A Theory of fun

What is fun exactly, how do we define it? Raph Koster wrote a great book about this in a book similarly titled A Theory of Fun in Game Design. He discusses many points which are extremely interesting and thought provoking.Such as how game designers or similarly titled roles in the industry, should be working not only to create the juvenile sci-fi/fantasy stories of young person becomes the hero and attempts to save the world and/or defeat the evil enemy. Instead we should be discussing and exploring different avenues of the human psyche.

My take on what he means is that games are not just for children with their juvenile stories, although they definitely have their place, instead as the industry grows and matures, so should the way games present their ideas and possibly be used as a social commentary for today's social climate. This should bring us very close, and rightly so, to the argument of Video Games as Art. Are they art, or just a children's toy? I feel they can be an art form, but we aren't there yet. We have to be able to break the social stigma that video games have to have story, plot, and be extremely goal oriented in order to be fun. Instead, look at games such as Brain Age, Wii Fit, and the like. These are things that video games should have been doing long ago, but they can also be improved upon dramatically.

Wii fit being my primary example, we can that existing underlying layer and create a potential backbone for something more. For example, now that we know Wii fit can be and is quite popular with the general masses, we can create a launching platform for an electronic personal trainer who can suggest excercises and other video games that can help with weight loss, strength building, or other facets of personal fitness. Things like DDR can have hooks with the Wii architecture which allow the Wii to track who, how long, and how many calories burned while said person played.

I personally don't know if it would be as well recieved, but it could be a very nice feature for people who have personal goals to do it in a more personal and potentially more fun environment. Thats it for today I think.

~Xi