2013

Have game writers experienced changes as games have developed?

A REPORT LOOKING INTO HOW THE JOB OF A GAME WRITER HAS CHANGED, BOTH DUE TO TECHNOLIGICAL CHANGES AND INDUSTRY CHANGES
SAM P BETLEM
HTTP://GADSAMBETLEM.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK/ | sampb176@hotmail.co.uk

Have game writers experienced changes as games have developed?

I am going to delve into the job of a game writer to find the changes that they have undergone as games have developed, I will be looking into various interviews, books, video dairys and more to uncover how this job has changed.

Game Writer
Game writers are now a vital part of a lot of games creation and development, they create the fabric of the world that hundreds of people indulge themselves into every day. Chris Crawford (2004, blurb) describes game interactivity By letting players act out the role of the protagonist, interactive storytelling creates a more complex, more engaging experience. Today the game industry brings in hundreds of freelance writers, and company employed writers to complete script or scenes for the various games; however this job has not been around since the start of the game industry in 1976. I am going to be looking at how this job has been implemented to the industry and weather the job has changed as games have changed.

Industry changes and the effect on writers

The industry of game design has grown drastically, now in 2013 they are one of the largest sources of income for the media and entertainment industry. During the 1980s game design company were controlled by a handful of people, writers were never a part of the industry, now the industry employs thousands of people around the world. Writers are brought in to work on countless projects, from scriptwriting small part of dialog to developing the entire world. Anne Toole, a freelance writer for games (2010, video interview) There are generally two times to bring in a writer, the begging when developers are still fleshing out what the game is meant to be, story, world. I am also brought in towards the end of a project to add dialog and fix any narrative problems This is a modern day version of how game writers function in the industry, however in past times writers were never used or employed in the gaming world. Darren Waters, (2000 BBC news article ) Many in the industry hope that the involvement of respected writers, albeit populist authors, will help establish more credibility for a form of entertainment so often regarded as principally for children. This article shows the bringing in of writers for the games industry in the year 2000, this is a definite evidence of a time when writers were beginning to appear in the gaming world, it also shows why there has been such a progression in storytelling and interactive narrative since the year 2000. The article describes game narrative as clunky and childish, the article ends looking forward into the future describing the evolution of storytelling in games JT Petty writer of splinter cell (2000 BBC news article) the next evolution will be telling storys in an interesting way.

The changes and rules of game writing

With the drastic improvement in games, and the new ideas that have cropped up about telling a story in a game there have undoubtedly been changes, that have impacted the writers and what is required from them. With new ways to tell a games story, such as cut scenes, dialogue between characters, lore and character development, there have been changes on how to create an interactive story. Amanda Doiron t.v and game writer (2012, interview) Video game writers must constantly find ways to create narrative within the ever-shifting parameters set by the game design. This new way of writing is quite unique when it comes to games describing a story with an ever-changing toolbox, of narrative opportunities, but this wasnt always the case. Looking at how games were developed before the involvement of writers, you can clearly see that a lot of old originals had no progressive story or engaging narrative moments. Games such as pacman, street fighter, and sonic had little to no story progression, they were limited by the technology of their time and the lack of experienced writers to collaborate with.

Multi rranching storytelling

With new games there are new ways to tell a story, some have railroaded fixed storys where others focus on how the story develops and the impacts on the gameplay. With new styles of games cropping up new storys and concepts are being developed; each game has its own unique story and ways to describe that story. Some games in modern times requires the player to change the story, creating a multiple-branching story. These sorts of games require writers to have a huge part to play in the creation of the game. Peter Molyneux lead game designer (2010 video interview) its another way of telling a story, it's another ingredient in this narrative drama that we've got. Peter Molyneux lead game designer (2010 video interview) computer games are different because we allow the players to have choice, and choice means branching. Which means adapting the story around the player The concept of making a branching story has become quite well known with big titles such as fable, mass effect 3 or dragon age origins, all using this sort of narrative structure. This concept is quite a new creation allowing the player to impact the world around them and having their own story. It was first used in a large game called fable in 2004 and has since been used more and more as time had gone on.

