A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Video Games: A Ludonarrative Model Weimin Toh National University of Singapore Block AS5, 7 Arts Link Singapore 117570 +65 93696867 A0019282@u.nus.edu ABSTRACT This study proposes an integrated framework to analyse video games from a discourse analysis perspective. The objective of this research is to investigate player understanding of how the different modes of video games combine to create a multiplicative meaning for them during gameplay. The modes analysed under the multimodal discourse analysis perspective include the linguistic and visual, and for the ludonarrative perspective, the narrative and gameplay. The ludonarrative model aims to investigate how players understand the relationships between narrative and gameplay and builds on Dena's (2010) model developed for polymorphic fiction. I propose that different players understand the structure (narrative, gameplay and ludonarrative relationship) of games differently which gives rise to the multiple pathways that they take during gameplay. The theoretical framework is supported by empirical study of players through gameplay observation with open-ended interviews. This study examines the internal workings of video games and aims to contribute to our understanding of how the different relationships between the multimodal and ludonarrative modes in video games influence player decision-making when selecting a narrative (Bryan, 2013) and/or gameplay choice. To facilitate the research aim of the study, a ludonarrative model is created based on a combination of arguments including Bycer (2013), Pynenburg (2013), Callejia (2011), Watssman (2012), O'Halloran (2007, 2008) and Liu and O'Halloran (2009). Based on the researcher's gameplay experience, these arguments will then be further modified to enable their application to the proposed ludonarrative model. The proposed ludonarrative model is then tested and further modified based on an empirical study of 11 gamers. The proposed ludonarrative model aims to show how players' interpretations of different types of relationships between the narrative and gameplay facilitate and/or hinder their decision-making in video games. Ludonarrative refers to an imagined "whole" of which every video game is comprised. Every video game consists of both gameplay (ludo) and story (narrative). However, both elements are not always foregrounded. On the one hand, video games such as Tetris and Minecraft can feel quite engaging since the player can make up his/her own story. Sylvester (2013) calls this the player's story, Calleja (2011) terms it alterbiography and Jenkins (2005) describes it as an emergent story. On the other hand, there are games that feature minimal gameplay and are heavily narrative. These include Heavy Rain and Dear Esther. The ludonarrative model on which this study focuses will concentrate on the Proceedings of DiGRA 2015: Diversity of play: Games Cultures Identities 2015 Authors & Digital Games Research Association DiGRA. Personal and educational classroom use of this paper is allowed, commercial use requires specific permission from the author.
analysis of player understanding of the interaction between gameplay and story, how this influences player experience and vice versa. "Ludo" involves rules, which determine what the player is allowed to do. The player may choose to receive a quest from an NPC by clicking on it. The player then controls the keyboard or mouse to carry out actions in the game world which then result in consequences for the gameplay. Choices, control and consequences also appear under "narrative". In specific genres of video games such as interactive graphic adventures and some role-playing games, the narrative provide dialogue choices, followed by the players' utilisation of the input controls to select a narrative choice. Different players' narrative choices result in different narrative consequences. "Narrative" provides the context and gives the player a motivation when s/he is asked to do something, such as a quest in a role-playing game. Narrative has been defined by Jenkins (2005) as environmental storytelling in terms of four types, which are evocative space, enacting stories, embedded narratives and emergent narratives. Ryan (2001) defines narrative to be a matter of degree in the sense that some texts such as postmodern novels are less narrative than simple forms such as fairy tales. More importantly, Ryan (2001) emphasises on the cognitive interpretation of the reader who constructs the narrative on the basis of the text. The narrative information is presented to the player in the visuals which consists of cutscenes, or it is presented in the linguistic mode in dialogues. Cutscenes are usually displayed at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of an act or a mission. Placed at the beginning, they provide contextualising information. Shown at the end, they serve as a reward. The cutscenes also function as exposition, riddle, closures, motivation for gameplay and also provides gameplay strategies by introducing major enemies' gameplay characteristics. The quest in gameplay is realised as a plot when the player is able to relate the narrative events to one another in a sequence, through causality. Although there is a distinction made between narrative and gameplay in this study, the separation between narrative and gameplay elements exists on a continuum based on the empirical study of the players. Some players interpret the dialogue choices in The Walking Dead as gameplay choices as they can explain in the interviews that they can actively choose between the dialogue choices. For these participants, gameplay exists when they are able to perform an active role in the video game. For the other participants, some of the dialogue choices are narrative choices to them when the narrative changes based on the dialogue choices they made. In specific instances, choices in the game are both narrative and gameplay when they cannot be separated. This occurs in instances in the game where the participant has to choose between saving or killing the NPCs in the gameworld. As the participant saves or kills the NPCs, it will affect the participants' perception of the player character as a morally good or bad character in the narrative. Simultaneously, the participant is able to make an active choice so it is a gameplay option to them. The rationale for the study of the ludonarrative relationships in video games is that there is a paucity of academic studies done in this area. Juul (2005) discusses fiction and the relationship between fiction and rules. He emphasises on how well-designed games have a smooth relationship between the rules and the fictional world. He also maps out how different definitions of narrative have been applied to video games and how time and narrative progression are represented and experienced. Aarseth (2003) proposes a multidimensional typology of games for classifying the genre of games in virtual -- 2 --
