Ludonarrative Dissonance

Ludonarrative Dissonance is simply put when the narrative and the gameplay of a game are opposing. Whilst researching this topic I found a lot of negative views about it, while understanding is it really as big a problem as they seem to suggest?

I have enjoyed a lot of games that when looking back at had this type of dissonance and while occasionally I admit I did notice some actions and narrative that didn't fit with each other I still enjoyed them. The game, Bioshock, that spurred the coining of the term Ludonarrative Dissonance is in fact one of my favourite games and not until I read Clint Hockings discussion on the topic did I even notice the 'problem'. Not to be hard on Hocking as he did say at the end of his review that he did like the game it's just that he couldn't help but notice the dissonance between what the narrative and the gameplay were asking you to do.

It's not only Bioshock that shows this dissonance it's apparent in many games, in particular games that try to share an immersive narrative and also try to be a shooter. Games such as Uncharted, and Tomb Raider convince the player that the character is good, real, and human, this is then contradicted when they seem to have no trouble running around killing hordes of people. In other cases the character can seem totally opposite to how they act in gameplay like Max Payne 3, were Max often describes himself as old, fat, and not up to the job yet when he is jumping around the game world he doesn't match up to his description. These dissonances may be annoying but it wouldn't be the same game that you may have enjoyed without them, true I have read in many of the reviews that the characters could show more development to allow an easier transition from the beginning character that doesn't want to hurt people to the character that does what they must or depending on the game starts to enjoy it.

As I've said before I am not entirely disagreeing with the concept of ludonarrative dissonance but the idea that it is the main problem with games today. Games could improve drastically if this dissonance was taken away such as making violence less of a mechanic in certain adventure games and maybe making characters more realistic. Is there a possibility that by doing this players won't have as much fun though, games are there to take you into fantastical worlds that while may be close to ours is a place where you can do things you can't or shouldn't in real life, so would taking away the dissonance make games too realistic or would it immerse players more.

I believe that there is room for games with and without dissonance, it may not always be intentional but it can be fun and that's what games are about.


Bibliography

"Ludonarrative Dissonance in Bioshock", Clint Hocking, 07/10/07, http://clicknothing.typepad.com/click_nothing/2007/10/ludonarrative-d.html, retrieved 06/05/13

"Ludonarrative dissonance: The roadblock to realism", Brett Makedonski, 26/09/12, http://www.destructoid.com/ludonarrative-dissonance-the-roadblock-to-realism-235197.phtml, retrieved 06/05/13

"Vicodin Visions", Tom Bissell, 31/05/12,
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7989584/on-rockstar-games-max-payne-3, retrieved 06/05/13

"Bioshock Infinite, ludonarrative dissonance, and "next-gen game design"", Daniel Sims, 01/05/13, http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/01/bioshock-infinite-ludonarrative-dissonance-and-next-gen-game-design/, retrieved 06/05/13