individuals, as companies and as a community, can support and encourage life-long careers in game development. Panel with Raph Koster, Brie Code, JC Lau, Henrik Jonsson, Osama Dorias.

Dealing with Gamers Across the Decades

This on-stage interview took place at GamesBeat in Los Angeles on April 23rd, 2019.

The Art of LiveOps: Raph Koster

We are excited to announce the launch of a new podcast that we are hosting, The Art of LiveOps. In each bi-weekly episode, we will be interviewing game creators working at the cutting edge of LiveOps to share valuable lessons, perspectives, and yes, disaster stories of LiveOps gone wrong. We’ve created this podcast because we believe effective LiveOps is critical to the success of modern games, but there’s simply too little knowledge and information out there about how to do it right. In our first episode, we talk with Raph Koster, a legendary game designer who has worked in online games since 1993 and was the lead designer behind Ultima Online as well as the creative director for Star Wars Galaxies. Raph was there at the birth of modern LiveOps in early MUDs and MMORPG games, so what better guest for our first episode?

This podcast was released on August 18th, 2019.

TNW Answers: Raph Koster

This open Q&A session took place shortly after the announcement of Playable Worlds, and features questions drawn from the audience on November 13th, 2019.

Fireside Chat, Bitkraft Summit LA 2020

As part of our BITKRAFT Summit 2020 in Los Angeles, legendary game designer Raph Koster sat together with our founding partner Scott Rupp to discuss his entrepreneurial experience in game development, cloud gaming, and MMOs—and share exclusive details on his new venture.

How MMOs have evolved

This panel was put together by MeinMMO, GamePro, and Gamestar for the E3 that didn’t happen in 2020. The other guest is Gordon Walton. Leya Jankowski of the MeinMMO website moderates.

The Metaverse, Online Worlds, MMOs and virtual societies

The inaugural fireside chat from Building the Metaverse, where Jon Radoff speaks with thought-leaders, game-makers and metaverse-builders. We talk about what the metaverse is, its origins, the future of virtual societies, distributed autonomous organizations (DAOs), interoperability and some of the key concepts that go all the way back to early multiuser dungeons (MUDs). We talk about Roblox, Minecraft, early virtual worlds like Second Life and everything in between… and do a bit of a slam against the “Ready Player One” version of the metaverse.

Raph Koster on The Metaverse, Cloud Native Gaming and Playable Worlds’ Project

If you’re a fan of online worlds, MMORPGs, or social media, chances are you’ve heard the term Metaverse a lot lately, even if it may not entirely be clear what it is. Is it just a buzz word used to hype a new upcoming game or is it the future of interconnected social interactions? Now that many high-profile companies are investing heavily to create or be part of ‘Metaverses’, we decided to pose the question to someone who has actually created a Metaverse in the past. Recently, MMORPG.COM was able to sit down with MMORPG Legend, Raph Koster, and talk a little about what a Metaverse is, as well as some details related to in-game economy theory, blockchain games, and an upcoming project that he’s been working on.

The Metacast by Naavik: Mastering Digital Worlds

In this episode, Raph Koster – legendary game designer, author of Theory of Fun for Game Design, and CEO of Playable Worlds – joins Naavik co-founder Aaron Bush to discuss game design, digital land, and more.

Game Design Career Fireside with Raph Koster

In this fireside chat, Game Developer senior editor Bryant Francis interviews Raph Koster, CEO of Playable Worlds, Inc. who has worked at EA, Sony, and Disney, and served as lead designer and director for titles like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies. They’ll discuss his career as a top game designer, what’s changed in the field since he wrote his classic book A Theory of Fun for Game Design, and what it’s like to have run his own company twice.

The Fourth Curtain Podcast: The Massive Reputation of Raph Koster

Hosts Alex Seropian (founder Bungie, Wideload, Industrial Toys) and Aaron Marroquin (Art Director, Game Designer, part time magician) take you on a tour of the minds that create our favorite video games. We may also wander around in our own heads too. We aim to inspire, educate and entertain you about the games you love, the people that make them and hey, if you’re not a gamer we know you know one, this will help you connect with them too. Come check out the podcast at TheFourthCurtain.com or where you listen to your favorite podcasts!

This week’s guest is a poet, writing the poetry of fun – or at least the prose. Author of the essential A Theory of Fun, creator of Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, he is likely the world’s foremost expert on MMOs.

Practical Steps to Making the Metaverse

The Metaverse may have suffered from too much vision and not enough substance. At our session, we’ve got some industry visionaries who have been working on metaverse ideas for decades. But instead of giving us some far-off vision, they’re going to talk about what’s doable now, and offer practical ideas that won’t take forever to build when it comes to bringing digital realms for all of us.Panelists: Raph Koster, Cory Ondrejka; moderated by Wagner James Au.

Indie Studio Startups: What Every Aspiring Founder Needs To Know

Join Lizzie Mintus for this episode of the Here’s Waldo Podcast, where she talks to Raph Koster, CEO of Playable Worlds, about gaming startups. Raph discusses how to raise startup funding, a 10-year outlook for the gaming industry, and what makes a video game fun.