In many cases, certainly not all, a good story can greatly contribute to a video game. You just have to look at The Last of Us, Alan Wake and Firewatch for conformation. In recognition of the fact, the annual Nebula Awards will now have a Best Game Writing award category for 2018.

The Nebula Awards are awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), and is widely seen, along with the Hugo Awards (which is voted for by the public), as the most prominent award for writers of science-fiction and fantasy.

The news comes via GeekWire, with SFWA president, Cat Rambo noting that the new game writing award was a difficult decision for the organisation to take, having struggled to get it passed twice before. SFWA only allowed game writers into the organisation last year, with Rambo hoping that the award will help video game buyers in selecting strong quality titles, and video game writers to lift their game.  

In the discussion on Reddit, user BornIn1142 questions how easy it would be for the SFWA judges to play through the gaming titles up for awards, while writermonk asks if awards would be givin to all the different writers on a project.

We’re certain these technicalities will be sorted out by the awards next ceremony, which takes place in August 2018. The decision by SFWA is certainly the right choice, and come to think about, actually long overdue.

The interview with Cat Rambo was conducted as a podcast, and can be downloaded here (direct MP3 download).