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The Principles of Narratology and Ludology

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Mark Dixon - Murdoch University












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The Principles of Narratology and Ludology

An ever changing society such as ours requires a clear understanding of the interactions it
has with new media products such as games, because failing to understand such
interactions could lead to potentially negative consequences as a direct result of a failure to
comprehend what sort of impacts games have on us as a society. This essay will attempt to
discuss the basic principles of both Narratology and Ludology in reference to the study of
and the critical understanding of the implications of games and game-play. To demonstrate
this, this essay will use the example of the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft to place the
discussed principles of Narratology and Ludology into comparative context. World of
Warcraft is a game that falls into the category of an MMORPG, according to Marco
Chiuppesi of the Department of Social Science, University of Pisa: The acronym MMORPG
stands for Massive Multi-Player Online Role Play Game. Its a kind of video game,
functioning with client programs running on various players computers remotely
connecting with centralized servers. Players interact in the common context of a simulated
world, every one with his own character, every character symbolized by a graphical
depiction: an avatar. (Chiuppesi, M. 2005.). By using this MMORPG as a candidate for my
discussion, this essay will attempt to show the importance of understanding the principles
of Narratology and Ludology, and the importance of understanding what games and game-
play are. Narratology and Ludology are both highly important subjects of study, and certain
aspects and principles should be implemented from both of these disciplines in-order to
successfully understand games, game-play and what sort of social implications come from
these fast growing socially accepted forms of new media entertainment.



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The study of games is known as Ludology, Gonzalo Frasca discusses that Ludology has been
defined in two ways, the first being that Ludology is the study of games, particulary
computer games and secondly that Ludology is most often defined as the study of game
structure (or game-play) as opposed to the study of games as narratives or as a visual
medium. (Frasca, G. 2003.). So by having two definitions as Frasca discussed, this means
that Ludology is a torn discipline, torn between that its is simply the study of games and
that it is the opposed train of thought to narratology. Ludology as a whole, explores the
concept of video games as a structured rule-based interactive media, through which the
player engages and completes a set objective. Ludology denounces that video games are a
medium for storytelling and refuses to accept that video games should be studied as a
narrative, or story. Ludologist Espen Aarseth claims that When games are analyzed as
stories, both their differences from stories and their intrinsic qualities become all but
impossible to understand. (Ryan, M. 2006.). Even game developers such as Yoshinori
Yamagishi claim that interactivity is standing in the way of video games becoming an
effective storytelling medium. (Parker, L. 2009.). Yamagishi is not alone in his view, many
video game theorists now believe that the interactivity of games stop them from being an
effective storytelling medium.(Parker, L. 2009.) Ludological studies are primarily based
around functionality and integral aspects to a game, for example as stated by Michael
Mateas and Andrew Stern, narrative cannot operate at the heart of a game; at best it can
be a relativley simple layer above the core game-play action. (Mateas, M and Stern, A.
2005.). Meaning that Ludologist's can accept the fact that some narratology can exist within
the game, but it is fundamentally in-consistant with interaction, therefore leaving it outside
of the core game mechanics and irrelevant to the actual structure of the game. Jesper Juul
even states himself that many video games contain narrative elements, and in many cases,
the player may play to see a cut-scene or realise a narrative sequence. (Juul, J. 2001.).
Ludology is important to the study of video games, because of its ability to remove


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narrative and focus on core dynamics and game-play via an interactive system of rules and
and physics. Ludology also helps to understand interactions between the player and the
game and can help reflect how these interactions will in turn affect society.

Narratology is the term used to describe the study of story structure within narrative type
media such as films and novels where the author dictates the story to the audience and the
audience accepts and absorbs the information within its predetermined limitations.
(Narrati. 2006.). This concept has been applied to the study of video games and has a
narrativists backing it up, Henry Jenkins argues that games tell stories in their own unique
way, and their narratives are not equivalent to a simplistic idea of linear story such as we
find in films or novels. Jenkins also proposes that game stories are truly spatial and
environmental. (Jenkins, H. 2003.). In this sense Jenkins is referring to the aspect that
spatial stories would be a collaboration of events that have occurred and have built up an
overall story or odyssey that the player has been a part of during the time spent playing the
game. But not all narrativists agree with these narratological concepts and simply depict
that a video game is a story telling media, that acts as a narrative to the audience. Laura
Parker offers the explanation that video games may not work as traditional narratives, but
they incorporate all the basic elements of storytelling, including the eternal human interests
that are played over and over again in all stories across all media and cultures: love, family
life, threats and dangers, exploration and adventure, mortality and death. Like other stories,
video game narratives are a powerful expression of the human imagination--witty,
entertaining, and complex stories. (Parker, L. 2009.). In order for video games to behave as
an effective narrative medium, they are required to engage the player and draw them into
the lives of the characters as they play. Narratology is an important way to look at video


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games, because of the way that video games operate, the interactions and messages that
they deliver to the audience should be studied and understood.

