Despite the steady advances that video game writing has made over the past few years, it's safe to say that the medium is nowhere near as respected as its cousins in film, television, or literature. But while many see this as a negative, Rockstar's Dan Houser—one of the lead writers on Grand Theft Auto IV—believes that it is actually a good thing, because it gives writers more freedom and allows them to be much more creative.

“It's really fun at the moment because we're not in any Academy and the medium's not codified," Houser told The Telegraph. "There's no accepted way of doing anything so that gives us enormous pleasure because we can make it up as we go along. Movies and TV and books have become so structured in the way they have to approach things. Not working in that environment gives us enormous freedom. I'd rather keep the freedom and not have the respect.”

While there is definitely some truth to what Houser said, it's important to note that most games do indeed feature a fairly standardized structure, with the inclusion of cut scenes, dialogue trees, and the like. Of course games do offer some unique narrative opportunities, something which Rockstar is exploring with the upcoming downloadable episode for GTAIV, The Lost and Damned, which will be released on the Xbox 360 on February 17.

Ben's thoughts

I agree that at this stage of gaming there is some freedom to be had, but it's not like many developers or publishers are taking advantage of it; most games fit easily into one of a very few genres, complete with the tropes and conventions associated with it.

The problem with the lack of respect for games, as opposed to film, is that you're not allowed to explore many topics. Can you image a gaming version of Milk? Can you imagine a gaming version of Basic Instinct? Movies are allowed to tackle any subject, and if the visuals are too rough for the mainstream they can still grab an NC-17 rating and play in arthouse theaters, or be sold on DVD. For games an AO rating is a death sentence, and sex and politics, to pick only two subjects, are treated in only the most basic ways.

Freedom is only important if you use it. Since so few people tend to do so, there's nothing wrong with hoping for a little more respect.