Gamasutra Member Blogs: From QTEs to crafting

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, such as gay protagonists in games, the bridge between gameplay and cutscenes, the Vietnamese game 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 A Case For A Gay Protagonist (Anjin Anhut) Anjin Anhunt tosses in his 2 cents on Andrew Meade's article on the absence of relatable gay characters in video games. He argues that not recognizing the purpose of gay protagonists is the result of a privileged perspective. 2011 Vietnamese Game Market: Year In Review (Phuong Nguyen Huu) Phuon Nguyen Huu looks back at the Vietanamese game market in 2011, pointing out the local rise of browser-based games and social games. Can I Craft That For You? (Eric Schwarz) Crafting systems have become a fixture in modern game design, but not all such systems are created equal. Eric Schwarz asks fundamental questions about what benefits crafting brings, and provides case studies of both good and bad examples. The Bridge Between Gameplay And Cutscenes: QTEs (Cary Chichester) Looking at several implementations of QTEs, Cary Chichester discusses which of them help enhance the game's mechanics and which distracts from them.