Raph Koster

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Image:Raph Coster, Web 2.0 Conference.jpg

Raphael "Raph" Koster (b. September 7, 1971) is an American game designer and author who is widely recognized for his work as the lead designer of the Ultima Online MMORPG and as the creative director behind Star Wars Galaxies.

Ralph is a common misspelling of his abbreviated name Raph.

1 Biography
2 Credits
3 Awards
4 References

[edit] Biography

Raph attended Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, receiving a Bachelor's degree in English (Creative Writing) and Spanish in 1992. The same year he became involved with MUDs as an implementor in LegendMUD, where he was known as Ptah.

In 1995, he received a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and joined Origin Systems as the lead designer of Ultima Online. Raph was also the lead designer of Ultima Online: The Second Age, Ultima Online Live, and an unannounced and cancelled title until 2000, when he joined Verant Interactive in Austin as the creative director of Star Wars Galaxies.

Promoted to chief creative officer in 2003, he relocated to Sony Online Entertainment in San Diego where he spent three years primarily responsible for business development. In March 2006, Raph Koster left the company to pursue other opportunities. As of July 2, he is currently working on "something indie ... something that is [hopefully] disruptive and different and not games as usual." [1]

Koster is a charter member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and a member of the IGDA, ASCAP, and Omicron Delta Kappa. He is also a frequent speaker at game industry conferences such as the GDC, DICE, State of Play, and E3. He presently lives in San Diego, California with his wife, daughter, and son.

[edit] Credits

[edit] Games

LegendMUD (implementor)
Ultima Online (lead designer; Origin Systems 1997)
Ultima Online: The Second Age (lead designer; Origin Systems 1998)
Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (creative director; Verant Interactive 2003)
- Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed (creative consultant; Sony Online Entertainment 2004)
- Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience (creative consultant; Sony Online Entertainment 2005)
EverQuest II (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2004)
- EverQuest II: Desert of Flames (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005)
- EverQuest II: Kingdom of Sky (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005)
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade (chief creative officer and editor; Sony Online Entertainment 2005)
GripShift (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005)
Frantix (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005)
Champions: Return to Arms (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2005)
Field Commander (chief creative officer; Sony Online Entertainment 2006)