Multimodality or Ludo-Narrative Dissonance

Abstract

Multimodality has been lauded as an important teaching method for the presentation of new media texts in the 20 th and 21 st century, especially in relation to graphic novels. Multimodality is the incorporation of different modes (or mediums) that work together to create a singular message. However this idea of multimodality hasn't been brought into video game studies. Instead video games have focused upon ergodic literature, at first, and then ludo-narrative dissonance as an explanation for different media types within videogames. However while multimodality has become prevalent within the study of graphic novels, the same can't be said for game studies. This paper explores the relationship between the positive notion of multimodality in graphic novel studies and the negative connotations of ludonarrative discussion, and ergodic literature within game studies. General TermsDesign, Human Factors.

“Pay for your choices”: Deconstructing neoliberal choice through free-to-play mobile interactive fiction games

“…To win, the player has to contemplate and choose what yields the best outcome, which is mostly diamond- or gem-activated. The ludonarrative dissonance (Hocking, 2009; see also Dunne, 2014) between the promise of agentic, fictional narrative experience and structural limitations of the free-to-play IFG design reveals two traps underlying neoliberal choice.…”

Links between Video Games and other Media: Ludonarrative Dissonance and Transmedia Storytelling

“…This bias posits that controllable game characters are always perceived as extensions of the player. However, considering the multimodal or ergodic nature of games [16](Dunne, 2014) and borrowing from music theory [17,18](Parncutt & Hair, 2011; Saldivar, 2022), dissonance can be viewed as a temporary state that can be resolved or even exploited for broader emotional and cognitive engagement. In summary, the term "game narrative dissonance" has been employed to examine the intricate interplay between game mechanics and narrative, as well as its impact on player experience.…”