Few game designers have shared as many lessons learned as Raph Koster. In a quarter-century of writings and talks, he has offered up game design lessons, online community theories, and candid self-evaluation.

This first volume of a three-book set of selected essays collects previously written postmortems and many brand new pieces. They are accompanied by historical material such as posts written for players, chat logs, speeches, design sketches, and more. The result is an inspiring historical look back at the development of virtual worlds.

These are the stories behind Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, the story of the early art game Andean Bird and the story of the ambitious project Metaplace that aimed to build the Metaverse, including:

• “A Story About a Tree,” the classic piece from MUD days about whether our online bonds are real.
• “The Ultima Online Resource System,” a detailed design breakdown of the pioneering world simulation.
• “A Jedi Saga,” the popular tale of how an impossible design dilemma broke a world.
• “Influences,” a challenge to the game development community to pursue art.

What people are saying

• #1 bestseller in Game Design. – Amazon.com
• “Postmortems is a collection of writing both old and new documenting the evolution of design in multiplayer gaming, from text adventure to cutting-edge tech.  The challenges didn’t just come from online gaming growing into a dominant force, but also from increased expectations and the shifting priorities of switching from dedicated fans to a more general audience…. vital reading for anyone with an interest in knowing how games of any sort come about.”– Hardcore Gamer
• “I trust the readers of this book will grow in the knowledge, understanding and ability to work within and help advance the industry, just as I felt from spending years developing games with Raph Koster.” – Richard “Lord British” Garriott de Cayeux
• “Raph Koster has a lot to say about making online games, as he’s been working on them for more than two decades. His new book, Postmortems, debuts on Monday at more than 700 pages… The result is an inspiring historical look back at the development of virtual worlds. He looks at whether our online bonds are real, offers a detailed design breakdown of Ultima Online’s world simulation, examines what went wrong with Star Wars Galaxies, and challenges the game development community to pursue art… Part of his wisdom: You can’t really skip the learning part. You have to get your hands dirty and do it even if other people think that you’re wasting your time.” — VentureBeat
• “Presented as an anthology of work, it collects some previously published material and publishes it alongside fresh analysis and introspection into some of the key design decisions made, and why they ultimately succeeded or failed in their goals. The result a book that’s part chronological record, part critical autobiography… there’s also the start of a much longer and wider philosophical battle between player freedom and character immersion on one hand, and player restrictions for character safety on the other. In later chapters this point becomes increasingly complex and multi-faceted, as Koster strives to strike a balance between systems that can support deep or emergent gameplay, and ones which fit into the server storage and support limits of the time… It’s sobering to realise that some of the same sociological and psychological problems being faced by  MMOs and their developers today were first identified in MUDs some 25 years ago, and still remain as open challenges… Ultimately, Koster’s Postmortems is a valuable compendium of insight and essays that has significant value for both developers and genre enthusiasts… Intentionally or otherwise, Koster gives form to the unicorn that so many of us have been chasing for a decade or more, and which always seems just out of reach.” — MMORPG.com
• “…it’s massive, folks: over 700 pages spanning three decades and the majority of the online games Koster’s worked on during his long tenure in the gaming industry… the chapters wind their way through some of the most interesting and significant moments of the game’s development and everything he and his team learned along the way. ..Easily the most amusing – and horrifyingly frustrating – chapters of Koster’s Ultima Online reminiscing revolve around the game’s infamous early PvP mechanics… for every attempt to curb the PKs the devs put in, the reds invented some fresh hell for their victims, exploiting every ruleset change. It’s hard not to chuckle as Koster rattles off each new idea and how the players thwarted it (especially when I remember it happening!).” — MassivelyOP
• “…the real power of the book: Koster’s writing style. If you’ve read A Theory of Fun or any of his other works, or even if you’ve been an avid follower of his blog for some time, you know what you are in for with Postmortems. Koster isn’t just a talented designer; he’s a consummate storyteller. I’ve found myself spellbound by it. I’d definitely recommend picking it up and giving it a read.” – The Ultima Codex