Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Reciprocity To Music Games' Casual Appeal

In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including the psychological factors in social games, why players want to maximize their game experiences, and why music games have wide casual appeal. 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 - Game Design And The Reciprocity Effect In Social Games (Michael Fergusson) Michael Fergusson applies evolutionary psychology to game design, and argues that the reciprocity effect can be manipulated to drive players to take certain actions in social situations. - Tuning Canabalt Part 2: Audio (Adam Saltsman) In the most recent entry of his series of blog posts, Canabalt creator Adam Saltsman discusses the evolution and process behind the game's music and sound effects. - Value Maximization As Player Motivation (Simon Ludgate) Simon Ludgate examines value maximization as one of the key motivating factors in games, and takes a look at how and why games encourage players to get the most out of even the most trivial items and mechanics. - You Know, For Kids! (Jameson Durall) Using his personal anecdotes as evidence, Jameson Durall suggests that perhaps games should more clearly explain not only the function, but the value of their mechanics, to ensure that players understand the purpose of systems they may not be familiar with. - Dance Central: Why Music Games Are Still Compelling (David Wesley) David Wesley explains why he believes Harmonix's Dance Central could reinvigorate the music game genre through its accessibility and clear audio and visual feedback.