A former leading writer at the development studio BioWare has complained on Twitter about a trend that should make all fans of story-driven games think. David Gaider believes that writing is undervalued. A rather dangerous development in a business that relies on immersion.
In a detailed statement on Twitter, a well-known author of video game stories criticizes the industry’s attitude toward good stories. He believes that even BioWare, a studio that became famous for great stories, now assigns much less priority to storytelling.
The statements come from David Gaider. He worked for BioWare for over 17 years and left the company in 2016. Gaider was at one time the lead writer for the Dragon Age series, but also worked on Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
As a video game writer, one creates the story, writes interesting characters, and brings the world to life on paper, which then gets implemented by developers.
However, there seems to be a trend in the industry that portrays video game writing as increasingly unimportant. Gaider appears to want to draw attention to this trend with his post, as he finds it concerning.
A current game with a focus on the story is the German MMO Coreborn. Check out the story trailer here:
What criticism does Gaider express? On Twitter, the author summarizes his thoughts in a total of 5 tweets (via twitter.com).
He states, “Writing is one of the disciplines that are constantly undervalued.” Everyone would claim they can write well – the difference between “good” and “bad” writing is often not recognized by many.
“So why pay a lot for it, right?” he asks the audience.
In the gaming sector, he sees the problem particularly acutely. He criticizes the attitude: “I have no REAL skills… I have no idea about design, I can’t program, so I’ll be an author? That’s better than quality assurance!”.
As an example of this development, Gaider cites his former employer BioWare. With games like Dragon Age or Mass Effect, the studio set standards in terms of storytelling and character development. Today, that would probably no longer be possible, Gaider implies.
Even BioWare, which built its success on a reputation for good stories and characters, slowly transformed from a company that explicitly valued its writers to a company where we… were secretly rejected because expensive narratives were seen more as a problem that held the company back.
David Gaider on Twitter
He is aware of how harsh that sounds. But Gaider felt this clearly before his departure from BioWare in 2016: “Suddenly, all the decision-makers were asking: ‘How can we WRITE LESS?'” He believes that a good story emerges with priority and support, not by magic.
Gaider concludes with the statement that one can say they like good writing, but if they do not prioritize and support it, then they do not appreciate it enough. He also addresses the issue of payment: “And yes – pay writers what they deserve…”.
A deep look into the industry can be exciting, and the development that Gaider describes sounds like a real problem. But one must also differentiate – what value does the statement have concerning the entire industry? This is very difficult to assess.
Currently, it is rather the technical problems that are making headlines for many new games – Hogwarts Legacy, Redfall, or Jedi Survivors frustrated many players on PC.
But does this also apply to the story? How do you perceive the developments of recent years regarding the stories, characters, and the “magic of narration” in video games? Leave a comment with your opinion on the topic.
If you prefer to focus on another topic, check this out: If you want to be “the best” in games, you ruin your own fun