environments. The model consists of a number of basic dimensions that are similar to my model. For instance, environment in gameworlds would be equivalent to the narrative aspect of my model while rules would be equivalent to ludos in my model. Ryan (2006) proposes several relationships between narrative and gameplay. Firstly, she discusses how the fictional world and its objects can be mapped against the rules of the game. Secondly, whether there is an organic, necessary connection between rules and narrative. Thirdly, whether the rules and events they create are consistent with the fictional world. She argues for a more balanced approach to both gameplay and narrative as the ludologists approach has so far heavily favoured the hard-core gamers who play with the game rules. Previous studies have also analysed how players make narrative choices (Bryan, 2013), how story is conceptualised as a function of gameplay in first person shooter games (Pinchbeck, 2009), how different types of gameplay mechanics are suitable for some narrative themes and narrative elements but not others (Linderoth, 2013), and how adventure games have integrated story with player performance of action in the simulated gameworld (Fernandez-Vara, 2009) to solve its puzzles. There are few studies which have been conducted to investigate how players make narrative and/or gameplay choices by taking into account the ludonarrative relationships in games. This study hence aims to fill in the research gap by showing how players make narrative and/or gameplay choices based on the different ludonarrative relationships in video games. The proposed ludonarrative model would be useful to researchers, game developers, industry professionals and gamers who are interested in the specific process through which players draw upon the narrative and/or gameplay information during their decision-making. The games used to test and demonstrate the ludonarrative model are The Walking Dead (Telltale Games, 2012), Mass Effect (Bioware, 2007), Bioshock (Irrational Games, 2007), The Witcher 2 (CD Projekt RED, 2011), The Last of Us (Naughty Dog, 2013) and Beyond 2 Souls (Quantic Dream, 2013). The rationale for selecting these games is that they provide the element of choice in both the narrative (conversational dialogues) and gameplay (choosing the types of actions). However, the ludonarrative relationships in the four games used in this study are different which allows the model to be tested. For instance, decision making in The Walking Dead has less consequences in changing the narrative or gameplay compared to The Witcher 2. This is an ongoing study and involves observation of players' gameplay, complemented by open-ended interviews, questionnaires, and players' in-game audio commentary during playing. During the first session, they were asked to play one of the selected games in the study for one to three hours. This was followed by an open-ended interview. The video recordings of their gameplay were recorded using Fraps, which enabled the researcher to refer to it when asking participants questions. The second session was conducted in the participants' homes where they were asked to play the game at their own pace. Participants were required to record their natural reactions in the audio recordings. After they completed the second session, the third session was arranged in the lab where a questionnaire was administered and a post-game interview was used to clarify any doubts from the analyst regarding the players' comments made in the audio recordings. Dena (2010) proposes a preliminary model to describe the meaning-making processes of polymorphic fiction. She argues that "polymorphic fictions offer a unique methodological opportunity to stretch current notions of the role of delivery media and environments in the meaning-making process, as well as understanding narrative and game modes" (Dena, -- 3 --
2010: 183). However, current theories directly describing these practices do not attend to the meaning-making process of the co-presence of narrative and game modes in polymorphic fiction. Based on Kress and van Leeuwen (2001), Dena (2010) developed a skeletal model for the analysis of polymorphic fictions. What is missing from Dena's (2010) model is the relationship or interaction between the modes. The ludonarrative model proposes the addition of the ludonarrative relationship to build on Dena's (2010) model. The ludonarrative relationships include ludonarrative dissonance, ludonarrative resonance and ludonarrative alienation with further subcategories which are integrated into the model and tested with data from the empirical study. Keywords multimodal discourse analysis, ludonarrative model, player's experience, empirical study, player's decision-making, open-ended interviews BIBLIOGRAPHY Aarseth, Espen. A Multidimensional Typology of Games, in DiGRA 03 Proceedings of the 2003 DiGRA International Conference: Level Up (2003). Available at http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/amultidimensional-typology-of-games/ (accessed: Mar. 2015). Bioware. Mass Effect. (2007). Microsoft Game Studios & Electronic Arts. Bryan, Jeffrey Scott. The Dynamics of the Player Narrative How Choices Shapes Videogame Literature. Masters Thesis. Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013. Bycer, Josh. (2013). Narrative Dissonance in Game Storytelling. Gamasutra. Available at http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/joshbycer/20130628/195316/narrative_diss onance_in_game_storytelling.php (accessed: Oct. 2014). Calleja, Gordon. Narrative Generation in Lord of the Rings Online. Ring Bearers: The Lord of The Rings Online as Intertextual Narrative. Manchester University Press, 2011. CD Projekt RED. (2011). The Witcher 2. cdp.pl. Dena, Christy. Beyond Multimedia, Narrative, and Game - The Contributions of Multimodality and Polymorphic Fictions, in Ruth Page (eds). New Perspectives on Narrative and Multimodality. Taylor & Francis, 2010. Fernandez-Vara, Clara. The tribulations of adventure games: integrating story into simulation through performance. PhD Thesis. Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. Irrational Games. (2007). Bioshock. 2K Games & Feral Interactive. Jenkins, H. Game Design as Narrative Architecture, in Noah, Wardrip-fruin and Pat, Harrigan (eds.). First Person New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. The MIT Press, 2005. Juul, Jesper. Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. The MIT Press, 2005. Kress, G.R., and T. van Leeuwen. Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London: Arnold, 2001. Linderoth, Jonas. Superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars: Ecological empowerment as a ludonarratological construct, in Mitgutsch, K. Huber, S., Wimmer, J., Wagner, H. G., & Rosenstingl, H. (eds.). Context Matters! Proceedings of the Vienna Games Conference 2013: Exploring and Reframing Games and Play in Context. Vienna: New academic press, pp. 17 30. -- 4 --
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