Welcome to Raph Koster's personal website: MMOs, gaming, writing, art, music, books.
Welcome to Raph Koster's personal website: MMOs, gaming, writing, art, music, books.

The whole Web
Raph's Website


Essays
These are full-blown essays, papers, and articles.

Presentations
Slideshows and presentation materials from conferences.

Interviews and Panels
Reprints of non-game-specific interviews, and transcripts of panels and roundtables.

Snippets
Excerpts from blog, newsgroup, and forum posts.

Laws
The "Laws of Online World Design" in various forms.

Timeline
A timeline of developments in online worlds.

A Theory of Fun for Game Design
My book on why games matter and what fun is.

Insubstantial Pageants
A book I started and never finished outlining the basics of online world design.

Links
Links to resources on online world design.



A Test to Determine Which of Bartle's Types You Are

This survey is an impromptu one to help you see what sort of mud player you are. There'll be a set of questions--then you answer one of the four choices. Keep score of how many you answered as a, b, c or d. After we're done, you can then tell us all what type you are... and then I'll talk some about what the types mean.

Some of these you may think that you can't pick just one answer--you HAVE to pick only one.

(1) What is the goal of mudding here?

(2) What is the point of a new area?

(3) What are levels for?

(4) What are other people on the mud for?

(5) Which of these are you more likely to say?

(6) Which is more important to successful mudding?

(7) What is the mud?

(8) What are you prouder of, of your mud accomplishments?

(9) Again, what are you prouder of?

(10) What is the point in knowledge of the mud?

(11) Which is nicer to add?

(12) Which is cooler?

(13) Which matters more?

(14) What is the most important command?

(15) What is the mud:

(16) Again, what is the mud?

(17) what is the mud?

(18) Does this game have an "end"?

(19) Is the mud a game at all?


OK, some of you will have totals spread evenly across the board, and some of you will have a, b, c, or d noticeably more emphasized.

Just add up how many times shows up. If you had to answer a AND b, it counts in both a and b.

Those who have high "A" are "Achievers." You are interested in kicking the game's butt, levelling, racking up numbers.

Those of you who have high in B are "Explorers". You think that levelling is secondary to mastering all the little details, and you like to poke around because it is FUN to poke around. It also means that you are therefore the type who answers surveys like this one.

Type C is "Socializers". You may as well go MUSH. :) It means that you are here because of the friendships, the people, etc. The community, in other words.

If you are type D, that means you are a "Killer". Basically, you not only are clanned, but you also think PK rocks, and enjoy controlling the mud that way.


Last thing--another question.
What is the mud?

The answer is, all of 'em, to different types. A to achievers, b to explorers, c to social types, and d to killers...

Based on research by Dr. Richard Bartle.

Child's Play


A Theory of Fun
for Game Design

Cover of A Theory of Fun

Press

Excerpts

Buy from Amazon


After the Flood

Cover for After the Flood CD

Available on CD
$14.99


More stuff to buy

Gratuitous Penguin 2006 Wall Calendar

Gratuitous Penguin 2006 Wall Calendar
$18.99


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