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Lore is the knowledge and stories associated with a subject. In video games, it usually means the accepted background of a fictional world: its history, places, characters, beliefs, and events, including details that may sit outside the main plot. A game’s lore describes what is true within its setting; it does not, by itself, make those events real-world history.
What does “lore” mean?
Dictionary.com defines lore as “the body of knowledge, especially of a traditional, anecdotal, or popular nature, on a particular subject.” The word can also mean learning or knowledge more broadly. In ordinary use, it may refer to local lore, family lore, or knowledge associated with a practical subject such as herbs. The subject need not be a culture or a fictional setting. Dictionary.com’s definition of lore and Cambridge Dictionary’s entry describe these traditional-knowledge and story-related senses.
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What does lore mean in video games?
In games and other fiction, lore is the background information about characters and the world that fans accept as true within that fictional setting. It can include a kingdom’s past, the origin of a conflict, the rules of magic, a character’s history, or the significance of a ruined place. Cambridge Dictionary records this contemporary fictional-world sense. Cambridge Dictionary: lore
Lore is not necessarily the same as the plot. The plot is the sequence of events the game asks the player to follow; lore is the wider body of background that gives those events context. A game may communicate lore through dialogue, documents, item descriptions, environmental details, or other story material. Those are ways a game can present background, not requirements for something to count as lore.
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How is lore different from folklore?
Folklore is more specifically tied to the traditional beliefs, stories, and customs of a people or community. Lore is broader: it can describe cultural knowledge, but also knowledge about a family, subject, or fictional universe. Dictionary.com defines folklore in terms of the traditional beliefs and stories of a people. Dictionary.com’s definition of folklore
Oral tradition is important to folklore, but it is too absolute to say that all lore is oral or unwritten. The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage describes folklore as art that “lives primarily in oral tradition”—primarily, not exclusively. Lore may also be recorded in writing or maintained as background for a fictional world. Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, “What Is Folklore?”
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How to tell which meaning applies
| Use | What it refers to | How to understand its claims |
|---|---|---|
| Community or cultural lore | Stories, beliefs, or customary knowledge associated with a community | Traditional or shared knowledge; not automatically independently verified history |
| Everyday subject lore | Anecdotal or accumulated knowledge about a subject, family, place, or practice | Knowledge associated with that subject; its reliability depends on the particular claim |
| Fictional-world lore | Accepted background about a fictional setting and its characters | True within the fictional work’s world, not a claim about real-world events |
| Verified history | Claims supported by historical evidence | Assess the evidence separately; calling a claim “lore” does not establish its accuracy |
The useful question is not just “Is this lore?” but “Whose knowledge is it, what kind of claim is it, and in what context is it treated as true?” A legend may be part of a community’s folklore without being confirmed history. A game’s canon may establish a fact about its fictional world without saying anything about the real world.
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