Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Love Of The Game To Socrates

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 "How Do You Stay Motivated?" Brenda Brathwaite After years -- or even decades -- in game development, how do you stay in motivated? Brenda Brathwaite considered that question from another angle -- "How do you stay in love?" -- and shared her own thoughts, in a refreshingly effusive piece. Kickstarting a Serious Game, pt. 2 Borut Pfeifer Developer Borut Pfeifer continues chronicling his attempt to fund a serious game through the community funding site Kickstarter. His experience so far has been positive and negative in seemingly roughly equal measure, as difficulties in securing his intended capital are somewhat tempered by the understandable gratitude towards those who have committed funds. Bartle Player Types Revisited Dan Bress More than a decade after Richard Bartle introduced his widely-cited four player types of multiplayer games -- achievers, explores, socializers, killers -- Dan Bress looks back on the Bartle Test with a critical eye, and proposes a substantial set of more specifically predictive player types. A Wii Bit of History Scott Pelland What if Nintendo of America hadn't packed in Wii Sports with the Wii hardware, but had rather included Wii Play, as parent company Nintendo Co. Ltd. had wanted? Scott Pelland examines that hypothetical scenario from the informed perspective of a member of the team that was responsible for that very decision. What Can the Socratic Method Tell Us About Gameplay? Taekwan Kim The debates surrounding narrative in games are neverending and often seem futile. Taekwan Kim applies the well-worn Socratic Method to the problem, to try and delve into some of the underlying conflicts inherent in procedural narrative and and how to reconcile it in a game.