Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From EA/Zynga to defending subscriptions

In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including a legal perspective on the Electronic Arts and Zynga lawsuit, why SWTOR shouldn't have launched as F2P, and more. 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 latest official posting guidelines. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs EA v. Zynga - Legal perspective (Dan Rogers) EA's suit against Zynga will likely come down to how the court interprets the idea of "substantially similar." Dan Rogers explains that process in an easy-to-understand way. A strategy for Kickstarter rewards (Corvus Elrod) Corvus Elrod discusses a successful approach to creating compelling and clear backer rewards for your Kickstarter project. In defense of SWTOR's subscription launch (Simon Ludgate) As Star Wars: The Old Republic moves away from a subscription-only business model, Simon Ludgate argues that the game should not have launched as a free-to-play title. Is our players learning? (Alexander Jordan) What's an indie developer to do with new or emergent gameplay if their players don't want to be taught? Alexander Jordan shares a series of failed attempts at answering that question from the XBLIG/PC game Cute Things Dying Violently. The importance of setting (with respect to gameplay) (Eric Schwarz) Eric Schwarz explores how setting can inspire new gameplay ideas -- or make up for the flaws in them.