ABSTRACT
Previous chapters in this book have focused on practical, usable information on the process of writing for today’s video games. For this final chapter, however, we will allow ourselves a flight of fancy, turning our attention from the actual to the theoretical; from what is to what might be. For even the most experienced traveler must occasionally look up from his carefully plotted map and allow himself to dream of distant, unknown places barely visible on the horizon. In our case, it is the selfindulgent act of imagining what video game narrative might look like in the future.
16.1 Growing Pains As a mass-market entertainment medium, video games are still in the equivalent of early childhood, stumbling alongside-or sometimes trailing directly behind-older siblings such as motion pictures, radio, and television. This is not to say that in terms of sheer size or popularity video games are lesser or inferior to these older forms. Indeed, in terms of gross revenue, the video game industry is more than competitive with any of them. But as a creative art form, video games are still in what will surely be looked back upon (by future generations of gamers and game developers) as early formative stages.
