Practical advice is always cool, but — however esoteric you may find it — I really believe that ultimately game design is about both self-awareness and empathy. I suspect that’s the most important thing — I mean, lots of people think that game design is so coool thing to do, but only small fraction can really do it, just like writing good novels or painting.

And the second factor that I find the most important is the same thing that hackers have — insatiable curiosity. That’s why I believe that if one asks how to do game design, then it’s already clear (99% likely, I guess) that one can’t be a game designer, just like script kiddies never will be hackers.

Harsh as it may sound, I think it’s true.