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What Jeff Kaplan thinks about design

@jeff-kaplan · 29 positions · 0 changes of mind

American game designer and director, for nineteen years at Blizzard as a World of Warcraft quest designer and then game director of Overwatch; now runs the independent studio Kintsugiyama.

Jeff Kaplan did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

14 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Jeff Kaplan has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingIf you recruited the best person in the industry, you owe their suggestions the treatment the best in the industry deserves rather than starting from doubt.

    Their wordsThat is the best prop artist in the industry. That’s who’s gonna show up on our doorstep, so when they show up here, we should treat them like the best prop artist in the industry instead of starting from a place of doubt and cynicism.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 4th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  3. Our readingA creative lead's job is to take the idea they think is wrong and try to make it work, because the best ideas come out of developing someone else's.

    Their wordsAnd it went from this kind of thing that I didn’t believe into to actually, like, a core part of who I am today as a leader, as a game designer, as a game director. And some of the best ideas have come from developing other peoples’ ideas

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 5th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  5. Our readingYou design along the path of least resistance: players will take the cheapest route to their goal, so the designer's job is to put the experience they want played on that route.

    Their wordsAnd I’ve heard it outside of Blizzard, other people in the industry, which is you design along the path of least resistance.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 8th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  7. Our readingAsk gamers what kind of player they are and they describe the player they wish they were, so a designer has to watch what people do rather than believe what they say.

    Their wordsWe all, to some degree, lack the self-awareness of how we tick. So we’re all different types of gamers, but if you ask me to describe the type of gamer I am, I might actually be giving more of a picture of the type of gamer I wish I was or the type of gamer I want you to think I am versus the type of gamer I actually am.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 10th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  9. Our readingYou cannot be an exceptional game designer without playing enormously, and a bad game teaches as much as a great one.

    Their wordsAnd the weirdest part about it is you’re not just looking for the greatest hits. You learn just as much from a shitty game that you do from an amazing game.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 11th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  11. Our readingGame design has no textbook, so a designer has to keep their own list of the elements of fun the way a writer keeps the elements of fiction.

    Their wordsAnd there’s no, like, textbook that exists for game design, at least none that has been introduced to me yet. But I think about, like, elements of fun.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 12th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  13. Our readingAnt-farm design — building something to watch what the players will do — is the wrong way to design a multiplayer game.

    Their wordsWhich is, you know, you’re the game designer who’s playing God, and players are the ants in your ant farm, and you want to see what they’re gonna do, which is not the correct way to be a good multiplayer designer.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 13th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  15. Our readingSocial media is built so that maximum hyperbole wins, and the negative direction pays better than the positive.

    Their wordsAnd unfortunately, social media in general is designed in such a way where the maximum hyperbole works, and that’s how you get the most points is by being max hyperbolic.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 16th of 29 in this recording

    social media

    Interesting

  17. Our readingWeathering a firehose of criticism is now part of a creator's skillset, and it is quietly removing creators whose work the world will therefore never see.

    Their wordsNow part of the skillset is being able to weather like a fire hose of criticism like the world has never seen.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 17th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  19. Our readingOverwatch put too much weight on whether the team won; a hero shooter built today should foreground individual contribution, because that is how people actually play.

    Their wordsSo I would, if I was to redo it today, or for any aspiring hero shooter makers out there, I would actually downplay the team factor, and try to put more focus on individual contribution.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 23rd of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  21. Our readingAlmost no game ever catches the wave, so a game that has caught one should be ridden to the end rather than paused to build its sequel.

    Their wordsThere’s this phrase of catch the wave, ride the wave. Most games fall off the back of the wave. They don’t catch the wave. No one plays it or plays it for two weeks.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 24th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  23. Our readingYou do not need a CFO to make World of Warcraft — you need artists, engineers, designers, producers and an audio team.

    Their wordsWorld of Warcraft, when we made it, there was no CFO at Blizzard. You don’t need a CFO to make World of Warcraft. You need artists, engineers, designers, producers, and an audio team.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 25th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  25. Our readingNo creative work should ever be used by AI without its maker's permission; doing it is no different from stealing.

    Their wordsI think there’s a lot of moral concerns around AI when it comes to creative pursuits as well, like no one’s creative work should ever be used by AI without their permission.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 28th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  27. Our readingSmall studios are the future of gaming: the genuinely new ideas come out of them, and the big studios acquire rather than generate them.

    Their wordsSmall studios are the future of gaming. The big studios basically acquire the small studios for new IP and ideas, and the small studios grow in. The really compelling, new, innovative ideas are gonna come out of small studios.

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 29th of 29 in this recording

    video games

    Interesting