Why Writing Video Game Protagonists is the Hardest Job Ever

WC writes: Computer game writers have one hell of a job in front of them. Not only do they have to write stories that lend themselves to the interactivity that games offer, but they have to write characters that do the same. Writing the protagonist of a game, is not the same as writing the protagonist in any other medium. Why? Because of the player, of course. The player is the ultimate unreliable narrator.

[claud3]

I bet its not. Claude was i guess " hard " to write for as he was double crossed and mute... simple, he was straight forward. So why can't all of them be like that

[Disco Downey]

Game writing in itself is very hard to write properly.

Gamers want branching stories. In this case, its nearly impossible to put in proper foundations to any plot/sub-plot. Especially relationships.

Another problem is the structure of games. You need to break up the story with a lot of gameplay. So theres a break from a lot of the emotional impact from one scene to the next.

[M1chl]

Have you played Alpha Protocol or Witcher 2? I think those games provide things you've just write about. Its possible, but you just have to have a good writer. Very few games have good writing, even the most praiced games this gen have really sub-par writing.

[iamnsuperman]

I agree especially about the emotional impact. Emotional impact in games is very rare to come across because the story is often broken up by gameplay (which is needed really as it is a game after all).

[abzdine]

character design is for me the toughest job in gaming especially if the guy has to make something unique and different from what the others are doing.

Writer seems a little easier because there are ups and downs in all games regarding scenario and that's ok with me as long as the environment and design is solid.

Gameplay guys are also having one hell of a job. and i dont know why you are taking example of GTA it's all about bad language nothing wow about scenario and character writing but for games like Heavy Rain where scenario and interactions between protagonists is crucial i understand writing could be really tough.

We saw that with LA Noire where dialogues are boring and dont provide any excitment, that's what i felt at least.

[strauser360]

How about giving the protagonist a personality. I wouldnt really call that hard.

[MasterD919]

I think structuring the writing for a game is a lot harder than writing down the subject matter.

It isn't easy like a movie script. However, thinking of protagonists and/or antagonists seems pretty easy to me. Yet, we still get plenty of bland and dime-a-dozen protagonists in games these days.

[3-4-5]

I think they are over thinking things a bit.

It's not hard to create a character we like.

But 60% of games fail at that.