Yesterday, Barack Obama bought advertising space inside nine different videogames. The move took the presidential race into virtual territories, tapping millions of game players in Electronic Arts titles like Madden NFL 09.
What does this mean for writers? As jobs dry up in the real world, we can write in virtual worlds–a new frontier for writers. For example, the popular private detective videogame Max Payne took virtual storytelling to new levels years ago. Now, a movie version of the game hits theaters this week, starring Mark Wahlberg.
The original game was written by Sam Lake, a writer who has some fascinating thoughts about where the medium is headed. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Lake about this new craft:
“[W]riting a videogame is very much a team effort when compared to writing a novel … In the end, the goal is to make a great game, and that isn’t always the same as a perfect story … We are still quite far from portraying subtle human emotions in games. We are taking baby steps to that direction, but its slow going. As we get closer to that, closer to the skin as it were, the need for good writing will increase.”