2. Storytelling
For a long time video games were incapable to telling compelling and engaging stories. This was only natural, as the limitations at the time prohibited them from doing so. Most stories comprised of quests to save the princess or fetch one or more items to save the world, providing the player a barebones reason for playing beyond the obvious.
Super Mario Brothers is a classic, but no one can argue that it is considered so because it told a great story. The Mario Series is known for its enjoyable platforming and imaginative world. This is no longer the case. The only limitations are the limitations of the mind. The technology of today provides developers the tools to realize their visions. Facial recognition, used in games like
L.A. Noire, is able to place real actors in our games, giving them added realism and credibility. More so now than ever, games provide diverging paths that depend on player choice, giving them both replayability and deeper moral consideration. The fact is that video games are providing us better stories than ever, and as time goes on, this only becomes more apparent. Where as older games gave us pure gamplay with only a bare bones story to hold it together, the best modern games offer layered and involving stories to enhance the gameplay, providing gamers with experiences only possible through video games.