Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Reality Management To Review Scores

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including reality management for game designers, unscrupulous publishers taking advantage of indie developers, dwindling review scores, and more.] 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 Reality Management Important for Game Designers (Lewis Pulsipher) Management requires people to recognize what reality is, not what they would like reality to be or what they think it ought to be, to avoid "cloud-cuckoo land". Lewis Pulsiphser says game designers must do the same with their designs. Good playtesting is the key. Hey Indie...Heads UP, You have a Target on Your Back! (Tom Buscaglia) Game attorney Tom Buscaglia discusses recent developments in the rush to sign up indie games by certain unscrupulous publishers, warning of "bottom feeders who offer nothing but exploitation to any unwary developer looking to get his passion project in the world." What Is Happening To Our Scores? (Benjamin Quintero) Are declining scores a result of dwindling budgets and uncertain console cycles or just jaded members of the press? Inland Studios' Benjamin Quintero shares his theories about current game reviews after some impromptu investigative research on Metacritic. Gamazon: 'Feminist Whore' Powers Activate (Arinn Dembo) Techland's "Brand Manager" and publisher Deep Silver are busy apologizing for the infantile misogyny of their developers today, claiming a "lone gunman" was responsible for the use of the phrase "Feminist Whore" in their code base. Arinn Demo claims they're wrong.