Core term - linguistically invariant
Ludic Argumentum
What it is about
A Ludic Argumentum is the fictional justification that gives action in a game its urgency - why one must act. It has two parts: a premise, the initial situation that makes action necessary, and an urgency, the reason why now. “The village is threatened by a dragon” - “the dragon attacks in three days”.
It is a pattern of fiction: transferable and catalogable - rescue, revenge, discovery, survival travel between games. It is composed of Ludic Narrems: a threatened object, a threat and escalating time yield the urgency of rescue. Realised in a game, it is that game’s premise - “Ganon threatens Hyrule” -, a standing configuration of ascriptions. Unlike the narrative scaffold it orders nothing in sequence.
It gives the Ludic Activity meaning and justifies the Ludic Objective in the fiction; the objective determines when the task is fulfilled. The argumentum can stand at the zero point: in chess the urgency comes from regulation alone, from the victory condition and zugzwang. The urgency alone can also stand at the zero point: Animal Crossing sets a premise - the island - and deliberately leaves time; regulation and agents set the pace. In between lies a loose urgency, as in Stardew Valley.
In everyday language
- “story” (the term is narrower): the backstory that makes action necessary. Does not distinguish what the game specifies (Ludic Sujet, in the corpus) from what a match produces (Ludic Fabula, one for each agent); nor the reason for acting from the order of telling.
Place and design access
Place on the axis: CORPUS - a pattern of Ludic Fiction. It is chosen in the corpus and realised there as a game’s premise.
Design access: designable - which premise, how urgent, how tightly set: from fully given to largely left to the players. Whether the justification takes hold with the players is not designable.
Relations on the axis:
- CORPUS: the argumentum is a special form of the Ludic Pattern - a pattern of fiction, as the Mechanism is one of regulation. It belongs to fiction but is attached to it by no edge. Part of the argumentum are Ludic Narrems, at least one. It carries meaning to the Ludic Activity and justifies the Ludic Objective in the fiction - none, one or several; the same activity can remain without justification or carry several. It spans the possibility space of Ludic Narrational Structures: it suggests which narrative scaffold fits and selects none. Ludic Regulation implements the urgency - timers, escalating conditions -, Ludic Appearance conveys it; this is not an edge of its own, both are determinations that realise it.
- FORM: the Ludic Form spans the possibility space of argumenta: how a premise can be conveyed - in the rulebook, in a cutscene, in the space. The same argumentum holds in several forms.
- AGENT–CORPUS: the Ludic Frame limits which justifications are plausible within it - in a western the duel for honour. No argumentum does without a frame.
- AGENT–PROCESS: on the game side the argumentum contributes to the Ludic Fabula and the Ludic Ductus: the premise motivates actions, the urgency leads one to expect a course - an escalating one an escalating course. To the Ludic Effectus it carries content. It fixes none of these; in chess it does not contribute at all.
- AGENT: it addresses Human Agent Motivation. Following Leontiev it is the why of the activity offered in the corpus; the agent brings their own why. What the agents want, feel and how they decide, the argumentum does not determine.
- INTENT: the Ludic Desiderata inform the argumentum: what a game wants to bring about or say gives the justification its direction.
The trias at this concept
Ascription - the argumentum is a pattern of fiction and of fiction only; the aspect test has confirmed this for all thirteen types. Every card carries its composition as a field: “threatened object + threat + escalating time → urgency of rescue”.
Regulation and appearance - as a pattern it has neither. Realised in a game, it has all three: the urgency is implemented by regulation - a timer, a condition that tightens, an outbreak counter -, the premise is conveyed by appearance - cutscene, briefing, atmosphere. Both are means, not the argumentum itself.
Coherence - the argumentum justifies, the objective determines fulfilment. Where the two diverge, coherence costs arise; design practice calls this ludonarrative dissonance: the story says “save the village”, the game rewards points.
Delimitations
Delimitation from Ludic Objective
Against the Ludic Objective: why and what for. The argumentum justifies the task in the fiction - a premise and the reason why one must act now. The objective determines when it is fulfilled: “save the village” - “dragon at zero hit points”. The argumentum can stand at the zero point: in chess the urgency comes solely from the winning condition and zugzwang, and the why lies wholly in the objective.
Delimitation from Ludic Narrational Structure
Against the Ludic Narrational Structure: premise and scaffold. Both are composed of narrems, but in two kinds, not in two stages. The argumentum is a standing configuration without order - “Ganon threatens Hyrule”, the reason why one must act now. The narrational structure is the order in which it is told. The premise suggests which scaffold fits; it does not subordinate it.
Delimitation from Ludic Activity
Against the Ludic Activity: why and what. The activity says what one does - gathering resources, building, trading. The argumentum says why it matters: without a justification gathering is an occupation; with “the colony must survive the winter” it becomes urgent. The same activity carries different justifications.
Delimitation from Human Agent Motivation
Against Human Agent Motivation: the offered and one’s own why. The argumentum is the reason the game offers: the village must be saved. Motivation is the reason a person brings: they want to master something, to belong, to discover. The argumentum addresses motivation; whether it takes hold is decided with the players.
Examples
- Zelda: “Ganon threatens Hyrule” - a rescue, fully set.
- The Last of Us: a young girl must be brought across a ruined land - set, the urgency carries the whole journey.
- Pandemic: diseases spread; the urgency is implemented by regulation - outbreak track, infection rate.
- Frostpunk: the city must survive the cold - a survival argumentum, the falling temperature makes it urgent.
- Stardew Valley: grandfather’s farm - a premise with a loose urgency; one may take one’s time.
- Animal Crossing: the island - a premise, the urgency at the zero point, set: nobody presses.
- Minecraft: hardly set; the players form the justifications themselves.
- Chess: zero point - the urgency comes from the victory condition and zugzwang.
- Football: zero point in the corpus. The urgency comes from regulation - 90 minutes, the table. What audience and commentary narrate - derby, relegation battle - are ascriptions in the process.
Explanation
Every game that tells a story - even a very simple one - needs a justification: why should the figures act? And why now? This justification is the Ludic Argumentum. It has two parts: the premise - what is the situation? - and the urgency - why must one act now?
“The village is threatened by a dragon” is the premise, “the dragon attacks in three days” the urgency. Together: you must save the village, and at once. Without a justification “gathering resources” is mere occupation; with “the colony must survive the winter” it becomes meaningful.
Not every game needs an argumentum - chess does without, the rules alone create the urgency. When you build a game world, ask: why do the figures act, and why just now? Think beyond “save the world” and “avenge your people”: “fulfil your duty”, “restore the balance”, “find what lies hidden”.
Usage context
| Dimension | Classification |
|---|---|
| Phase | Ideation (choosing premise and urgency to fit frame and target group); development (recording this game’s premise in the narrative worksheet; implementing the urgency in regulation; aligning it with the objective); evaluation (do justification and reward diverge?) |
| Tool type | generative - thirteen type cards (AR-01 to AR-13) and three guide cards (AR-14 premise and urgency, AR-15 degree of steering, AR-16 optionality) in the stack stacks/corpus/argumentum/; reference: tabulae/worksheet/narrative-worksheet.md |
Theoretical foundation
- Aristotle, Poetics: mythos, the plot, and dianoia, the thought and reasoning of those who act. The argumentum stands close to dianoia - the justification that makes action plausible.
- Hocking, “Ludonarrative Dissonance in BioShock” (2007): the rift between what the story justifies and what the game rewards - in LUNA the coherence costs between argumentum and objective.
- Jenkins, “Game Design as Narrative Architecture” (2004), Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997): narrative laid out in the game world, and the affordances of digital environments; LUNA takes the part of it that justifies action as a pattern of its own.
- Deci and Ryan, self-determination theory: why people want to play - the side of Human Agent Motivation that the argumentum addresses.
Types
| Type | Composition (field narrem aggregation) | Degree of steering |
|---|---|---|
| Rescue (AR-01) | threatened object + threat + escalating time | set |
| Revenge (AR-02) | wrong + perpetrator + threatening impunity | set |
| Discovery (AR-03) | alluring unknown + threatening loss of access | mixed |
| Power struggle (AR-04) | competing parties + scarce power + unstable balance | mixed |
| Duty and honour (AR-05) | obligation + community or order + threatening consequence | set |
| Transformation (AR-06) | initial state + need for change + limited window | mixed |
| Loss and search (AR-07) | lost valuable + fading trail | set |
| Growth and flourishing (AR-08) | something to cultivate + scarcity or threat | left to the players |
| Survival (AR-09) | threat to existence - cold, hunger, enemy, disease + approaching death | mixed |
| Equilibrium (AR-10) | disturbed target state + worsening disturbance | left to the players |
| Mystery (AR-11) | inexplicable phenomenon + threatening concealment | set |
| Liberation (AR-12) | oppression + closing window of freedom | set |
| Community (AR-13) | isolation + growing loneliness | left to the players |
Diversity as a duty: not limited to Western narrative traditions; duty and honour, equilibrium, community stand beside rescue and revenge.
Degree of steering (AR-15): fully set (The Last of Us) - mixed, premise set and urgency loose (Stardew Valley) - left to the players (Minecraft) - no argumentum (chess).
Optionality (AR-16): no game needs an argumentum; an abstract game can let one arise with the players but does not need it.