Games serve as an aesthetic form of thinking and doing, enabling players to pursue goals, solve problems, and understand systems in an engaging way.

Games can be both hypnotic and reflective, providing opportunities for players to analyze their experiences and improve their skills through self-reflection.

In game design, the most compelling experiences arise from the gaps between reality and simulation, allowing players to reflect on their actions and decisions.

The real value of games comes not from their ability to simulate reality seamlessly, but from the space between that simulation and the real world, which allows for reflection and meaning.

I aim to create games that absorb players into an activity while also allowing them to reflect on their engagement and the nature of their goals.

Teaching game design involves creating a community where students can collaborate, share purpose, and learn from each other, emphasizing both coding and artistic thinking.

Despite the challenges of delivering high-quality games, the gaming industry has the potential to foster positive human connections. Engaging in multiplayer experiences can promote empathy and joy among players, contrasting with the negativity often found in social media interactions.

Games have been a common thread throughout my life, influencing my career by training my mind, leading me to AI programming in the gaming industry, and now using games to train AI systems at DeepMind.

I believed that gamification could unlock solutions to real problems, as I noticed people solving crossword puzzles on a flight, which made me think we could harness that human effort through games.