One of the most difficult tasks people can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games.
C.G. Jung

Games are an integral part of all known human cultures. Digital games, in all their various formats and genres, are just a new expression of this ancient method of social interaction. Behind the system of every game there lies a designer who has crafted the rules for clarity, balanced the play for fairness, and conducted hours of playtests to find any loopholes in the design. Part engineer, part entertainer, part mathematician, and part social director, the goal of the game designer is to create that elusive combination of challenge, competition, and interaction that players just call fun.

The cultural impact of digital games has grown to rival television and films as the industry has matured over the past three decades. Game industry revenues have been growing at a double-digit rate for years and have recently eclipsed the domestic box office of the film industry, reaching
9.4 billion dollars in 2001. According to reports in Time Magazine and The LA Times, 90% of U.S. households with children have rented or owned a video or computer game, and young people in the United States spend an average of 20 minutes per day playing video games. This makes digital games the second most popular form of entertainment after television.

As sales of games have increased, interest in game design as a career path has also escalated. Similar...