Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Intended Frustration To Legal Frustration

Author: by Staff

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 official posting guidelines. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs Minimised Game Design For Indies: Yes Or No? Rodain Joubert Rodain Joubert examines simplicity in games, and the idea of creation by chipping away non-essential parts of a work-in-process, rather than adding pieces to an increasingly complex design. "Does the additive process harm good game design?" he asks. Feast Your Eyes On This Joel McDonald Raven Software's Joel McDonald blogs about the Half-Life 2: Episode 2 mod Korsakovia, a research-game that puts the player in the shoes of a person with Korsakoff's Syndrome, a neurological disorder. McDonald examines interesting ideas in creating a game that is actually intended to frustrate the player. World Of Warcraft Audience Grows In The Face Of Increased Competition Edward Hunter comScore's Edward Hunter graphs World of Warcraft's users numbers to find the audience size grew to 13.1 million in August. "It's like that Star Trek creature, the one that got bigger every time they fired a phaser at it," he says. The Legal Issue Hydra Alexander Brandon Heatwave Interactive's Alexander Brandon gives three examples of frustrating encounters with the "Legal Issue Hydra," which he says has the tendency to cause inefficiencies and headaches for game developers. In other words, he's a bit disenchanted with lawyers… The Elderly Enjoy Brain-Training With Video Games More Than The Young Lennart Nacke Gameplay experience researcher Lennart Nacke worked on research for CyberPsychology & Behavior that found that positive feelings correlated with elderly people who played brain-training games, but the games correlated with negative feelings for the young. Maybe nursing homes and retirement communities should provide more access to games.