Dissension

@voidoid: Your right, the story in the manual is extra-textual and does provide a separate interesting topic. I mentioned the manual because I was thinking of older games in a time where that and box art were the primary source of context for a game but they are external to the game itself.

I don't acknowledge the player as just a reader or interpreter or just an input monkey. The player is a partner in creating the narrative, they move characters around the world, influence things around them and cause things to happen. The beauty of games being an interactive medium is that even though a game may have a scripted, intended or implied narrative, each different play through has it's own narrative created by the actions of the player (a separate topic again but I believe this is why people can watch the same game being played over and over by different personalities on youtube etc. or even how we can play through the same game over and over ourselves, it's a different narrative each time). However, when most people describe the narrative of a game they are referring to the implied narrative in the script, scripted events, environment and aesthetic.

The term Ludo (the verb 'to play' in latin - as I believe was mentioned previously) can refer to anything related to the playing of a game, the game rules, the actions of the player within the game, the actions available to a player within the game and the physical mechanics (pushing buttons, swapping cards, jumping around, inserting your controller into port 2 so Psycho Mantis can't read your thoughts...).

Any of these things can of course be used to build or help build upon an implied narrative (whether creating or critiquing) but when they go against an established narrative or when a narrative ignores or denies any aspects of them, the term Ludo-narrative dissonance can be applied. I'm not saying it should be or not, that's a personal choice that would be up to the person speaking but the term is fine and while it would merit more explanation it certainly gets the point across.

I get where you are coming from with the suggestion of simply using the term narrative dissonance instead but to me that implies dissonance within the narrative.

@voidoid: It's a tough topic to wrap your head around but that's what makes it an interesting one.

You are correct in that there is narrative tied to the actions of a player in the game.

The way we were taught it is, in a narrative based game, there are actually multiple narratives being told.

There is the narrative that you are explicitly telling the player through backstory in the manual, cutscenes, text, dialogue, environment, music etc.

Then there is the narrative being told by the actions of the player (the gameplay).

When looking at the Ludo-narrative relationship in our game we check how much the narrative created by the actions of (or available to) the player line up with the explicit narrative we are trying to tell.

Do they? Don't they? Does it matter?

In your scenario, yes picking up health-restoring kittens would create Ludo-narrative dissonance in a realistic military shooter unless, for example, they explicitly mentioned how the Nazi's were experimenting with the healing powers of kittens which, while pretty ridiculous, would create a narrative reason for the gameplay element.

@flynnneary: Any! Particularly if your playing with friends! They're all the same dish with different ingredients and like any good meal fighting games are better shared.

I can personally vouch for Street Fighter, Tekken, Mortal Kombat, Soulcalibur, Dead or Alive and Marvel vs. Capcom

Edit:

I should probably give more of a detailed recommendation

My personal favourite is DoA, it's just plain fun, it doesn't take itself seriously, the stories / cutscenes in single player mode are pretty funny in a ridiculous cute Japanese kind of way.

It also gives you plenty of replayability if you enjoy unlocking outfits or enjoy completionism, which gives you the opportunity to get good with all of the characters.

@voidoid: Typically threads like this give me a headache but I would like give my input as you seem genuinely interested in the topic.

There is no problem with the term ludo-narrative dissonance. Problems only arise with the misuse, overuse and misunderstanding of the term.

The term ludo-narrative dissonance sounds like an academic term because technically it is, it is brought up as something to be aware of as part of game design courses. If it is something to be aware of during game design it should absolutely be something to be aware of as part of game criticism - but only if it has a noticeable effect on the experience.

Ludo-narrative dissonance relates specifically to the relationship between the narrative and the gameplay/mechanics of a game not the game as a whole. As you mention there can be a lot different sources of dissonance in a game - audio, narrative, acting, environment, gameplay. This is why the term exists, to describe specifically a disconnect between the actual gameplay and the narrative of a game, nothing else. It's not always a bad thing, games don't necessarily have to have gameplay elements that conform or even relate to the game's story (coins in Mario) but when a games narrative completely ignores aspects of the gameplay or gameplay elements completely fly in the face of the narrative it can have a negative effect on the experience.

For example, I started playing Dead Island as single player. I was fighting through hoards of zombies, my back against the wall, all alone, me against the world. I fought my way to the next objective, only to be greeted by a cutscene that included all of the other - as far as me and the gameplay were concerned - non-existent "player characters" that were supposedly with me the whole time. This led me to exclaim "WTF! Where were they when I needed them!?". It took me out of the game for a moment. I managed to get passed it and play on at the time but it stuck with me. That ludo-narrative dissonance and the difficulty of trying to fight my way through the more populated city area of the game on my own led me to the conclusion that the game was obviously designed to be played by multiple people, so I put it down to wait and play through it with friends.

As for the other item, the term Roguelike like is pretty redundant and reductive, the only rogue Like Like should be in Zelda!

Waking up is a nice symbolic event that can provide many metaphors that make it an attractive way to start any game/story but from a design point of view my guess would be that it helps to set up the world for the player.

It establishes that link is comfortable where he is, has existed in the world for some length of time before we got there and should be waking up to another normal day of Linking.

Then the player takes control and the adventure begins everything goes to shit.