Raph Koster — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Named an Online Game Legend at the Game Developers Conference Online in 2012.
Chief Executive Officer at Playable Worlds since 2018.
Co-founded Playable Worlds in 2019, focused on producing the MMORPG Stars Reach.
Founded Metaplace in 2006, a social gaming platform acquired by Playdom in 2010.
Lead designer of Ultima Online (1997) and creative director of Star Wars Galaxies (2003).
Author of "A Theory of Fun for Game Design," a classic in the games field.
Holds a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor's Degree in English and Spanish from Washington College.

Biography

Raphael "Raph" Koster is an American entrepreneur, game designer, and author, known for his significant contributions to the online gaming industry. His career began with involvement in MUDs as a developer for Worlds of Carnage and implementor of LegendMUD in the early 1990s. In 1995, Koster joined Origin Systems, where he served as the lead designer for the seminal massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Ultima Online (1997) and Ultima Online: The Second Age (1998).