Why is writing so bad these days?
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 9:20 pm
There has been a trend since the early nineties that I perceive has been getting worse every year and now has reach a point that is almost unbearable, which is the worrisome lack of quality plots in mainstream media, not only in literature works, but also in theater plays, movies, and specially videogames. It's as if the art had been lost with the advent of photorrealistic special effects, and I deem it important to give an outcry about it.
I always considered that creating videogames, shooting movies, drawing cartoons, even writing a novel were long, arduous tasks, and prohibitely expensive; and from the data I gathered, it seems this still holds true: the medium becomes more expensive every year. Games and movies constantly rise budgets as a way to keep entrance costs high and the competition as marginal as possible, and they have succeeded at that.
I also used to think that long and expensive projects acted as natural barriers for mediocrity, because there was plenty of time to keep refining and polishing details, while the commitment required to finish a project selectively discarded the lazy and flawed ideas. However, while production and design values have indeed raised espectacularly, the writing in movies and games has gone in the opposite direction. Seriously, developers seem to have some kind of blindness in that they are no longer able to differenciate a poor script from a good one. Why is it so difficult? They don't seem to have problems with the other arts, though, because graphics and music are at their highest point these days.
Just take a look at Avatar. Can anyone honestly think that one competent writer can spend 16 years of his life to basically mimic Pocahontas? The entire plot of Tim Burton's Alice fits in one page, and it doesn't even get a proper ending. I also spent the 118 minutes of the remake of Clash of the Titans wondering which kind of barbarian committed the sacrilege of writing that script. Is it justified to dumb down your message so bad, when the original was so succesful as it was? I think it's the fault of the writers, that don't care to learn their medium the same way a musician or painter would.
Which brings me to my main point: The writing in videogames, specially indie titles, is below par with very few exceptions. It doesn't matter if they are free releases or commercial ones, the poor writing is widespread. When you look at game developing communities, people keep asking advice about music, coding, and arts, but I've rarely seen anyone asking about how to strengthen their writing, and more importantly, I rarely have seen an answer going further than "ask someone to check your spelling". Even great AGS titles like Apprentice have the plot as their weakest point.
This is specially tragic with indie adventure games. I've played the demos from Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth, Hero6, and the Silver Lining. I've also played a bit a Tale of Two Kingdoms. These are very ambitious titles, they have been in development for years, a great deal of care has been put on the graphics, music, puzzles, and details, and yet... I think I might be too harsh here, I know that opinions are subjetive, and that I shouldn't criticize without giving constructive feedback, but the writing in the sections I saw on all these works was definitely bad. Not utterly bad, but bad enough that I couldn't get past the first screen in those games and demos!! I spent the first minutes staring at huge walls of text with intrincate stories, names and made-up mythology as if I had to study a history lesson, with hollow and bland characters that didn't sound natural at all. Note, however, that I have no problems getting past other games with lots of spelling and grammar mistakes as long as the content is at least pleasing or fun to read, but that wasn't the case with those games: the characters simply hadn't fleshed out personalities. I felt bored, which is the greatest insult I can say to a writer. Writers everywhere, stand up and do something!! Writing should be the BEST part of a work, not the worst!
Learning is not that hard, really; there are a few rules of writing. I know some from listening to other writers, and some I could infer from reading good stories and using common sense. Things available to everyone. I'm not the best writer in the world, but I don't pretend to be one, either, and I don't understand why people writing for games don't bother in learning their art, and keep ruining games and movies that would otherwise be brilliant.
I always considered that creating videogames, shooting movies, drawing cartoons, even writing a novel were long, arduous tasks, and prohibitely expensive; and from the data I gathered, it seems this still holds true: the medium becomes more expensive every year. Games and movies constantly rise budgets as a way to keep entrance costs high and the competition as marginal as possible, and they have succeeded at that.
I also used to think that long and expensive projects acted as natural barriers for mediocrity, because there was plenty of time to keep refining and polishing details, while the commitment required to finish a project selectively discarded the lazy and flawed ideas. However, while production and design values have indeed raised espectacularly, the writing in movies and games has gone in the opposite direction. Seriously, developers seem to have some kind of blindness in that they are no longer able to differenciate a poor script from a good one. Why is it so difficult? They don't seem to have problems with the other arts, though, because graphics and music are at their highest point these days.
Just take a look at Avatar. Can anyone honestly think that one competent writer can spend 16 years of his life to basically mimic Pocahontas? The entire plot of Tim Burton's Alice fits in one page, and it doesn't even get a proper ending. I also spent the 118 minutes of the remake of Clash of the Titans wondering which kind of barbarian committed the sacrilege of writing that script. Is it justified to dumb down your message so bad, when the original was so succesful as it was? I think it's the fault of the writers, that don't care to learn their medium the same way a musician or painter would.
Which brings me to my main point: The writing in videogames, specially indie titles, is below par with very few exceptions. It doesn't matter if they are free releases or commercial ones, the poor writing is widespread. When you look at game developing communities, people keep asking advice about music, coding, and arts, but I've rarely seen anyone asking about how to strengthen their writing, and more importantly, I rarely have seen an answer going further than "ask someone to check your spelling". Even great AGS titles like Apprentice have the plot as their weakest point.
This is specially tragic with indie adventure games. I've played the demos from Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth, Hero6, and the Silver Lining. I've also played a bit a Tale of Two Kingdoms. These are very ambitious titles, they have been in development for years, a great deal of care has been put on the graphics, music, puzzles, and details, and yet... I think I might be too harsh here, I know that opinions are subjetive, and that I shouldn't criticize without giving constructive feedback, but the writing in the sections I saw on all these works was definitely bad. Not utterly bad, but bad enough that I couldn't get past the first screen in those games and demos!! I spent the first minutes staring at huge walls of text with intrincate stories, names and made-up mythology as if I had to study a history lesson, with hollow and bland characters that didn't sound natural at all. Note, however, that I have no problems getting past other games with lots of spelling and grammar mistakes as long as the content is at least pleasing or fun to read, but that wasn't the case with those games: the characters simply hadn't fleshed out personalities. I felt bored, which is the greatest insult I can say to a writer. Writers everywhere, stand up and do something!! Writing should be the BEST part of a work, not the worst!
Learning is not that hard, really; there are a few rules of writing. I know some from listening to other writers, and some I could infer from reading good stories and using common sense. Things available to everyone. I'm not the best writer in the world, but I don't pretend to be one, either, and I don't understand why people writing for games don't bother in learning their art, and keep ruining games and movies that would otherwise be brilliant.