MUSI272
reactive sound element,
important in adding to the
player’s enjoyment of a
game as they give positive
reinforcement to player
actions. For example, in
Nintendo’s Super Mario
Bros all of the sound effects
rise in pitch, whether its
the rising fourth heard
when you collect a coin,
or the sequentially rising
melodic fragment used
as the victory stinger.
The use of rising sounds
pushes the gamer forwards
as it creates a sense of
ongoing achievement and
advancement. To create
immersion through flow,
music must work on two
levels. The first is as a
continuous backdrop that
alters the sense of time so
that a player can learn game
controls and begin to master
the skills needed to advance
without feeling under any
time pressure. The second
is as reward stingers, working
on Skinner’s (1938) theory
of operant conditioning
that
suggests
positive
reinforcement results in
repeated behaviours. Using
stingers with rising melodic
patterns with major tonality
plays on the culturally
ingrained semantic of major
tonality being equivalent to
good. Using positive sound
stingers to reward successful
cognitive responses to game
challenges brings the player
out of the anxious stage of
game interaction where the
complexity of the puzzle
outweighs
their
ability,
and into the state of flow
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1975).
The sounds encourage
them to keep trying, which
quickens their mastering
of the game mechanics,
enabling them to progress
from
engagement
to
engrossment, and ultimately
to immersion (Brown and
Cairns, 2004).
Although there are many
different theories surrounding
immersion and what it means
to be immersed, all of the
theories discussed share
the idea that immersion
is a multifaceted process.
Whether it is portrayed
as a series of levels or a
continuous process, each
theory can be applied to
video games as a method of
explaining why a player has
experienced the sensation of
becoming totally immersed.
The implementation of
audio can be presented as
a contributing factor in all of
these immersion theories,
from
procedural
audio
and sound processing, to
original and pre-composed
music, to looping scores
and positive reinforcement
through sound. However,
there is a lack of concrete
evidence from psychological
studies to support these
theories of immersion and
the effect that music has on
immersion. Whilst studies
have
been
conducted
that found a positive
correlation between music
and player engagement,
Lipscomb and Zehnder
(2004)
state:
“Future
research will be needed
to determine whether the
relationships
emerging
from this investigation can
be generalized beyond
the present experimental
context.” This is because
video games not only span
a wide range of gameplay
99
genres but they also cover
a breadth of thematic
material. The fidelity of
game graphics and the
possibilities of game music
have dramatically increased
since the advent of video
games. However, the core
uses of music have not
changed. Music has to be
a functional tool and work
with the game mechanics;
it has to provide a looping
background to shut out the
real world to enable focus
or it has be aesthetically
congruent with the game and
pull the player into the game
world, and it has to embody
the multidimensionality of
a world depicted by twodimensional pixels. I would
suggest that in video games
the use of music is not
connected to game genres,
instead it is connected to
types of interactivity and
levels of interactivity, and it
is the interactivity of video
games that makes them a
highly immersive medium.
A player’s kinetic input has a
direct audio and visual output.
Ultimately, immersion is a
personal experience, and
what resonates with one
person may not resonate
with another. This makes
collecting data to support
immersion theories difficult,
as each player brings to the
game world their unique preexisting semiotic framework,
and a different interpretation
of what immersion feels
like, suggesting that there is
not one true experience of
immersion, but innumerable
equally valid immersion
experiences, significantly
enhanced by music.
References overleaf.