Frank Lantz
Game designer and director of the NYU Game Center; made Universal Paperclips and writes Donkeyspace.
Frank Lantz did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
Latest Newsletter
What they believe
-
The video game audience has come to embrace the medium’s worst traits as emblems of the hobby rather than treat them as flaws.
So many of the worst things about video games are not just reluctantly tolerated but enthusiastically embraced because, through association, they have become emblems of our beloved hobby/artform/lifestyle.
franklantz.substack.comSaid 21 Oct 2024This on korrents
-
Designed addiction in gambling games is real and can consume a person’s life.
The world is full of gambling games that want to crawl into your limbic system and drain every last ounce of life-force from your soul.
franklantz.substack.comSaid 25 Jul 2024This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Feed
As its own page →Hiding
6 October
24 August
24 June
2 June
27 April
2 March
5 January
8 December 2025
27 October 2025
26 September 2025
1 September 2025
-
Dislikedrcmnd.app
UnityTheir words
I’m sloooowly learning how to make changes and fixes, but I still have to ask for help a lot of the time, and I have a bad attitude about it. I just don’t like Unity.
-
Lovedrcmnd.app
PhotoshopTheir words
I love Photoshop. I’m not ashamed to admit it. Photoshop is my jam. When it comes to software, Photoshop represents, for me, the gold standard of power + intuition.
-
Lovedrcmnd.app
BASICTheir words
But I loved Basic when I was just starting out. I hated Flash. I eventually learned to love JavaScript when I was using that.
+ 2 more
-
Dislikedrcmnd.app
FlashTheir words
But I loved Basic when I was just starting out. I hated Flash. I eventually learned to love JavaScript when I was using that.
-
Lovedrcmnd.app
JavaScriptTheir words
But I loved Basic when I was just starting out. I hated Flash. I eventually learned to love JavaScript when I was using that.
15 July 2025
6 June 2025
12 March 2025
-
Lovedrcmnd.app
SETTheir words
In a life spent playing games, it was, without a doubt, one of the most intense and rewarding and meaningful game experiences I’ve ever had. And that’s why I love SET.
27 January 2025
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 9 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
The video game audience has come to embrace the medium’s worst traits as emblems of the hobby rather than treat them as flaws.
So many of the worst things about video games are not just reluctantly tolerated but enthusiastically embraced because, through association, they have become emblems of our beloved hobby/artform/lifestyle.
Are Games Bad? Said 21 Oct 2024
Video games are the cathedrals of the modern world and nobody yet knows what they are for.
They are the cathedrals of the modern world. Only we don’t know what they are for.
Are Games Bad? Said 21 Oct 2024
Designed addiction in gambling games is real and can consume a person’s life.
The world is full of gambling games that want to crawl into your limbic system and drain every last ounce of life-force from your soul.
Are Games Good? Said 25 Jul 2024
Show 6 more
Anyone who wants to understand games should learn to play the compulsive ones and, in the same motion, learn how to stop.
But I also think that, if you really want to understand games, you should learn how to play these games. Which means learning how to stop playing them. You should learn how to disappear into them, how to let them swallow you whole, and then learn how to extract yourself, safely, on the other side.
Are Games Good? Said 25 Jul 2024
Games do not make the world a better place; like other art forms, they make the world.
I don’t think games make the world a better place, it’s actually much worse than that, I think games, like other artforms, make the world a place.
Are Games Good? Said 25 Jul 2024
Games should not be measured against any outside yardstick — not purpose, not pleasure, not politics.
In my approach, I resist using any external value framework as an ultimate set of criteria against which to measure games’ worth - not purpose, not pleasure, not politics.
Are Games Good? Said 25 Jul 2024
Games are hard to see clearly, and the usual tools for looking at them distort as much as they reveal.
I think that it is difficult to see games clearly.
Are Games Good? Said 25 Jul 2024
A strategy does not play a game; playing requires something that can see the game and choose to enter it.
It doesn’t make sense to say that a strategy plays a game.
How to Play a Game Said 8 May 2024
Games are the natural habitat of artificial intelligence, because following rules towards an arbitrary goal is what these systems do.
Games are AI’s natural habitat.
How to Play a Game Said 8 May 2024
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 6 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Loved JavaScript
But I loved Basic when I was just starting out. I hated Flash. I eventually learned to love JavaScript when I was using that.
franklantz.substack.com 1 Sept 2025
Disliked Flash
But I loved Basic when I was just starting out. I hated Flash. I eventually learned to love JavaScript when I was using that.
franklantz.substack.com 1 Sept 2025
Loved BASIC
But I loved Basic when I was just starting out. I hated Flash. I eventually learned to love JavaScript when I was using that.
franklantz.substack.com 1 Sept 2025
Show 3 more
Loved Photoshop
I love Photoshop. I’m not ashamed to admit it. Photoshop is my jam. When it comes to software, Photoshop represents, for me, the gold standard of power + intuition.
franklantz.substack.com 1 Sept 2025
Disliked Unity
I’m sloooowly learning how to make changes and fixes, but I still have to ask for help a lot of the time, and I have a bad attitude about it. I just don’t like Unity.
franklantz.substack.com 1 Sept 2025
Loved SET
In a life spent playing games, it was, without a doubt, one of the most intense and rewarding and meaningful game experiences I’ve ever had. And that’s why I love SET.
franklantz.substack.com 12 Mar 2025
Where they publish
Newsletter Donkeyspace His newsletter on games, play and what they are for. Has a feed.
Recent
- Towers of Babble 6 Oct 2026 Together we must clear every word to reach paradise.
- Go Lives 24 Aug 2026 The greatest Go player of all time just did something amazing. What can this tell us about life in the era of superhuman AI?
- I Love the World Cup 24 Jun 2026 Hot Takes from the Cutting Edge of Sport
Show 17 more
- The 500 Year Video Game 2 Jun 2026 A Thought Experiment
- GLIPS 27 Apr 2026 Brain candy for AI.
- Why No AI Games? 2 Mar 2026 I have a theory.
- An Introduction to Donkeyspace 5 Jan 2026 What is this substack about?
- Bell's Inequality - Guide and Walkthrough 8 Dec 2025 Version: 1.01 | Updated: 11/28/25
- Honor Duels 27 Oct 2025 A deep dive into hardslop
- Q-UP 26 Sept 2025 , the new game I’ve been working on, now has a free demo.
- I Hate Unity 1 Sept 2025 Unity is a game engine.
- The Final Table 15 Jul 2025 The World Series of Poker Main Event
- Welcome to the Blunderdome 6 Jun 2025 Why do you think they call it dope?
- Why I Love SET 12 Mar 2025
- Fractal Block World 27 Jan 2025 Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Video Games Again
- Artt in the Age of Artifficial Intelligence 9 Dec 2024 That which we call progress is this storm
- Are Games Bad? 21 Oct 2024 Let's Talk About Hideo Kojima
- Art Project 10 Sept 2024 Day 1 Day 2
- Are Games Good? 25 Jul 2024
- Bridge 24 Jun 2024 Notes on a game that is too hard for me.
Link verified 20 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.