Every good freelance writer has their favorite distraction. Whether it be reading a book, taking a nap, going for a walk, getting lost in social media or doing a crossword puzzle (or like 5 billion other things), you just need to take a break sometimes. With it being National Video Games Day today, we felt like this would be the perfect opportunity to celebrate those freelance writers that get rid of writer’s block specifically through button smashing, multiplayer stratagem and epic virtual adventures. To all those video game content writers out there, we salute you.

Why Do Freelance Writers Play Video Games?

Aside from the obvious answers that video games are an escape from the real world and are a fantastic way to hide from any upcoming deadlines, there are actually a lot of reasons why freelance writers love video games. On top of that, there are lots of reasons that freelance writers should be playing video games. The greatest video game content writers rival that of any novelist or movie-script writer. If you believe you can learn from other great writers, then video games are an excellent case study. Here are a few examples of elements you can find in great video game writing.

Conflict Driven Stories

Any writer will tell you that the most compelling stories are the ones driven by conflict. When that conflict is front and center, it can drive all the other details of the story.  It’s the “why” of good story-telling. In video games, conflict is especially focused on. Who doesn’t want to rescue the princess, hide from the zombies or save the world?

Emotional Connections with Characters

While many video games rely on improved graphics to try and show emotion, the great ones make you feel it – whether or not the graphics are realistic or not. You buy into the characters and connect with them. You feel for their plight and you die a little inside when something bad inevitably happens to them. Great characters are the same across any medium – they are the ones that compel you to invest emotionally.

Audience-Driven Writing

With any great piece of content, you have to consider who you’re writing for. This is true for novels, movies and even blogging for businesses. If you understand your audience and what they feel, want and hope for, you can create a better written product. Video game developers spend months and years designing a video game that they believe people will enjoy. As a writer, you should understand and be able to quickly identify your target audience before starting to write.

Here are Freelance Writers’ Top 5 Video Games

Now that we’ve gotten through the “why” a freelance writer should play, now let’s get to the fun stuff – the “what” you should play. We did a survey within our freelance writing ranks to find our video game review writers’ top 5 video games of all time. We went broad on this one, allowing them to pick any game across any platform across whatever time period they’ve been alive.

We got tons of responses, so we’ll narrow it down to the top 5 video games/franchises that our freelance writers love, as well as the honorable mentions just so you have a decent list to start working through. We’ll also give some of the writers’ reasons as to why they loved each game. Let’s start with number 5:

Number 5 – Mario Kart

Reasons why our video game review writers love Mario Kart:

• Extremely fun to play with my kids. – Amanda H.
• Racing games are fun. Especially when they’re using Mario characters. – Jessica M.
• Way fun late-night slumber party game, even fun when you’re totally horrible! – Kayla G.
• It was my all-time favorite game until, well, Splatoon 2 came along. – Kelly S.

Number 4 – Super Smash Bros.

Screenshot Credit: Sideshow

Reasons why video game review writers love Super Smash Bros.:

• Childhood classic yet it’s growth and evolution is impressive. From the original to Brawl or Melee, this game has grown with generations. – Bekah
• There isn’t an argument or disagreement that can’t be settled over a game of smash. Pick from a million different characters who all feel balanced and prove your mettle. This game franchise was, is and continues to be awesome. – Matt S.
• This was my group of friends go-to on the weekend when we had nothing else to do. Lots of memories. – Caleb S.
• A game with a lot of good memories as I played with friends in my family’s game room. – Mike B.

Number 3 – The Sims

Screenshot credit: Origin

Reasons why video game article writers love The Sims:

SimCity

• Because I love building and designing things. I also love figuring out how best to get my cities to function. – Shannon H.

The Sims

• Because it’s like real life, only better and a lot more creative. – Shannon H.

The Sims 2

• I’ve been playing this game for literally ten years. So, it has tons of replay value, to say the least. – Hannah J.

The Sims 3

• I’ve recently gotten more into this one. It’s pretty good! – Hannah J.

