Gamasutra Member Blogs: From forced failure to loving your notepad

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, such as forcing heroes to fail in games, how disconnecting from your computer can help game development, and more.] 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 Dirty word called clone (Jacob Crane) Jacob Crane shares his thoughts on what a "Game Clone" actually is and how we should not use the word so easily. Spatial expectations and their effect on our experience of game worlds (Jorge Albor) How might game designers exploit our hidden vulnerability to spatial-inspired psychosis? Jorge Albor says that the good news is that many already do. Learn to love your notepad - How disconnecting from your computer helps game dev (Pat Flannery) Pat Flannery says that the greatest part of his journey in game development is his newfound (or rediscovered?) ability to have loads of fun with a notepad. Here he explores the notion that our ability to create amazing media might detract from conceptual development. Forced failure and the undignified hero (Mark Filipowich) When a hero fails in a game, it usually means a game over or that an earlier save state can overwrite that failure from ever happening. Mark Filipowich argues that what games don't often do is force players into a situation where there is no right answer. How to apply for a job with an indie developer (Simon Roth) Carefully targeted emails are key to finding work in the independent development community, advises Simon Roth. He notes that some of the obvious mistakes applicants make are shocking.