Raph Koster Social Mechanics for Social Games

Cory has directed me to a new awesome presentation from Raph Koster.

A few highlights:

• Players compete to get stuff, and whatever I get, you can’t have.
• I can take your stuff, you can take my stuff
• A game where players have secret roles
• Transitions of state (birth, marriage, death, levelling up)

See also:

• Game ontology
• Chemistry of game design
• Game Mechanics
• Social mechanics talk from 2010 by Raph (small worlds)
• Single-Player, Multiplayer, MMOG: Design Psychologies for Different Social Contexts by Ernest
• Game Studies
• Commentary by Tadhg
• How little things escalate by Ryan
• GDCOnline: A Theory of Fun, 10 Years Later