Number 2 – The Legend of Zelda

Screenshot credit: DenofGeek

Reasons why video game review writers love The Legend of Zelda series:

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

• Interesting puzzles and surprises. – Tina B.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

• My top 5 list would only be filled with Zelda games, but that would be boring, so I just picked the one that got me hooked on the series. – Caleb S.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

• Zelda on the Wii was an amazing experience for me. Using the Wii remote to mimic a sword felt like I was actually sword fighting. And the flying is hella fun! – Bekah

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

• Puzzle-style challenges and gorgeous artwork. – Amanda H.
• I’m a Zelda fanboy, I’ll admit it. This game was a masterpiece. I didn’t know it was possible to reinvent open world games all over again, but they did it. So much exploring to do and endless hours of trying to find stupid Koroks. – Matt S.
• Zelda BotW was on another level when it came out. The world was huge, the story was compelling and it was Zelda! This was another game where it seems like they thought of everything and made anything possible in the game. – Jon B.

Number 1 – Pokemon

Screenshot Credit: Nintendo

Reasons why video game content writers love Pokemon:

Pokemon

• IT IS EVERYONE’S #1!!! LOL it’s just a childhood favorite. – Kayla G.

Pokémon (Leaf Green)

• I spent too many hours of my childhood playing this game not to list it! – Sabrina M.

Pokemon Blue

• I was obsessed with Pokemon as a kid. I literally went everywhere with my Gameboy Pocket and Pokemon Blue. – Caleb S.
• The first video game I ever bought, and I played it on-and-off for years. – Mike B.

Pokemon Puzzle League

• I could hold my own against my kids for a long, long time.

Pokemon X

• I have loved Pokemon since the days of Red and Blue. X and Y just happen to be my favorite (as well as my favorite Pokemon anime series). I may have had a minor crush on the electric gym leader… – Jessica M.

Honorable Mentions

These games/franchises had multiple mentions but just fell short of the top 5. But if multiple video game review writers/editors vouch for them, then you know they’re gonna be good. Here are the honorable mentions in no particular order.

Kingdom Hearts

• Beautiful story, and everyone loves Disney interaction!! – Kayla G.
• Childhood favorites never die. – Sabrina M.

Destiny

• Destiny was the most fun I’ve ever had online playing with friends. The fact that you could 3 person co-op the entire game made it so much fun. There were new challenges every week, insane raids that I have no idea how the developers thought up of and tons of grinding. Ok I didn’t love the grinding, but it made the rewards feel so much more special. – Jon B.
• I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I’ve had some of the best multiplayer gaming experiences of my life playing with friends, but also the grind of the game drove me up the wall. Ultimately the good outweighs the bad, though. For now. I think. – Matt S.

Final Fantasy

• Final Fantasy VI – The story. – Tina B.
• Final Fantasy XIV – My best friend just recently introduced me to it and I can’t get enough. I’m a Lalafellin archer. I love that you can customize your character and the story is just so engaging! – Jessica M.

Plants Vs. Zombies

• Classic video game play plus crazy, whimsical, funny characters. It’s just a really fun way to spend a little spare time when I’ve got it and never fails to make me smile. – Shannon H.
• I love the idea of plants fighting back. – Niesha R.

Mass Effect (series)

• For Mass Effect 2 – Amazing story with tons of character customization. I love to create characters in my mind, so being able to play as a rogue mercenary on one playthrough, a save-the-galaxy defender of justice on another and even a “bad” guy was tons of fun. – Brian E.
• I love narrative-driven games. – Veronica E.
• Interesting story. Sci Fi themes. – Tina B.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

• Amazing open world game with enormous replay value- every game you play can be completely different from the last. The character customization is fantastic. It’s a timeless game with something for everybody. You can slay a dragon, fist fight thieves, make armor or build a house, pick flowers and make potions, climb a mountain, cast spells, or steal and sneak your way through towns. The medieval setting is always cool for me- very Lord of the Rings-esque. – Bekah
• Dragons, wizards, massive battle axes. Need I say more? – Sabrina M.

Super Mario Bros. 

• Super Mario Bros. (NES) – The first game I played. It introduced me to video games and provided me and my sisters with many hours of entertainment. – Kelly S.
• Super Mario Odyssey – A true work of art. – Mike B.

