Aptly enough, the excerpt provided a narrative dissonance all of its own. Is this an exercise in performative rhetoric…?

http://lusipurr.com/2014/03/07/editorial-ludonarrative-dissonance/

Also, yes I wasn’t trying to claim ludonarrative dissonance means smart and mature, I was being cheeky in my excerpt and I don’t think it came across as well as I wanted. At any rate, if I make any claim about the term it’s that it represents the opposite more often.

Ethos gave the interesting example of Little Inferno that I hadn’t thought of. In fact I hadn’t really thought of the concept being used to the medium’s benefit when I wrote this but now that I am I can probably think of a few more examples where games leverage that dissonance in creative ways.

For instance: Prince of Persia Sands of Time, which is framed as a flashback narrated by the protagonist. If the player messes up and dies, making use of the time-rewind gameplay mechanic, he’ll state his disapproval of the events as if he was recalling them wrong and starting over (“No, wait, that’s not how it happened” and similar things). There were other neat blends of the narrative successfully into the gameplay, but it’s been a long time since I’ve played it.

@Mel – I’m glad you brought up the term. It’s helpful to be able to look up research on topics I’ve been thinking about with more direction. It makes for better study! The only game I can think of off the top of my head that uses ludonarrative dissonance for intentional effect is Little Inferno. So often it’s just shaken off as “well those are just video games!” So I’m eager to see narrative take the form that makes the most sense for gaming instead of relying on imitation (which creates the disconnect). Not that the foray into imitation didn’t bring helpful knowledge, but it’s not gaming’s destiny.

It’s interesting that you compare Uncharted and The Last of Us because I’ve written about that very subject and it’s interesting that the directors of The Last of Us (also the directors of Uncharted 2, the best one) are directing Uncharted 4. I hope that means that Uncharted will start closing the gap and create, as you say, ludonarrative consonance.