10 Artistic Things Video Games Can Do That Movies Can't

8. Audience Involvement

Perhaps this is the most general item on this list, but one that bears mentioning all the same. While the best movies involve their audience, they do not require audience participation in order to happen, and because of this there is always a divide between what is happening on the screen and who is watching said screen. We are always aware while watching a movie that this is someone else in peril. Not so with a good video game. Because of how you control every action your character takes, it is (theoretically) impossible to lose dramatic interest as easily as with a film. You are an active participant, and as such, you are generating your own dramatic tension in a way that the best screenwriting can only hope to accomplish. It is much easier to be invested in a story when you are thrust right into the center of it, rather than viewing it through tinted glass.