How outside media has effected games industry and therefore the writers
Outside media has an effect on any industry, I have looked into some of the negative news articles about games over the years, during the late 1990s and early 2000 there was a large amount of bad press involving video games (No journalist mention) 2000 April (BCC news article) time spent playing video games in the past was associated with lower academic grades in college. This quote shows that around the early 2000s that games were receiving a lot of bad reputation for causing problems in schools, however the game industry has changed drastically since then. Later that very month another news article was brought out about teaching for games. Dr David Louis 2000 April (BBC news article) "In future it would be good to see specially designed educational video games that communicate factual information in an exciting and involving manner.

This is a prime example of the change that hit the game industry around the year 2000, games were receiving a lot of bad press for being violent, around this time new concepts started to develop teaching games were a stepping stone onto so many indie games that are growing hugely at the moment. This brought on new opportunities for game writers to change their writing style and write for completely new genres and game formats. Games werent just receiving bad press for causing bad marks in school violence and addictive video games were still creating a large amount of news organizations to turn on the gaming industry. Dr Craig Anderson 2000 (BBC news article) as the player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become more and more accessible for use when real-life conflict situations arise. This again shows how bad the gaming industry was in the eyes of the media. This demanded change for the game developers, making the games, less about violence and more about other forms of entertainment, such as storytelling, teaching or puzzle games. This is speculation but from this you can assume that the roles of writers (the people who give life to the game) had to change how the stories were being told; breaking away from the normal violent games and changing the feel to something less vindictive.

Technology impacts to writers

Technology has been a huge impact on the game industry, however overall there has not been many drastic changes to the writers for years, such as new software or ways to create assets. However they have been blockaded by technology causing them to restrict their storytelling. These blockades have not been removed completely yet however advances have been made. R.A Salvatore, Fantasy novel writer. 2012 (video interview about his help designing Kingdoms of Alumar) When asked can video games tell storys as well as a book? No, not yet there are still technological barriers Technology has also opened up many new ways to tell a story, the concept of interactive storytelling and a multi branching story has only been available through advances in technology, not to say that the technology is already complete but the hope by many, R.A Salvatore included. R.A Salvatore, Fantasy novel writer. 2012 (video interview about his help designing Kingdoms of Alumar) It will get better as the technology gets better, and its only going to get better. You see it already. I have been looking at just some of the changes that have happened to the game writers, as games have improved over the years. The impacts of media and how they may have affected what the writers write about, the restriction technology both then and now, and the new opportunities that technology has made for game writers.

Birliography
Crawford, C. (2004) Chris Crawford on intereactive storytelling. 2nd ed. Peachpit Press, p.Blurb. FreedomLab (2010) Molyneux: Multiple branching stories - Golden line of the narrative is key'. [online] Available at: http://vimeo.com/album/841956/video/14446834 [Accessed: 13 Feb 2013]. G4tv.com (2012) Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's R.A. Salvatore. [online] Available at: http://www.g4tv.com/videos/58227/kingdoms-of-amalur-reckonings-ra-salvatore/ [Accessed: 13 Feb 2013]. MARX, C. (2010). Write your way into animation and games create a writing career in animation and games. Burlington, MA, Focal Press/Elsevier. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780240813431. News.bbc.co.uk (2000) BBC News | EDUCATION | Video games 'valid learning tools'. [online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/730440.stm [Accessed: 13 Feb 2013]. News.bbc.co.uk (2000) BBC News | HEALTH | Video games 'increase aggression'. [online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/720707.stm [Accessed: 13 Feb 2013]. News.bbc.co.uk (2002) BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Authors turn to video games. [online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2542487.stm [Accessed: 13 Feb 2013]. Sarahtherebel.com (2012) Game Industry Secrets: Interview with Video Game Writer Amanda Doiron. [online] Available at: http://sarahtherebel.com/2012/11/12/game-industry-secretsinterview-with-video-game-writer-amanda-doiron/ [Accessed: 13 Feb 2013]. YouTube (n.d.) Character Dialogue and Story video game writer - Anne Toole interview. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic2mjfhGUPI [Accessed: 13 Feb 2013].