Jesper Juul is an influential[1] theorist in the field of video game studies. He is a lecturer at Comparative Media Studies at MIT. He holds a PhD. in video game theory from the Center for Computer Games Research in Copenhagen, where he held a position as an assistant professor until mid-2007.
Though his 1998 thesis work concerned the rejection of narrative as a useful tool for understanding video games, and though Jesper Juul is often considered a ludologist, his more recent work deals with the fictional aspects of video games as well.
Juul's book on video game theory, Half-Real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds[2] was published by MIT Press in 2005. Half-Real was named by designer Ernest Adams as one of the "50 Books for Everyone in the Game Industry".
Juul has also worked as a designer and programmer in video game and chat development, and participated in the Indie Game Jam.
Juul runs a blog on video game theory, The Ludologist.