Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Facebook's New Policies To The Importance of Randomness

In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including Facebook's new game policies, Kinect concerns, and the importance of randomness. 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 - Things They Won't Tell You: New Facebook Policies (Anatoly Ropotov) Following the recent changes to Facebook's policy on game notifications, Anatoly Ropotov breaks down the specifics of these new rules and spells out what these changes mean for Facebook game developers. - Survivor: The Medallion Of Power Has A Flaw (Patrick Moran) Patrick Moran compares elements of the Survivor TV series to game design, specifically focusing on Survivor: Nicaragua's Medallion of Power, and how it alters the way contestants or players approach challenges. - Why I'm Skeptical Of Kinect (Robert Green) Robert Green expresses his concerns with Microsoft's Kinect hardware, listing several factors that may harm the device's overall appeal when compared to a standard controller. - The Digital Download Future (Tadhg Kelly) As game digital distribution becomes increasingly more popular, Tadhg Kelley pines for a day when retail plays a much smaller role in the software market. - Perceptions of Randomness, Social Games And Game Design (Michael Fergusson) Using an article from Manifesto Games' CEO as reference, Michael Fergusson discusses how elements of randomness can benefit game design, and how they can hinder it if used incorrectly.