My favorite kinds of games are those that make me think, that have a sense of style, that are not copies of other games, that show that the designer has drawn inspiration from beyond the narrow cultural confines of modern high-tech American life.

Although most of my career I have worked for a large game publisher, I’m especially interested in offbeat, experimental, even unsalable forms of interactive entertainment. As with other media, the work that most expands the boundaries of our craft will probably be done by small independent developers.

I got into this business because at the age of ten, I had a blinding moment of revelation about the power and potential of interactive entertainment: to take you away to a wonderful place, and there let you do an amazing thing. Books and movies can’t do that. They can take you away to a wonderful place, but they can’t let you do an amazing thing. That’s the power of interactivity. That’s what makes this medium unique, and what makes it important.

Maybe I'm being unrealistic about all this. Maybe you have to be a ten-year-old to best appreciate it. Maybe I am still a ten-year-old. But I believe that that capacity for wonder and excitement is still there in all of us, and I can think of no better job than helping to bring it alive.

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