Professor Hartman is a video game industry pioneer with nearly 40 years professional experience. He founded two studios and published 10 games, but his biggest contribution to the industry is inventing the Free-to-Play business model: launching the first F2P game in 1991 (Legends & Illusions for BBSes) and the first F2P internet game in 1996 (Threshold RPG).
In 2019 he began teaching about video game development, game theory, and related topics as a college professor at the University of Cincinnati, then Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky.
He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a BSFS in International Law, Politics, and Organization and has a JD from the University of Georgia School of Law. He has won countless awards in his profession, spoken at many conferences and conventions, and volunteered at schools of all grade levels to spread an understanding of careers and merits of video games and esports.
Personally, he is a real life tank married to his support, healer, and creative muse. Together they have two spectacular grown daughters making for a family of highly accomplished competitive video game players and artists with varied areas of creative expertise. (Check out: Green Grubber Creations!) He was a Division I collegiate rower and US national team member. Now, he is a competitive powerlifter who loves to read, play video games, go for walks/hikes, a political activist, and an animal magnet.
This site, the connected youtube channel, and social media accounts combine to create a platform for me to share my ~40 years (or more) experience in topics like:
Where do I get off considering myself an expert on these subjects? ← Read the blog post!
I am available for a variety of consulting work related to any of the subject areas listed above. I utilize game theory and other video game design and development principles to gamify things at your site or business so employees or customers are more likely to exhibit the behavior you desire.
Gamification is the application of game-like elements – such as points, rewards, competition, and progress tracking – into non-game contexts to increase engagement, motivation, and participation. It taps into human psychology by making tasks more enjoyable, rewarding, and interactive.
I have helped companies use game theory and gamification to:
