Gamasutra Member Blogs: From Point-Based Storytelling To The Problems With Stealth

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, including how games can most successfully convey narrative, who should own user-generated content, and the issues with modern stealth games.] 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. Here are the top member blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Member Blogs - On Stories & Games: Point-Based Storytelling, Implied Narrative & How Interactive Stories Work (Alan Jack) Aiming to dissect the role of narrative in games, Alan Jack takes a look at non-linear games and notes the distinct advantages a point-based narrative system offers for games as a storytelling medium. - Breaking Down The Fun (Jorge Rodriguez ) Jorge Rodriguez takes a close look at fun as an idea, identifying four categories to help us understand that nebulous concept. - Who Owns User-Generated Content? (Ben Weber) After discovering that Trials HD charges users for some user-generated content, Ben Weber considers who should take ownership of this content and whether developers should use it as a secondary revenue stream. - More Ways To Play (Belinda Van Sickle) In response to several recent comments by EA CEO John Riccitiello, Belinda Van Sickle predicts the game industry won't transition completely from retail to digital, but will simply expand to include both methods of distribution. - The Problem With Stealth (Eric Schwarz) Eric Schwarz examines why stealth games often struggle to achieve widespread appeal, and offers suggestions to make stealth based titles more varied in gameplay and theme.