I was one of several contributors to this very interesting book who wrote their answers to a series of basic questions about video games. So the questions aren't really "difficult" per se, they just get at fundamental issues that are rarely addressed so explicitly. I guess the difficulty is evidenced by the immensely broad range of answers on each topic =].

Co-authored with Erik Dickelman, this is a continuation of my previous article. The main focus here is on how one might adapt specific designs that are characteristically found in video games to make business software more effective. Published in the Nov./Dec. 2002 issue of Performance Improvement Journal.

Another version of the same article directly below, modified for publication in the Aug. 2001 issue of Performance Improvement.

This is my original version of the article above, before it got to the chopping block. This one is better to read, while the other one is nicer to look at because it includes pictures. In this article, I make the case that good interaction design principles can be applied to all kinds of interactive software, regardless of whether we deal with games or business software. Furthermore, one should be able to successfully apply the principles used in game design to business tools. I also talk about what I think are important game design principles and illustrate several cases where game interaction rules have been implemented especially well or poorly.

A satire on the writing style of many game journalists, who work in an industry that all too often lacks accountability, professionalism, and copy editing. This was published in Pat Reynolds' fanzine, Control Freaks. I lost the original text so all you get here is a black and white reprint as an image.

A user interface study that I did in my last undergraduate year, primarily conducted by myself and David MacCormack. The time and resource constraints were intense, but I think it came out pretty well. Note that all of the email addresses on the linked pages are outdated because I have left the whole site intact since it was completed.