2. Draw From Classic Literature & Movies
Developers generally play it safe when selecting a narrative for games; usually, admittedly appropriately, games focus on nerdy storylines pulled from science fiction stories in either books or movies, and we've all played hundreds of games that feature aliens and so on. However, the writers of video games need to realise that if the video game medium is to gain more respect, its narratives need to become more
literary, drawing from broader narratives than the simple geek-bait; American McGee's Alice had the right idea many years ago, taking Lewis Carroll's classic text and turning it into a mesmerising, stunning, superbly postmodern video game that became a cult sensation (and eventually bred a sequel). Writers need to brush up on the literary classics as well as classic movies and get a feel for what makes a truly great narrative, rather than sticking to the same pulp stories; this way, the general public might begin to associate games with the thoughtful, intelligent narratives of the so-called "superior arts". Granted, we're still always going to want vapid games that are just dumb actioners, but developers like David Cage (Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls) are the sort of people we should be turning to for an intellectually challenging experience.