Gamasutra Member Blogs: From War In The North To The Problem With Fun

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, oour bloggers write about diverse topics, such as LOTR: War In The North's obscure dodge button, the problem with fun, and how not to make a PC game.] Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while invitation-only Expert Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- are written by selected development professionals. We hope that our blog sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information, check out the official posting guidelines. This Week's Standout Member Blogs War In The North: For Want Of A Button, An Age Was Lost (Ron Dippold) Ron Dippold argues that players and reviewers who really hate Lord of the Rings: War in the North don't seem to realize there's a dodge button. This is not their fault. Game Play: Partial Knowledge Performances (Dan Cox) When we play games, Dan Cox says we create a performance that results from our interactions with the mechanics, our knowledge of the story, and an understanding of ourselves. How Far Can Suspension Of Disbelief Be Stretched? (Robert Bevill) In this blog post, Robert Bevill looks at how Driver: San Francisco takes an interesting approach with its narrative and the weaving of gameplay elements into the storyline. Skyrim, Or How Not To Make A PC Game (Eric Schwarz) Bethesda's new Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is probably a good game, if you can get past the truly appalling state of its PC release, says Eric Schwarz. Here he examines a few of the baffling design choices and clear oversights in Bethesda's newest "epic". The Problem with Fun (Slaton White) Discussing games with other people in the industry and in general is important. Sometimes people will try to find general descriptions such as "games are fun". Slaton White believes that while some games are fun, trying to generally describe anything can't do any good.