A Response to SolePorpoise on the topic of Ludonarrative Dissonance
I just watched a video by a YouTuber by the name of SolePorpoise (great name, btw) about what he perceives to be the misuse of the term Ludonarrative Dissonance in games journalism/criticism (linked at the bottom). While it was a very well made and presented video, and while I much sympathize with his complaints regarding low-quality buzzword soup games journalism, I disagree with his core argument and thought a proper response deserved more than a Youtube comment. So here I am resurrecting my Tumblr to write one. I guess this is a games criticism blog now.
As I understand it, SolePorpoise’s definition of Ludonarrative Dissonance requires two things that most common uses of the phrase lack:
1. That the gameplay allows meaningful engagement with its narrative themes (e.g. Little Sisters in Bioshock) 2. That the narrative contradicts those themes in a way that insults the player’s suspension of disbelief. (e.g. the “Would You Kindly” twist)
SolePorpoise states (somewhat incorrectly, but we’ll get to that) that these two things are fundamental to the original conception of the term in Clint Hocking's blogpost on Bioshock. (also linked at the bottom)
The first of those two requirements bugged me as soon as I heard it. To me it read as this: “If your game does not making a meaningful attempt to connect the gameplay to the themes, it is free from criticism about how its gameplay and narrative/themes don’t line up”. Essentially its a free pass for lazy developers, and the axe for developers who try but miss the mark. I’m sure SolePorpoise didn’t intend it in such a harsh manner, but its the logical conclusion of his argument. There should not be a “trigger” for ludonarrative dissonance or consonance to happen, because all games with a narrative have the potential for it, regardless of an attempt by the developers (or lack thereof) to connect the themes of its gameplay to those of its narrative. The only “trigger” is having themes at all, and all games have themes and messages in their gameplay.
Take for example a highly abstract game like Tetris. Despite the complete lack of contextualization for its gameplay, Tetris sends some pretty clear messages: Last as long as you can. Keep things orderly. If you wanted to, you could interpret Tetris as a meditation on a good work ethic, of keeping your to-do list cleared so as not to be overwhelmed. These themes may be unintentional, but they are there. If you were to hypothetically retrofit a narrative around Tetris, its entirely possible that narrative conflicts with the themes of Tetris’ gameplay, even if there was no attempt to have those themes connect.
This isn’t to say that its not important when a game allows engagement between its gameplay and the narrative themes, of course. There’s a reason Clint Hocking brought up the Little Sisters in the first place. The Little Sisters are not a “trigger” for ludonarrative dissonance to happen in the first place, but rather a cue for the players to pay attention to the relationship between the two disparate parts of the game, which serves to make the dissonance obvious.
The problem with the second requirement is less severe, but still important - the ludonarrative dissonance in Bioshock exists without the twist. Clint Hocking himself declares the dissonance between gameplay and narrative themes before even bringing up the twist. The way that Bioshock insults the player’s suspension of disbelief is only tangential to the presence of ludonarrative dissonance - it is the thing that turns the dissonance from “disturbing” to “insulting”.
Perhaps there should be a term to describe the twist in Bioshock, the moment where suspension of disbelief is vitiated, but its clear ludonarrative dissonance is not that term. Its obvious in its etymology. The actual requirements for ludonarrative dissonance, as far as I’m concerned, are:
1. Game has a contextualizing narrative. 2. The major themes/messages of the gameplay and of the narrative contradict one another.
This is, unfortunately, just the kind of broad term SolePorpoise wishes it wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean its without use. While its clearly incorrectly used when applied to a game like Uncharted, (or really any time the “they kill people but aren’t a sociopath?!?” argument is given) there have been some really great applications of the term in modern games criticism. One example is Joseph Anderson’s video on Tomb Raider 2013 (linked at the bottom). In it he notes a dissonance between the positioning of the narrative as an origin story, themed around Lara’s growth from a vulnerable girl into a brutal survivor, and the lack of a significant difference in how it feels to control Lara from the beginning of the game to the end. While he doesn’t actually use the term, ludonarrative dissonance is exactly what it is. Its not the most significant example, but it is one, and pointing it out is valuable for the game developers of the future.
Also important to note is that despite the connotation of the word “dissonance”, ludonarrative dissonance is not a universally negative thing. There can be value in it, both as a #deep meta-commentary thing where its obvious and intentional, and as a minor thing where the developer accepts a bit of dissonance to make the gameplay and/or narrative a smoother or more fun experience. The prior example of Tomb Raider could be an example of the later - the developers may have considered having Lara “nerfed” at the beginning of the game, and decided against it to have the gameplay be more immediately fun.
So yeah, that’s that, I guess. SolePorpoise said at the end of his video that he’s working on a video about Nier: Automata and the ludonarrative dissonance he perceives in it. I haven’t played that game yet, but I guess I have to now, because I do want to see if Nier has it, or if it has the vitiation of engagement Bioshock does, or both, and I also want to see if a second good example can make SolePorpoise’s argument make more sense.
SolePorpoise’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8PAWO4Y_rY Clint Hocking's blogpost: http://clicknothing.typepad.com/click_nothing/2007/10/ludonarrative-d.html Joseph Anderson’s Tomb Raider Critique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CkUxBwPd_0
