Gonzalo Frasca

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Gonzalo Frasca (born 1972) is a game designer and academic researcher focusing on serious and political videogames. His blog, Ludology.org, was cited by NBC News [1] as a popular designation for academic researchers studying video games. For many years, Frasca also co-published Watercoolergames with Ian Bogost, a blog about serious games.

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Frasca was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he established Powerful Robot Games, a video game studio. He is Chief Design Officer at DragonBox, a Norwegian pedagogy studio which produces math-learning videogames. Frasca is also a professor at Universidad ORT Uruguay.[ citation needed ]

In video game theory, Frasca belongs to the group of "ludologists" who consider video games to be simulations based on rules. They see video games as the first simulational media for the masses - which means a paradigm shift in media consumption and production.[ citation needed ]

Frasca's game studies are influenced by the work of Norwegian game academic Espen J. Aarseth. Beginning in December 2004, Frasca studied games at the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen. He received his PhD in Videogames studies in August 2007.

His most famous game is the art game, September 12, a response to the September 11 attacks. It is based on the political argument that a direct military response will only increase the likelihood of further terrorist attacks on the West. [2] Despite being controversial at its launch, it is now recognized as a notable early example of both political videogame and newsgame (a term Frasca is credited with coining to refer to a videogame based on real, newsworthy events). [3] In 2009 it received a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Knight Foundation. [4]

Simulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology (2003)

This work expands on concepts of narratology and ludology as modes for framing game analysis. These concepts were established initially by Frasca in his 1999 text Ludology meets Narratology: Similitude and differences between video games and narrative. [5] He defines ludology as the play-oriented aspects of games, such as mechanics and control schemes. Narrative aspects provide a context for the play-oriented features within the gamespace. As noted in the text's introductory paragraphs, Frasca's writing on ludology was spurred by a desire to address the inadequacies of games studies literature. [6] He states that games studies literature of the late 1990s and early 2000s involved the framing of game analysis within dramatic and narrative frameworks. This could include the framing of games within understandings of film and written literature. There was no existing model to consider games on their own terms (namely play and interactivity); a significant limitation in academically engaging with the medium. Interactivity is an intrinsic facet of the medium, however, no formal academic discipline existed which could address it. Through the proposition of a ludic framework, Frasca aims to encourage analysts to consider how play elements interact and convey meaning. This model of game analysis works similarly to Espen Aarseth's theoretical framework of digital textual analysis involving the reading of texts as cybernetic systems.

Simulation versus representation

Frasca distinguishes between simulational and representational media, with videogames being part of the former and 'traditional' media being the latter. The key difference, he argues, is that simulations react to certain stimuli, such as configurative input data (button presses etc.), according to a set of conditions. Generally, representational media (he provides the example of a photograph) produce a fixed description of traits and sequences of events (narrative), and cannot be manipulated. He places emphasis on the importance of serious games, most notably the use of games for political purposes. Unlike traditional modes of storytelling, simulation is not binary by nature. According to Frasca, this has benefits when applied to the political propaganda simulation.

Simulation output is also discussed, with Frasca drawing attention to the argument that the sequence of signs produced by the film and the simulation look exactly the same. Frasca notes that what these commentators have failed to understand is that simulation cannot be understood solely through its output; the player's direct input is a fundamental part of simulation. This is reminiscent of Aarseth's work on user engagement in games and simulations. He argues that it is insufficient to "merely observe the audiovisual output from someone else's playing...", [7] and that in order to fully understand an interactive digital text one must experience it first-hand.

Paidia and ludus

Frasca draws links to the game-type categorisations established by Roger Caillois in Man, Play and Games (1961). Specifically, he engages with concepts of ludus and paideia; that is, play and game, or the rule based structures of games. Frasca expands on Caillois' original definitions, and positions them in relation to narratology, ludology and contemporary games. According to Frasca, ludus is associated with more linear, narrative oriented with clearly defined goals and grounded in a set of rules. Paidia, while also based in a system of rules, is more abstract. Players are able to create their own goals within the game world in the style of emergent gameplay.

Drawing on his redefined concepts of padia and ludus, Frasca establishes varying levels in simulations which can be manipulated in order to convey ideology.

  1. Simulation shared with narrative and deals with representation and events. – For example, characteristics of objects, characters, etc. He notes that "a simple switching of character skins could turn Quake into a deathmatch between Israeli's and Palestinians...the rules of the game remain unchanged...only the characters and settings are modified. However, on an ideological level, this game completely differs from the original..." [6]
  2. Manipulation of game rules. – What a player can do within a particular game model. This relates directly to the concepts of paidia and emergence; modes of exploratory play. He notes the ideological differences between narratively guided actions and emergent, player-driven actions.
  3. Goal rules. – Aspects of gameplay which are a mandatory condition for 'winning'. This is in line with ludus' rule based structure.
  4. Meta rules – Modification of the game world. Open source, modding etc. Frasca uses the meta-rule simauthor as a point of contrast to the author of traditional narratives.

Influences and responses

While Frasca maintains the importance of play elements in games and simulation, he acknowledges the narratological paradigm should not be disregarded. He posits that it is necessary to understand the structure and elements of games, creating typologies and models for explaining game mechanics.

