A Funny Theory

I've got into a brief discussion with Raph Koster on his blog on reversing asymmetric games if you're interested. I've of course gone widely off the original topic, which is quite interesting in itself, and started arguing about whether, in a single player game, you are playing against the computer or the original game designer.

I know of Raph by reading some of his work on Terra Nova and because he gets name dropped quite a bit on Gamasutra and Sirlin's blog. I should really read his major work so far in the game-design field. I've steered clear of it because it sounds a little dry and academic: I mean 'A Theory of Fun in Game Design'. I feel like all the colour drains out of the world just saying it...

My bad. I'll go order it off Amazon now.