The main issue that causes narratology and ludology to clash in the world of video games, is
the battle of narratology versus interactivity. As Yoshinori Yamagishi states, interactivity is
standing in the way of video games becoming an effective storytelling medium. (Parker, L.
2009.). This is because video games exist as a form of new media, and their interactive
aspects promote the user to input, operate and control certain aspects of the game, thus
being recognised as a form of sit forward media, the user now delivers information
through interactivity as well as receiving it. (Manovich, L. 2001.). This renders the concept
of video games being used to tell a predefined story as incompatible with the aspects that
interactivity introduced to video games, because instead of the use just absorbing any
narrative information, the user actually interacts with the storyline and makes choices and
changes as they play, thus being able to shape and conceive their own interpretations of the
storyline from the video game. Denis Dutton, professor of philosophy at the University of
Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand states that: Theres a deep division between the
concept of a story as it has come down through tradition and the concept of a story as it is
in video games, Dutton says. Games do not have the story structure we see in Greek
plays, Shakespearean tragedies, or even soap operas on afternoon TV. They are, at their
very heart, games and not stories. (Parker, L. 2009.). The claims that Dutton makes are very
ludological, focusing on the actual core mechanics and objectives of the game rather than
the narratological concepts that also exist within the game. Gonzalo Frasca takes a different
approach to this, explaining that from the very beginning, 'old' ludology never discarded
narratology and that basic concepts of ludology could be used along with narratology to
better understand video games. (Frasca, G. 2003.). So not all ludologists reject the


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components of narratology within video games, some like Marie-Laure Ryan propose that
ludology should not 'throw away' the concept of the narrative from it. even calling for a
development of new ludology that contains the components of narratology. (Ryan, M.
2001.). So even certain ludologists agree that narratology and ludology are both very
important aspects to the study of video games and that they should both be used to
complement each other and help to both contribute to the research of games and game-
play.

To explore the concept of ludology and narratology coexisting within a game-space together
and both operating around each other successfully, this essay will be referring to examples
of game concepts taken from the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft
offers players a unique experience where they are subjected to a virtual world that is
almost sandbox in structure. The virtual world consists of many different areas and
activities for players to engage in, for a solo or multi-player experience. By offering a large
range of choice to the player, the game falls into a ludological category, players can opt to
complete quests which are objective based tasks that deliver the player with a structured
set of defined parameters to meet, in-order to obtain rewards. In this ludological sense, the
game operates within an objective structure of predefined limitations, but narratological
aspects can be derived from this objective structure also. As the objectives are completed
by the player and the tasks and rewards are gained, a storyline begins to emerge and
appear and the player becomes engaged with the game-play and also with the storyline
that they are part of. The form of narratology offered from the World of Warcraft comes
about from its large spatial environment and many of the narratologies contained within
this game come about as a direct result of the player own interactions with the world itself.
Henry Jenkins agrees with this by stating that games tell stories in their own unique way,


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and their narratives are not equivalent to a simplistic idea of linear story such as we find in
films or novels, game stories are truly spatial and environmental. (Jenkins, H. 2003.) For
example, a heroes quest would be made up by a sequence of undetermined events, which
are then collaborated into a narrative. With this aspect in mind, we can see that the World
of Warcraft not only runs on a ludological structure of rules, parameters and limitations, but
also has narratological components that allow it to become a visual storytelling medium for
the player. This is then reinforced by the players direct emotional connectivity with the
character, which is in-fact their own online 'representation', because it is a self created
avatar. By having emotional connection to the avatar, the player becomes more engaged
with the game and more involved with the narratological aspects of the game that effect
the storyline of their character.

In conclusion to this discussion, it is important to remember that both ludology and
narratology are important aspects of video game studies. In order for a clear understanding
of the aspects of video-games and game-play, it is crucial that we absorb and implement
both trains of thought in our research. As stated by Gonzalo Frasca in regards to ludology he
claims that the purpose of ludology was not to replace the narratologic (sic) but to
complement it. (Frasca, G. 2003.). Thus further pertaining the fact that ludology and
narratology can exist around one another and should both play an important role in video
games studies and the further understanding of the effects of video games on us as a
society.
MCC232 Video Game Studies Mark Dixon 30795539

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References:

Chiuppesi, M. 2005. MMORPG: A Review of Social Studies. Il Trimestrale. The Labs
Quarterly 2: 0-3. Serra. http://www.serra.unipi.it/dsslab/trimestrale/Archivio%20-
%20Articoli/Chiuppesi%20M.%20-
%20MMORPG%20a%20review%20of%20social%20studies.pdf (accessed September 5,
2009)

Frasca, G. 1999. Ludology Meets Narratology: Similitude and differences between
(video)games and narrative. http://www.ludology.org/articles/ludology.htm (accessed
September 5, 2009)

Frasca, G. 2003. Ludologists love stories too: notes from a debate that never took place.
Digital Games Research Confrence 2003 Proceedings.
Http://www.gamesconference.org/2003 amd http://www.digra.org/ (Reprinted in the
MCC232 Video Games Studies reader.)

Jenkins, H. 2003. Game Design as Narrative Archetecture.
http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/games&narrative.html (accessed September 6,
2009)

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Juul, J. 2001. Games Telling Stories? - A brief note on games and narratives.
http://gamestudies.org/0101/juul-gts/ (accessed September 6, 2009)
Mateas, M and Stern, A. 2005. Build It to Understand it: Ludology Meets Narratology in
Game Design Space. Digital Games Research Confrence 2005 Proceedings.
http://www.digra.org/ (Reprinted in the MCC232 Video Games Studies reader.)

Manovich, L. 2001. The Language of New media. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.

Narrati. 2006. Narrati Narratology, the study of Narrative.
http://www.narrati.com/Narratology/Narratology.htm (accessed September 5, 2009)

Parker, L. 2009. Once Upon A Time: Narrative in Video Games.
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5, 2009)

Ryan, M. 2001. Beyond Myth and Metaphor The Case of Narrative in Digital Media.
http://gamestudies.org/0101/ryan/ (accessed September 6, 2009)

Ryan, M. 2006. Computer Games as Narrative: The Ludology versus Narrativism
Controversy. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4053729/Video-games-are-the-most-popular-
the-most-culturally-influential- (accessed September 6, 2009)

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Ryan, M. 2002. Ludology vs. Narratology? A critical investigation of the aesthetic properties
of digital media, in Game Studies.
http://www.itu.dk/Internet/research/phd/courses/Courses2002/LudologyvsNarratology/
(accessed September 6, 2009)