Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Rage To Virality 2.0

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including a rant on Rage, the coming downfall of traditional MMOs, Virality 2.0, and under-designing for success.] In our weekly Best of Expert Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game development community who maintain Expert Blogs on Gamasutra. Member Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while the invitation-only Expert Blogs are written by development professionals with a wealth of experience to share. We hope that both sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information about the blogs, check out the latest official posting guidelines. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs Suffocated Rage (Ilari Lehtinen) Rage, a beautiful result of aching love for engineering and technology. See what's missing from that sentence? Hint: The missing bit is a gaping void. It's the size of a small world that never got to exist. Everyone talks about it, and Ilari Lehtinen says he fell for it too. The Coming Downfall of Traditional MMOs (Josh Bycer) There has been a growing trend lately of MMOs moving to a free-to-play payment model. This analysis from Josh Bycer looks at some the pressures, both inside and outside the genre, causing this movement. Virality 2.0 – Developing Games for Facebook in the New Viral World (Josh Williams) Though virality has changed for Facebook games and apps, it is not dead. The best developers have learned to adapt. User analytics firm Kontagent's president Josh Williams outlines some of the most valuable changes leading developers have made to date. Under-Designing for Success (http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/author/RandyOConnor/1899/) Tiger Style artist and designer Randy O'Connor says that even the simplest design has complexity. Focus on that core design goal and you'll still have more work than you know what to do with.