A Word About Pronouns

Because English doesn't include a gender-neutral pronoun applicable to humans , we have chosen to alternate, more or less randomly , between the use of "he" and "she" when speaking of indefinite individuals such as "the player" and "the designer." After we have designated "the player" to be male or female in a given context, we retain that usage throughout the section in order to avoid confusion. We feel that constructions such as "s/he" and "he or she" are awkward and distracting. However, if you find yourself pulled up short by the idea of a female player of sports games or a male designer of Barbie games, that's all to the good. We don't believe that games should be segregated into pink genres for women and blue genres for men, and as a designer you should be aware that your game could be played by anyone , male or female .

As for ourselves ”well, we describe ourselves as "we." Andrew wrote some chapters and Ernest wrote others, and then we swapped them around and traded comments and suggestions. But we haven't identified who wrote what; we each take responsibility for the whole book.

Enjoy!