Deep in the sawdust of a Sunday afternoon DIY session, a glimmer of the daily grind came back to me in a flash when the BBC Radio 4 programme Go4it started talking about the challenges of storytelling in computer games with interactive author Steve Jackson and game designer-turned-fiction writer Austin Grossman. Intrigued, I set down my mitre saw and lost myself in the issues as presented for this kids' talk radio programme.

Firstly, it was wonderful to hear grown men (and Frag Doll Jam - nice hair, girl!) talking like adults about computer games. Out of their over-30-year-old mouths came free admission as games players, tripping over past personal interactive glories and those games which sparked a lifetime of playing pleasure. It was as if it was quite normal for games to be mentioned in the same breath and with the same credence as books. Marvellous!

It was also a thrill to hear the authors discuss how games have affected their linear storytelling. Grossman, a veteran of Deus Ex and Tomb Raider: Legends, has just released a super-villainous book titled Soon I Will Be Invincible. It sounds like a good bookshelf filler in advance of the next Harry Potter. He explained that he certainly drew on his games design experience, realising only after the fact that he'd set up the endgame as a final boss battle (then again, anyone familiar with Joseph Campbell would argue that this mechanic began in storytelling long before Charles Babbage created the first computer). Jackson, co-founder of Lionhead Studios and co-author of several dozens of Fighting Fantasy books, offered a few insights into how he creates non-linear narratives in a linear medium.

But why are games so bad at storytelling? Grossman argued that players mess it up. Designers must write bare-bones materials in case the hero chooses a different path than the one the designer wants, particularly as games become more open-ended.

The show can be heard on the website for the next week, and it's worth a listen to see how the auditory medium grapples with game-like experiences (there are several game-y things, like pass-the-story and even an RPG). Why isn't this kind of thing on "grown-up" programming? Or, rather, why aren't game-like activities in panel programmes (Just a Minute, Have I Got News For You) called games?

Also highly recommended is an interview with Grossman on Wired, where he discusses how stifled he felt as a storyteller when he was working in games.