Design Harmony in (Serious) Games David Farrell Glasgow Caledonian University david.farrell@gcu.ac.uk Abstract When game designers talk of ludonarrative dissonance, they are detecting incongruity between narrative context and ludic action. The debate over whether games should be thought of more as dynamic formal systems or narrative stories continues across disciplines in academia and design. Instead of trying to position games as being one or the other, this paper argues for a holistic view of game design that advocates using both ludic and narrative aspects together to achieve a greater effect. Instead of continually highlighting ludonarrative dissonance in games, we should identify, celebrate, and learn from ludonarrative harmony. Drawing inspiration from Frijda’s laws of emotion and Lantz’s aesthetic view of play, we suggest that the ability of games to create an apparently real situation offers designers the opportunity to create emotionally resonant experiences that change players’ perspectives on the greater world. Ludonarrative Dissonance R.I.P. When Hocking coined the phrase ludonarrative dissonance to describe the oppositional relationship between the narrative and ludic elements of Bioshock, he captured the essence of a concept that has defined game studies since the late 1990s. The perceived battle over what games are has motivated many prominent game designers and academics to argue their position with the kind of blunt rhetoric characteristic of strongly held beliefs. Ernest Adams’ view that "interactivity is almost the opposite of narrative; [that] narrative flows under the direction of the author, while interactivity depends on the player for motive power” is characteristic of the position of Ludologists. They argue games are best understood as dynamic, interactive, formal systems. The Ludologist view suggests that it is a mistake to understand games as narratives since players see through the veneer of theme to the underlying mechanics and rules that drive interactivity. They consider the role of theme or narrative to be one of attractor; the player is interested in the fantastic Indiana Jones style world of the Uncharted series; the player is curious as to what comes next in the story. They are quick to point out the absurdity of Nathan Drake’s penchant for mass murder juxtaposed with his portrayal as lovable rogue. Unlike Ludologists, Narratologists supposedly see games as being ‘just’ another in a series of new media with which to share stories and experiences with people. As Tom Bissell puts it when reflecting on what is interesting and exciting about games, “nothing about it seemed to me ludological at all. It seemed, and seems, like an entirely new way for the storyteller to think about storytelling.” The extremeposition Narratologist would argue that when players reflect