Writing for Video Games

While conducting research on the legitimacy of video games in the classroom, I found myself wondering if any well known authors had lent a hand in writing the stories and dialogues for any established video game.  Although the Tom Clancy military game series has had much success, I was unsure if Clancy actually had anything to do with the writing process.  So I set out to see if any known authors have written for both mediums.

I found some great results in a blog post from the Rumpus asking why no authors are writing for video games, mostly in the comments section.  I had to research a few of the claims within the comments, but I did discover that Clancy did indeed contribute to some of the earlier titles in his series.  I think one of the most exciting finds was that Orson Scott Card, famed author of the Ender's Game series, has written dialogue for at least three video games, including the classic 1990 computer adventure game The Secret of Monkey Island.  Since then, Card has written the dialogue and screenplay for the 2009 platformer adventure Advent Rising, and had even planned to write novellas that tied in with the story of the game.


There were many other authors as well whose names weren't attached to as big a title as Monkey Island.  Take for example Alex Garland, who is actually a master in all three mediums, having written The Beach (1997), the screenplay for the film 28 Days Later (2002), and the screenplay for the game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010). Clive Barker, famous for his horror novels and films, has his name on several titles as well, shaping the plot for each of them.


These great authors have made great contributions to elements like dialogue and story arcs in games which have clearly raised the standard over the years.  It speaks volumes for the possibility of blending mediums, where video game and novel work together to tell a common story.  This helps make the argument to include video games in the English classroom, as the two mediums working together can catch struggling students' attention, motivating them to work through the content in order to understand the full scope of the story.   Video games can definitely motivate people to read even outside the classroom- look at the novels Arthas: Rise of the Lich King and World of Warcraft:  The Shattering, both by Christie Golden, both based off of events from World of Warcraft, and both being NY Times best selling novels.  Fans are so engrossed in the vivid digital world and detailed lore that they want to continue experiencing it even outside of the game.  The same goes for Halo: Contact Harvest by Joseph Staten, a novel based on events from Halo which reached as high number 3 on the Bestsellers list!   If video games can attract this many readers, it shouldn't be difficult to imagine their use in the classroom to engage adolescent minds.