MUSINGS ON VIDEO GAME SOUND (2)

THE IMPORTANCE OF VIDEO GAME SOUND

Axel Stockburger (2003) explains how sound can provide feedback, set mood, rhythm and pace, and convey narrative. Kristine Jorgensen (2008) agrees. By using experiments on computer gamers playing video games with the sound turned off, she gathered feedback from subjects which included, ‘a reduced sense of presence’, a need to ‘double-check’ visually and even ‘a loss of control’ and disorientation. Jorgensen says that ‘…when the sound was removed, the participant was reminded that what he saw were just computer graphics, and that the figures shooting at each other were animated features’ (2008: 171-172).

With this in mind, Jorgensen suggests that sound in games relates more to the gaming experience than in film, where sound is an accompaniment to, and dictated by, the image (ibid).

Referencing Michel Chion‘s audio-visual contract (Chion 1994), where sound will always transform the meaning of the visual, Jorgensen writes, ‘…sound and image work as two complimentary information systems that compete in the meaning making process, …’ (2008: 163). She adds that sound and vision are the two methods of communication to the player in video games and with the removal of sound, there is a loss of one of the informative systems (ibid).

Also citing what Jorgensen terms Stockburger’s sound objects (2003), sounds that are connected intrinsically to events, environments or even characters in a video game and triggered through the narrative, she identifies a major difference in the sound design of computer games from any other media. Jorgensen (2008) uses this sound object concept to emphasise the relationship of this audio-visual contract in video games, arguing a stronger correlation between an environment and its sound than in other media. This non-linear approach to sound design is critical in creating a spatial representation of a gaming environment.