Game theory can be fun

I reviewed a book recently:  Theory of Fun for Game Design, 2nd Edition by Raph Koster

I have always been an aspiring game designer and developer and thought this would be a good one to read to get a few ideas.

When I think of 'theory' I usually envisage something that, while useful, is going to have a hypotheses and some research and analysis... a stereotype I know, but I dot usually expect it to have any fun. Despite its title, this book bucks my stereotype.

The author's style is easy to read and 'conversational' and gives good practical examples of the 'theory', supported by lots and lots of nice hand drawn illustrations.

One of the points made in the book is that fun games are a form of 'pleasurable learning' and I certainly had fun reading this book and feel like I learned a lot.

As an aspirational game designer, I am not sure how I would apply what I have learned as there appears to be no 'formula' for designing fun games (and maybe that is just as well) but there are a lot of good stories and examples to get you thinking and this is what makes the book a good read.

PROS
Easy to understand
Helpful examples
Well-written

CONS
Might Be Hard To Apply The theory

Bottom line:  Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

Too sexy for my job?

I found this article on being a Data Scientist: The sexiest Job no one has

It could be a case of 'the grass is greener' syndrome but this is the job I want and I think Im on the way to getting it :) ... to me, its an exciting prospect that 'the universe (is) one large data set' ... *big data* indeed ;)

Now here come the 'damned lies and statistics'... Gartner estimates that there will be 4.4 million IT jobs created to support data analysis in just the next two years... and about half of those will be outside the US... I wonder what the stats say for data scientist jobs being generated in Australia?

I wonder what qualifications and experience I will *really*need, maybe its all that geeky stuff I keep hearing about...

- watch The Big Bang Theory religiously ... maths, science, history, unravelling the mystery ... (tick)
- can recite the script of The Matrix, 1, 2 and 3 (tick)
- think that leela and amy are hot (tick)
- yada, yada, yada (tick)

... oh, oh, what's this....

- PhD is advanced statistics

... darn, I was really close... well there's something to work on!

I just hope this 'wave' is really and not all sexy hype... cue LMFAO ;)