Game Design Concepts lecture eight was posted last Thursday. It contained information on various types of players and types of fun. Interesting was the idea that what is fun arises out of our evolutionary heritage and what kinds of things prehistoric man might have needed to practice to ensure passing on of his/her genes. This does make a significant amount of sense from both my hobbyist knowledge of evolution and game design, as it would be those who can stand practicing survival and/or reproductive skills would be those more inclined to survive and reproduce---and an activity being fun is a good way to persuade a person to engage in and practice it.
Another point drawn out in the lecture is that kinds of fun and kinds of players are directly related. This sounds obvious once it is said, but it was not apparent to me until I was told. As a part of this it was said that game designers need to be more interested in types of fun rather than the types of players that will play the games, as what kinds of fun the game elicits can be controls while humans are notoriously difficult to control.
I did not participate in the challenge for a couple reasons. One is that it was late when I started reading it. The other is that I do not enjoy the griefing/killing style of fun so I feel I would be entirely unqualified to come up with a game concept that would appeal to that style of fun.
Next up: Read and do lecture nine.