Gamasutra member blogs: From Chinese finger traps to indie usability testing

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, such as usability testing for indies, four common failures when entering the Chinese mobile gaming market, and more.] 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. This Week's Standout Member Blogs Video games are not a monolithic medium (Moses Wolfenstein) Moses Wolfenstein reflects on David Jaffe's recent statement about story in games at DICE 2012, and offers a rebuttal to it and similar sentiments based on the idea that games are not a monolithic medium. A non-gamer plays Halo: Reach (Craig Ellsworth) Craig Ellsworth had a chance to catch a wild non-gamer and put him in captivity where all he got to do was play Halo: Reach. It was a fascinating look into the behavior patterns of a non-gamer thrust into a strange environment. The unsustainability of starting in independent game development (Matej Jan) Matej Jan shares what's getting him down lately: the fact that it's hard or impossible to start from zero, make games, sell them, and earn enough to cover your next one. Chinese finger traps: The four most common failures when entering the Chinese mobile gaming market (Chris Shen) China is poised to be next big mobile frontier. Its 900 million mobile users make it a desirable region for mobile game developers looking to make a profit overseas. Chris Shen shares four common mistakes Western mobile developers make when taking a game to China. Game usability testing for indies: It's easier than you might think! (Part 1) (Maria Sifnioti) Maria Sifnioti presents tips for doing usability sessions for your mobile game, from her indie studio. This is Part 1 in "Games Usability for Indies" and deals with hardware and software equipment. She give examples from her team's most recent iOS game A Clockwork Brain.