Playing with Sound: A Theory of Interacting with Sound and Music in Video Games

• Published in: Music, Sound and the Moving Image Sound and the Moving Image, 2014, Vol.8 (2), p.217
• Main Author: Johnston, Nessa
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computer & video games; Electronic music; Listening; Sound design; Theory
• ISSN: 1753-0768; 1753-0776
• DOI: 10.3828/msmi.2014.13

Having declared a call to arms within the pages of the first issue of this very journal (Collins 2007), she subsequently published a monograph, Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design in 2008, in addition to numerous book chapters and articles. Just as in everyday lived experience, our sense of our self in the world is shaped by the sounds we hear (including sounds we make ourselves) and the information they relay to us, game audio provides the player with an auditory sense of self: 'if players undertake an action and have a kinesonically congruent sonic response because that sound takes place in their peripersonal space and because they caused that sound, then that sound becomes an extension of their body schema into the virtual world' (44). [...]the sense of playing at performing and role-playing a famous performer, rather than of creating new sounds, is what lies at the heart of Guitar Hero's appeal. References Collins, Karen (2007), 'Video Games Killed the Cinema Star: It's Time for a Change in Studies of Music and the Moving Image', Music, Sound and the Mo ling Image, l : l : 15 -19 - (2008) Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice erf Video Game Music and Sound Design, Cambridge, MA: