magistrate

LUDO-NARRATIVE DISSONANCE.

...part of the reason (not all of the reason) it's taken me so long to get around to this is that I don't really know what point I'm trying to make. None of this is intended as a criticism of Blood on the Clocktower; I don't think that a cohesive internal narrative would make the game better at what it's trying to be, and I don't think it suffers from not leaning into a narrative aspect.

That said, my confusion about where the narrative balance lay was one of the things that frustrated me and turned me off of the game when I first encountered it. Is that a problem, per se?

( Thinking about thinking about the topic. )

( Are were there? Have we arrived? Have we finally reached... THE POINT? )

In conclusion, I suppose, I hope that if any of you choose to check out the game, you do so with some understanding of what it is and isn't trying to accomplish. And if you want to start watching other people play, in the name of comprehension please start watching a session from the beginning.

I did finally convince myself to join an online game for Blood on the Clocktower, largely because the Unofficial Discord started doing beginner-focused games.

It was utterly overwhelming, and a ton of fun! I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would, given how confusing and fast-paced it felt. My team won, and I was actually instrumental in my team's victory, but that was more to do with some stunning good luck than actual skill or strategy. XD I wandered bass-ackwards into victory, but it still felt very good.

( I don't expect anyone to follow this story; I'm mostly jotting it down for myself. )

And that was my first game of Blood on the Clocktower! I currently have a 100% win record, which I expect will quickly and dramatically go off the rails forthwith.

I found it hectic and confusing and stressful, but in a eustress kind of way. I was surprised at how little anxiety I felt around the social aspects; talking to strangers is typically an intensely awkward experience for me, but I think the fact that we were all there to have a fun time and untangle a big puzzle took the focus off "These people are going to JUDGE MY WORTH AS A HUMAN BEING and I will FOREVER LABOR UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THEIR REGARD". I did freeze up a couple times; a couple times completely blanked on how words and communication functioned. But, unusually for me, I managed not to dwell on having done so.

All in all, I had a great time.

Good Twin: It's okay. See... we can do this. We can just be buds.

Evil Twin: Yeah. We can be buds. Buds who want each other dead.

Good Twin: Yeah. Exactly.

Some initial notes before I get into my next Blood on the Clocktower ramble (see Part 1 here for context):

( Experimental ethics, in-person games, a bad idea, and a ship that ain't sunk. )

ANYWAY. I had thoughts about ludo-narrative dissonance, and I was going to type up thoughts about ludo-narrative dissonance, but now I'm almost two thousand words into a post AGAIN and I have yet to define even the term! So that post is still going to wait for another day!

But ludo-narrative dissonance is when your game mechanics or gameplay work counter to the story you're trying to tell in the narrative component of a game, which I feel like I flirted with in the fourth point anyway. So there's your definition. You're welcome.

If you'd asked me half a week ago, when I'd first learned of it, what Blood on the Clocktower was, I'd have said it was basically a game of Mafia (or Werewolf) but overcomplicated to the point of catastrophe. That was when I first encountered it, wandering unprepared into a Twitch stream by someone who'd accidentally left their stream game listed as "Vampire Survivors", a relatively mindless swarm survival game where you just walk around an infinite map and attack hordes of monsters automatically.

If you asked me today, I would say that Blood on the Clocktower is basically a game of Mafia (or Werewolf) but overcomplicated to the point of UTTER HILARITY.

( Read more... )

In conclusion, I hated this game on sight, I was unable to escape its gravitational pull, and now I love it. And I both hate and love that I love it.

I have more thoughts on Blood on the Clocktower and ludo-narrative dissonance, but that has to go into its own post, because I've almost hit 2,000 words on this one.

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Entries tagged with *too much exposition

Blood on the Clocktower: The post I meant to write a month ago. (part 4)

Blood on the Clocktower: I played! And still won't write about ludo-narrative dissonance. (part 3)

Blood on the Clocktower: Thoughts, and still not getting to the point I set out to make. (part 2)

Blood on the Clocktower: A review of a game I have never played! (part 1)

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March 2024

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