What is Fun? A Game Design Introduction

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In this video I talk about the concept of fun. We start with a philosophical discussion about whether it's better to define fun as a single thing or as a multitude. We then step through multiple taxonomies of fun, before taking a refresher on the purpose of design pillars, and how "taxonomies of fun" can aid designers in establishing their project pillars.

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Bartle's Taxonomy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_...
GSSB on Callois: https://rangedtouch.com/2018/10/18/5-...
Fourteen Forms of Fun: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/...
Even More Forms of Fun: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B...
PainStation footage from here:    • Let's Play - The PainStation  
Space Biff on "anti-fun": https://spacebiff.com/2025/09/30/anti...
Werner Herzog cooking his shoes:    • 1970s California, Werner Herzog Cooking Shoes  

🎵Music is from Epidemic Sound and used under license.

⏲️ Key moments
00:00 problem statement
01:02 Raph Koster, fun, and dopamine
04:26 Newbury's intensities of fun
09:00 Callois' types of play
11:53 Fun is like flavour
13:23 Bartle's psychometric player types
15:55 Garneau's 14 Forms of Fun
18:26 Design Pillars: a Refesher
24:21 Applying Forms of Fun as Design Pillars
28:35 a list of the only people who are allowed to complain about anything in this video