Raph Koster
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Raphael "Raph" Koster (b. 1971) is an American game designer and author, best known for being one of the lead designers of the ground-breaking MMORPG Ultima Online (winner of Game of the Year), and creative director behind Star Wars Galaxies.
Biography
Koster was born September 7, 1971. He attended Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, receiving a Bachelor's degree in English and Spanish in 1992. In 1995, he received a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Alabama main campus in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and became involved with multiplayer games via LegendMUD, where he was known as Ptah. When joining the Ultima Dragons, Raph selected the name Designer Dragon.Koster is a charter member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and a member of the IGDA, ASCAP, and Omicron Delta Kappa. He is also a frequent speaker at game industry conferences such as the GDC, DICE, State of Play, and E-3. He presently lives in San Diego, California with his wife, daughter, and son.
Works
Games
- LegendMUD (known as "Ptah")
- Ultima Online, Origin Systems, 1997 (co-lead designer, known as "Designer Dragon")
- , Origin Systems, 1998 (co-lead designer)
- Star Wars Galaxies, 2003 Verant Interactive (creative director, known as "Holocron")
- Untold Legends, Sony Online Entertainment (chief creative officer)
- Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed, Sony Online Entertainment, 2004 (creative consultant)
- Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience, Sony Online Entertainment, 2005 (creative consultant)
- Champions: Return to Arms, Sony Online Entertainment, 2005 (creative consultant)
Music
- After the Flood, CD, 1999
Writing
- A Theory of Fun for Game Design (ISBN 1932111972), November 2004, Paraglyph Press. (Foreword written by Will Wright)
- "Declaring the Rights of Avatars"
- "The Laws of Online World Design", GDC 1999 presentation
- "A Story About a Tree", May 1998
Awards
- Next Generation's "Hot 100", 2006
- Game Informer, 2006, "100 Greatest Developers"
References
- [Koster's Website]
- [A Theory of Fun for Game Design book website]
- [MobyGames bio]
- ["Raph Koster Leaves Sony Online Entertainment"] by Nich Maragos, Gamasutra, March 24, 2006, retrieved March 24, 2006
- Computer Gaming World, "The CGW Interview: Raph Koster", April 2006
- Real People, Virtual Worlds, 2002 film documentary by Tracy Spaight
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