Raphael "Raph" Koster (born September 7, 1971) is an American entrepreneur,

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

, and author of ''

A Theory of Fun for Game Design Raphael "Raph" Koster (born September 7, 1971) is an American entrepreneur, game designer, and author of '' A Theory of Fun for Game Design''. Koster is widely recognized for his work as the lead designer of '' Ultima Online'' and the creative d ...

''. Koster is widely recognized for his work as the lead designer of ''

Ultima Online ''Ultima Online'' (''UO'') is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems. Set in the '' Ultima'' universe, it is known for its extensive player versus player combat system. ...

'' and the creative director behind '' Star Wars Galaxies''. From 2006 until 2013 he worked as the founder and president of

Metaplace Metaplace was a software platform intended to democratize the development of virtual worlds, which was later used to make Facebook games. The company was established by '' Ultima Online'' and ''Star Wars Galaxies'' designer Raph Koster. According t ...

(previously operating as

Areae :''The word 'areae' is also the Latin plural of 'area'.'' Areae is an American computer technology corporation located in San Diego, California, that was established in July 2006 by Raph Koster. Areae has been officially changed to Metaplace ...

and acquired by social gaming company Playdom in 2010, which was in turn acquired by

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

) producing a

Facebook game A social network game (sometimes simply referred to as a social media game, social gaming, social video game or online social game) is a type of online game that is played through social networks or social media. They typically feature multipl ...

platform.

Biography

Koster attended

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...

Chestertown, Maryland Chestertown is a town in Kent County, Maryland, United States. The population was 5,252 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Kent County. History Founded in 1706, Chestertown rose in stature when it was named one of the English col ...

, receiving a bachelor's degree in English (

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

) and Spanish in 1992. The same year he became involved with MUDs as a developer of
Worlds of Carnage
', then in 1994 moved on to become implementor of '' LegendMUD'', where he was known as Ptah. He also played '' MUME'' for a time. On May 10, 1992, he married Kristen who would later work alongside him at

Origin Systems Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott, Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres ...

as a game designer. In 1995, he received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts ...

in Poetry from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population o ...

, and joined Origin Systems as the lead designer of Ultima Online. Koster was also the lead designer of '' Ultima Online: The Second Age'', ''

Ultima Online Live Ultima may refer to: Places * Ultima, Victoria, a town in Australia * Pangaea Ultima, a supercontinent to occur in the future * ''Ultima'', the larger lobe of the trans-Neptunian object 486958 Arrokoth, nicknamed ''Ultima Thule'' Companies and ...

'', and an unannounced and cancelled title until 2000, when he joined Verant Interactive in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

as the creative director of '' Star Wars Galaxies''. Promoted to

chief creative officer A chief creative officer (CCO) is the highest ranking position of the creative team within a company. Depending on the type of company, this position may be responsible for the overall look and feel of marketing, media, and branding associated wit ...

in 2003, he relocated to Sony Online Entertainment in San Diego where he spent three years primarily responsible for

business development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the creation of l ...

. In March 2006, Koster left the company to work on

which, at the end, was a social gaming platform for

s. Since 2013 he is an independent designer and consultant. Koster is a charter member of the

Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

, and a member of the IGDA,

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

, and

Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University i ...

. He is also a frequent speaker at game industry conferences such as the GDC,

DICE Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing ...

, State of Play, and E3. He presently lives in San Diego, California with his wife and family. In 2019, Koster and Eric Goldberg founded a new company
Playable Worlds
focused on creating an as-yet-unnamed MMORPG.

Credits

Games

* '' LegendMUD'' (emeritus implementor, 1994) * ''

'' (lead designer;

1997) * '' Ultima Online: The Second Age'' (lead designer; Origin Systems 1998) * '' Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided'' (creative director; Verant Interactive 2003) ** '' Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed'' (creative consultant; Sony Online Entertainment 2004) ** '' Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience'' (creative consultant; Sony Online Entertainment 2005) * '' EverQuest II'' (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2004) ** '' EverQuest II: Desert of Flames'' (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005) ** '' EverQuest II: Kingdom of Sky'' (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005) * '' Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade'' (chief creative officer and editor; Sony Online Entertainment 2005) * '' GripShift'' (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005) * '' Frantix'' (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005) * '' Champions: Return to Arms'' (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005) * '' Field Commander'' (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2006)

Discography

* ''After the Flood'' (1999)

Writing

* ''

'' —

Foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...

by Will Wright ()
"Declaring the Rights of Avatars"

A Story About A Tree
(May 1998), revolving around the '' Karyn incident''
"The Laws of Online World Design"
(GDC 1999 presentation) * Koster, Raph. "Geek Fun Isn't Frivolous; Alien Swarms of Thundering, Flashing Games Hit Town This Week. They're Here to Make Us Smarter." Los Angeles Times May 15, 2005, sec. M1.
"As Seen In Modern Lair"
(October 2007)

Awards

* ''Hot 100'' ( Next Generation 2006) * ''100 Greatest Developers'' (

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 ...

2006)

References

External links

Raph Koster's Website
*
''A Theory of Fun for Game Design'' official website

MobyGames Biography

"Raph Koster Leaves Sony Online Entertainment"
(

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

)

Interviews

* Pham, Alex. "Game Design; Building a Community—Even a Virtual One—Takes Work." Los Angeles Times Sep 6, 2001, sec. T5. * (Amber Night) * (Stratics)
Interview: March 22, 2006
(Game Studies)
Interview: July 25, 2006
( The Escapist)
Interview: March 10, 2007
(GameZombie.tv) * (The MMO Gamer)

Wikimania 2014

In the news

* BBC
Virtual worlds opened up to all
(September 19, 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Koster, Raph 1971 births American non-fiction writers American video game designers American game designers Living people Metaplace MUD developers MUD scholars Origin Systems people Video game designers Washington College alumni