Ludonarrative, a compound of ludology and narrative, refers to the intersection in a video game of ludic elements – or gameplay – and narrative elements. It is commonly used in the term Ludonarrative dissonance.
Contents
Ludonarrative dissonance
Ludonarrative dissonance refers to conflicts between a video game's narrative and its gameplay. The term was coined by Clint Hocking, a former creative director at LucasArts (then at Ubisoft), on his blog in October, 2007. Hocking coined the term in response to the game BioShock, which according to him promotes the theme of self-interest through its gameplay while promoting the opposing theme of selflessness through its narrative, creating a violation of aesthetic distance that often pulls the player out of the game. Video game theorist Tom Bissell, in his book Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter (2010), notes the example of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, where a player can all but kill their digital partner during gameplay without upsetting the built-in narrative of the game.
In 2016, Frederic Seraphine, semiotician, and researcher specialized in Game Design at the University of Tokyo wrote a literature review about the notion of ludonarrative dissonance. In this article, developing on the numerous debates sparked by Hocking's blog post, Seraphine identifies the reason of ludonarrative dissonance as an opposition between "Incentives" and "directives" within the "ludic structure [the gameplay]" and the "narrative structure [the story]".
Jeffrey Matulef of Eurogamer stated that "Uncharted has often been mocked for being about a supposedly likable rogue who just so happens to recklessly slaughter hundreds of people," and commended developer Naughty Dog for their self-awareness with Uncharted 4: A Thief's End's trophy "Ludonarrative Dissonance", which is awarded to the player for killing 1,000 enemies. In an interview with Naughty Dog's creative director Neil Druckmann (who directed the game alongside Bruce Straley), Glixel's Chris Suellentrop noted that the trophy was "a reference to the criticism that Nathan Drake doesn't respond emotionally to all the killing he does"; Druckmann replied, "I told all the people on the team, "This is my proudest moment, the fact that I came up with this trophy on this project." We were conscious to have fewer fights, but it came more from a desire to have a different kind of pacing than to answer the "ludonarrative dissonance" argument. Because we don't buy into it."
Debates on the potential positive use of the notion
However, some game scholars and writers are challenging the supposedly negative nature of ludonarrative dissonance. Nick Ballantyne, managing editor ar GameCloud Australia, in an article from 2015 makes the following statement about ludonarrative dissonance: "What if it could be used to a dev’s advantage? Video games can force players into uncomfortable situations, and ludonarrative dissonance can help foster that uncomfortableness. Faux glitches have been used as ludo/narrative tools before [in games such as Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty], so why is ludonarrative dissonance avoided so much? If your intent is to unsettle or confuse a player, then ludonarrative dissonance seems perfect, but this relies heavily on the player." While acknowledging the potential of ludonarrative dissonance to create what he calls "emersion", defined as opposed to "immersion" as the "sensation of being pulled out of the play experience", Seraphine agrees with Ballantyne on the possibility to purposefully use ludonarrative dissonance as a storytelling device. He concludes the article with the following sentence: "It seems that more games in the near future might use ludonarrative dissonance as a way to tell more compelling stories. In essence, stories are about characters and the most interesting stories are often told with dissonant characters; as it is the surprise, the disturbance, the accident, the sacrosanct disruptive element, that justifies the very act of telling a story."
Ludonarrative consistency
The Dead Space series is noted for having a consistent ludonarrative. Brett Makedonski of Destructoid states of the series "The gameplay aptly conveys the sense of sheer terror and loneliness that the narrative expertly strives to establish."