Tetris

• Because of the colors and the satisfaction that comes with clearing the levels, getting everything to fit together, and so forth. – Shannon H.
• Mmmmmm, squares of spinach. – John B.

World of Warcraft

• Tons of lore and a continuing story, plus beautiful scenery. – Amanda H.
• I don’t know, it stole years of my life and yet plagues my dreams. – John B.

Other Video Game Suggestions

These games all had single votes, but we figured it couldn’t hurt to include them as well. The more great games to sort through, the better! See what these video game review writers had to say:

Freelance Writers’ Greatest Video Game Achievements

Last of all, let’s get to the payoff of playing video games. Believe it or not, playing video games as a freelance writer isn’t just a waste of time. Not only can you work on your writing skills as a storyteller and get lost in an adventure, you can also walk away feeling quite proud of yourself.

Video game writers have presented people with incredibly tough challenges over the years that take a certain amount of focus/dedication and hard work to overcome. Our freelance writers are no different. Here are a few of our video game review writers’ proudest gaming moments:

• I always enjoy it when I beat a Nintendo expert’s time in Mario Kart time trials. – Kelly S.
• Probably the time I successfully recreated my hometown and entire social circle on The Sims. I love finding ways to bring aspects of my real life and the people I love into the little worlds I create in  the games I play. – Shannon H
• Finally Capturing Mew in Pokemon Blue. – Mike Bedard
• Finding the glitch in the original Pokemon Blue that gave you Mew. It was the coolest thing ever. And being a kid, I felt like I had uncovered the greatest gift of all time. (Man, I wish my Gameboy still worked…) – Jessica M.
• I’m pretty proud of the fact that I’m absolutely unbeatable at Mario Party 4 and 5. – Sabrina M.
• 100%-ing Alice: Madness Returns. It’s the only game I’ve loved enough to dedicate that amount of time to. – Veronica E.
• My defining moment in gaming was discovering how to reach the underwater level (called Meridia) in Super Metroid. A bunch of friends and I were playing together, and we knew where we needed to go, but there didn’t seem to be any way to get there. We ran back and forth for probably an hour, when suddenly I had the idea to set off one of our bombs in a glass tunnel. The moment that glass shattered (interacting with the environment like that was rare in games back then), I had this sensation of euphoria, joy, satisfaction, pride and amazement, all at the same time. – Brian E.
• Beating Night Gundam in Dynasty Warriors Gundam. The hardest thing I’ve ever done. – Bekah
• Finally finishing Pokémon:Ruby at age 20. 🤣- Kayla G.
• Completing a long and challenging series of quests to earn the “Timelord” title in World of Warcraft. – Amanda H.
• Not a boast, but several years ago, my 13 year old had beaten nearly all the monsters on Paper Mario. He was doing really well, and it was evening, so we all ended up sitting around watching and cheering him on. (We had a pretty young crowd with nine kids under 13.) He’d made it to the final boss, and we were literally holding our breath, seconds away from winning the game. At this point, we really hadn’t ever been involved enough in a game to beat it, so we were pretty excited. Just before the final hit, one of my younger sons jumped up! He was so into the game. And he stepped on the N64, hitting the reset button … and just like that we never beat the game. – Niesha R.
• Maxing out Kimahri’s luck stat on Final Fantasy X. That’s a lot of Attack Reels. – John B.
• Whenever I play a certain level on Star Wars Battlefront 2, I always destroy over 10 tanks, which is pretty good. 🙂 – Hannah J.
• Pretty much anytime I can Platinum a game. – Jon B.
• Defeating the water temple in Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time without using any walkthroughs. Take that, internet! – Matt S.
• I remember getting 35+ kills in an online Halo match to carry my team to victory and feeling like I was the NBA MVP. – Caleb S.
• Beat Bioshock on the highest difficulty setting. Because it was hard. – Tina B.

Game On!

Every day can be National Video Games day if you let it. We know we may not have covered all of the best video game writing, and that’s why we want to hear from a video game content writer such as yourself. Tell us about your favorite video game reviews, as well as your favorite gaming achievements. Let us know in the comments below!

Or if you’re a gamer interested in becoming a freelance writer, we have a spot for you, too. Come see how to become a writer with us and join our community!