Maybe I’m just biased because my formative gaming experiences were with 16-bit graphics on dodgy tube TVs, but I can see something missing from a video game experience that is only getting worse as graphics approach absolute fidelity. A player’s imagination can’t take hold without space, without cracks between the details. Here I’ll present some ideas for allowing games to have that space without wimping out as a writer.

In this essay, I argue against the harm of treating role-playing games as games, a misnomer that implies the existence of a win-condition. This is not only counter-productive to storytelling, but it also leads to a suboptimal gaming experience. I’ll talk about how to avoid the trap of good/bad choices in favor of interesting choices.