Vocab Term: Ludology

Definition: Due to certain objections which involve treating digital games or board games as having a narrative, and should therefore not be considered literature, a separate group of scholars broke away and began to explore the narrative merits regarding board games and video games. This division created two separate camps of study; those who study narration and those who study ludology. A ludologist is someone who studies games across history and cultures (board games and video games). Some ludologists epmphasize mechanics as the key factor for why a game is fun, while others acknowledge the role of narrative of aesthetics.

DH Source: Where narrative studies largely revolve around literary fiction and non-fiction, ludologist study why players are interested in certain gaming narratives over other gaming narratives. There is certainly overlap, though, it can be argued that gaming mechanics and gaming culture are taken into account in light of these kinds of narratives, though, narrativsts tend to only focus on certain cinematic or lore-type qualities when studying any gaming properties (if a narrativists is able to see any literary value in a game). “One irony is that in order for game studies to sustain itself as a robust interdisciplinary field, it would need to accommodate narratively complex video games in its critical oeuvre arguably more so than any other kind of game precisely because of the cultural mirror that they hold up to society in which they are produced and the ideological critiques they carry” (Ciccoricco 226-227)

Commentary: Studying why narratives in games are successful is an important component to understanding how games can be used as a DH platform. There are games that do focus on character development, themes, and they also incorporate certain aspects of genre-fiction which help to drive a gaming narrative forward. It seems counterproductive to dismiss narratives that are presented in board games or video games, especially since these digital platforms are very much apart of the cultural zeitgeist.

David Ciccoricco. “Games as Stories” The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.