Wednesday, 20 April 2016

Ludo-narrative Dissonance

Ludo-narrative Dissonance was something I struggled to understand for a very long time. I don't know if it was the multiple explanations or what was used to explain it or how people explained it, but I just couldn't get my head around it. I needed a clear, precise explanation from somebody and Hocking's analysis of Bioshock just didn't do it for me.
However, the analysis combined with my friend Jackson's explanation really helped me finally get it. I had gotten confused with narrative and story, the character and gameplay etc, and there were all these strange things muddled up in my head and I was trying to make sense of it all.

I feel as though any of the Telltale games or games in which you decide what the player does and the story changes depending on what you choose are examples on ludo-narrative cohesion. This is due to the fact that, although the whole story itself is not necessarily fully affected, the narrative of the story is what you build through the actions you choose and certain events happen from those actions. In these cases, the player is usually presented with two different points of view but the games could also be examples of ludo-narrative dissonance as it is the player who decides which option to go with, despite possible reasoning and past choices. I think it is mostly the former as the story changes depending on what the player chooses and that is by design, but it depends on how one looks at it.

Player choices influences the story paths and outcomes,
The Walking Dead

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