Sep 16 2008
Writing in the Active Voice
For most games and especially text games, writing should be done in the active voice to give players a true sense of events within the game’s history and current happenings. Many writers fall into the habit of writing in the passive voice which can often create convoluted and confusing sentences. In the active voice, the subject of the sentence is the one creating the action. In passive voice, the subject of the sentence is receiving the action. With just a bit of rewording, a sentence using passive voice can turn into a sentence using active voice.
Passive voice:
The sprig of Serith’s whiskers is being picked by the crafter.
Active voice:
The crafter picke a sprig of Serith’s whiskers.
The active voice often takes up far less space than passive voice, which is very handy when writing descriptions with a limited number of characters and lines. With just a bit of concious effort and practice, writing in the active voice will become second nature.
Many times writers fall into the passive voice when their thoughts about a piece aren’t completely formed. This tends to show up a lot in drafts. Most times the author can clean it up with a revision.
Another use of the passive is to draw dramatic effect or a change of pace. Sometimes authors attempt it but end up writing a confusing sentence rather than coming off creative.
In games, for sure, the active voice should be used much more than in literary writing.
The two that I am heavily involved in are listed in my preferred sites.
They are Threshold RPG (www.thresholdrpg.com) and Primordiax (wiki.primordiax.com).
Hope that helps!