Column: 'Blogged Out: An Instance of Higher Art'

In today's edition of 'Blogged Out,' Gamasutra's examination of developer blogging and the conversations being had with the community at large, regular columnist Jim Rossignol takes a look at recent posts arguing the use of "instancing" in MMO games, such as those in City of Heroes, as well as the old standby argument of whether or not games should be perceived as art. The following extract comes from Jeff Tunnell's 'Make It Big In Games' blog: "I bleed to make my games. I live and breathe my ideas, concepts, and designs. I strive to make alliances with other like-minded people to help me bring these visions and ideas to life. Sometimes these ideas are carried around and researched for decades before they finally make it to a player's screen. I think about what a player will feel like when playing the game, I think about situations that I want the player to be put in. Most of all, I worry about whether or not my game is fun. Sometimes I don't know if a game will be fun until well into development. That all sounds a lot more like art than science or process to me." You can read the full Gamasutra column for responses to this post, and others (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external web sites).