Writing for video games is a balance between the movie-style pacing we're used to, and an interactive standard that's still being developed.

When I first started playing video games in arcades in the early 90s, it didn’t take much to attract me to a particular cabinet - bright lights, characters I recognized, those cool machine gun controllers. Most games started with a single screen of text explaining who you were rescuing, from whom, with what weapon. It was an era in which plumbers crushed turtles beneath their feet without any sort of grounded reasoning - a time when the spectacle of gaming required no back-story or plot to be interesting.

I'm happy to report that since then this mindset of both console games and video game design online has evolved - with games like Heavy Rain and Bioshock, gamers have proven they have an appetite for a good story as much as a good gunfight. But providing both can be difficult - interactive narratives are a new form of writing, and require a new approach if they're going to be successful.

Different from books, different from movies
It’s easy to point out the differences between books and video games, but movies are often considered the closest relative to our new interactive medium. While this is true, and has been emulated successfully - Uncharted being a perfect example - it’s important to remember what makes games different - the element of choice. If you design a survival horror game with a clear ‘don’t go in there’ moment, there’s a chance your players won’t go in there. On the other hand, stringing them along is liable to leave a boring game experience. This remains one of the main critiques of Final Fantasy XIII - though beautiful in design, it can practically be played with one finger. Gamers felt insulted, not engaged. The concept is so new that only now are schools beginning to teach courses in writing for video games for students earning video game design degrees.

Leading, not pushing
As a result, game developers have to strike a fine balance between leading gamers, and pushing them. Experiences that feel too forced remind players that they're not actually deciding much for themselves, and sucks them out of the game world. If your players are constantly being reminded or prodded to perform a certain task, then it clearly wasn’t self evident enough in the first place.

Some of the best examples of good leading come from late 80’s and early 90’s RPGs. Once the concept of a world map was introduced, the game split into two possible courses of action; players were given the choice to either explore, or advance the plot. With what were often deeply complicated storylines, designers had to work hard to make the plot elements more interesting than random exploration - any game that did this well (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy) is a shining example of good story direction.

Share the burden
I’ll never forget one of the closing scenes of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. After defeating The Boss, a lengthy, well-animated cutscene unfolds as she lies dying in a field of flowers, bidding Snake to finish her off with the gun he’s taken from her. As she finishes her monologue the camera pulls out to a cinematic shot of the setting sun, Snake's finger on the trigger. For a moment he must consider the importance of his duty to his country versus his love for The Boss - it's a difficult, bittersweet moment. And as Snake stands over her, something amazing happens - the game puts you back in control. Snake is not going to pull the trigger until you press the square button.

The single most essential element to a story is immersion. When the hero wins, you win. When they struggle, you struggle. In this moment, you couldn’t lean back with a tub of popcorn, saying, “What Snake is about to do is wrong.” It becomes your choice as well and you realize - “What I am about to do is wrong.” The guilt you feel in that scene carries you through the game’s final scene, in which Snake cries over her grave. It’s a moment that would have been meaningless if you hadn’t shared in his burden.

This is game narrative done right. In no other medium has it been possible to hold a viewer for 100+ hours, live the lives of the characters, become something with them. The further games advance, the more we’ll be able to have moments like these, and with the right amount of careful attention, we might find ourselves with a whole new method of interactive storytelling.