Since the establishment of ludology as a formal approach to reading games and simulation, numerous academics have framed their works within the ludic and narratological paradigm. However, unlike Frasca's work, scholarship has emerged which discounts the significance of the narrative. In ′Ludologists love stories, too: Notes from a debate that never took place′ (a response to misinterpretation of Frasca's position on ludology and narratology), Frasca cites Rune Klevjer's critical misunderstanding of ludic principles. Klevjer suggests that the ludologist deems anything other than pure game mechanics as essentially alien to the medium's true aesthetic form, and that games should shift toward a more abstract and play oriented models. [8]

Frasca's ludic and narratological principles have also influenced scholarship on the cultural colonialisation of videogames. This area of study deems the common practice of framing games within filmic traditions as detrimental to game analysis, as games should "reject any intervention from other disciplines..." [8] Furthermore, it is argued that cinema is a highly privileged medium due to the fact that it can be used to frame game analysis.

Other pro-ludic arguments have claimed that contemporary videogames are unable to effectively model player actions within the narrative. Particular areas of games studies suggest that games are unable to create a coherent ludonarrative. One of the most notable examples of this is Clint Hocking's blog post on ludonarrative dissonance. [9] Such dissonance, according to Hocking, occurs when a game exhibits conflicting ideas expressed via narrative and gameplay means. Specifically, using the example of Irrational's Bioshock, he argues that the game's core theme of Randian self-interest (explored through the Little Sister mechanic, whereby the player has the choice to harvest a powerful substance known as ADAM from these NPCs or free them) is undermined by Jack's aiding of Atlas; a scripted and predetermined narrative sequence.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Game studies, also known as ludology, is the study of games, the act of playing them, and the players and cultures surrounding them. It is a field of cultural studies that deals with all types of games throughout history. This field of research utilizes the tactics of, at least, folkloristics and cultural heritage, sociology and psychology, while examining aspects of the design of the game, the players in the game, and the role the game plays in its society or culture. Game studies is oftentimes confused with the study of video games, but this is only one area of focus; in reality game studies encompasses all types of gaming, including sports, board games, etc.

Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, and player's connection with it. Video game gameplay is distinct from graphics and audio elements. In card games, the equivalent term is play.

Narratology is the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect human perception. The term is an anglicisation of French narratologie, coined by Tzvetan Todorov. Its theoretical lineage is traceable to Aristotle (Poetics) but modern narratology is agreed to have begun with the Russian formalists, particularly Vladimir Propp, and Mikhail Bakhtin's theories of heteroglossia, dialogism, and the chronotope first presented in The Dialogic Imagination (1975).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Espen Aarseth</span> Scholar of video game studies

Espen J. Aarseth is a Norwegian academic specializing in the fields of video game studies and electronic literature. Aarseth completed his doctorate at the University of Bergen. He co-founded the Department of Humanistic Informatics at the University of Bergen, and worked there until 2003, at which time he was a full professor.

Matthew Wilhelm Kapell is a historian and anthropologist, with master's degrees in each discipline, who has a Ph.D. in American Studies.

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Jesper Juul is a Danish game designer, educator, and theorist in the field of video game studies. He is an associate professor at the Danish Design School.

The Center for Computer Games Research is located at the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark and was one of the first academic departments entirely dedicated to the scholarly study of digital gaming. Originally a part of the Department of Digital Aesthetics and Communication and spun off into its own independent unit in 2003, the Center was notable at the time for its sole specialization in gaming. It has historically been a multidisciplinary unit with faculty from fields ranging from literature to sociology to computer science. It has hosted a number of key conferences over the years including Other Players (2004), the 2005 iteration of the Digital Arts and Culture conference, and the IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games in 2010.

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Ludonarrative dissonance is the conflict between a video game's narrative told through the non-interactive elements and the narrative told through the gameplay. Ludonarrative, a compound portmanteau of ludology and narrative, refers to the intersection in a video game of ludic elements (gameplay) and narrative elements. The term was coined by game designer Clint Hocking in 2007 in a blog post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Procedural rhetoric</span> Game design concept

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Anne-Marie Schleiner is a theorist, an educator, a new media and performance artist, a hacktivist, a scholar, a gamer, and a curator. Her work is focused on gender construction, ludic activism, situationist theory, political power struggles, experimental gaming design theory, urban play, the United States Military, avatar gender reification, the global south, and feminist film theory.

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References

  1. ↑ Loftus, Tom. "The year in gaming" [ dead link ], "NBC News", December 22, 2003, accessed January 29, 2011.
  2. ↑ "September 12th: a Toy World – The First Newsgame". OnSeriousGames.com. 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  3. ↑ Bogost, Ian et al. "Newsgames: Journalism at Play", MIT Press 2010, p. 13
  4. ↑ Goldfin, Jessica."Knight News Game Awards", "The Knight Foundation Blog", May 29, 2009, accessed January 29, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Ludology". ludology.typepad.com.
  6. 1 2 Frasca, G. (2003).Simulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology.Accessed June 5, 2013.
  7. ↑ Aarseth, E. (2003). Playing research: Methodological approaches to game analysis. In Digital arts & culture proceedings.
  8. 1 2 Frasca, G. (2003).Ludologists love stories, too: notes from a debate that never took place.Accessed June 5, 2013.
  9. ↑ Hocking, C. (2007)./ Ludonarrative Dissonance in Bioshock.Accessed May 5, 2013.
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