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I'm absolutely positive to the idea [that the avatar
sees the HUD]. It's presented so that the suit he's
wearing […] in a way provides all the informa-
tion that you need, through the perspective. And,
well, it's one solution, they probably try to make
it an integrated part of this world. (Eric, (26).
Individual interview, Nov 28, 2008)
two more seamless by using interfaces that are
integrated into the gameworld in different ways.
Since sound is neither tangible nor visible and has
a temporary quality, it does not disrupt the sense of
a unified space in the same way as alien graphical
features would. It therefore seems to be easier to
accept the growl of an attacking animal than it is
to accept a question mark floating around in thin
air. This therefore provides greater potential for
designers for manipulating auditory information
compared to visual information when creating user
interfaces for games. The fact that gameworlds
work on other premises compared to traditional
fictional worlds is what makes the player accept
stylistic and abstract sounds that integrate the
game system into the gameworld, but this ability
is also part of the reason why gameworlds are
accepted as a different constructs compared to
the traditional fictional worlds. This discussion
also puts emphasis on the argument that talking
about diegesis, and thus diegetic and non-diegetic
sound, has crucial shortcomings that are avoided
if we instead evaluate gamespaces on their own
terms by emphasizing how gameworlds differ
from other fictional worlds.
Here, even the HUD and overlaid features must
be interpreted as part of the gameworld and thus
the gameworld and the gamespace overlap each
other more or less completely. The reason for
this is that the game user interface designers have
decided to make the interface part of the avatar's
advanced military suit so that all audio-visual
information is provided to the avatar in the same
manner as it is provided to the player.
While all features are part of the gamespace
as long as they are not connected to external
menus in which one changes the game settings
or starts a new game, they may or may not be
connected to the gameworld as well
4
. If they are,
they are typically positioned in the gameworld
in the same way as what I earlier called internal
transdiegetic features. While not appearing to be
native to the gameworld, they are still positioned
inside it graphically. They may be placed above
the heads of non-playing characters in a way that
allows the player to move around it: It will move
with the environment, and not with the overlay
interface that is tied to the edges of the screen. An
example of a corresponding auditory feature, is
the “Hi, you're a tall one!” response from a non-
playing character (NPC) in
World of Warcraft
.
Features I earlier called external transdiegetic,
however, are not part of the gameworld, only of
the gamespace. They are not integrated into the
gameworld but provide information relevant for
gameplay. An auditory example of this is music
signaling the presence of enemies in
The Elder
Scrolls III: Morrowind
and
Dragon Age: Origins.
In this section I have argued that sounds have
a particular role in connecting the gamespace and
the gameworld, making the boundary between the
sPAtIAL INtEGrAtION
OF GAME sOUND
If we want to find an alternative model that
describes the relative integration of sounds in
gameworlds, we need to get away from the bi-
ased meaning of diegesis and instead focus on
the specificities of game sound. In evaluating
the usefulness of the concepts diegetic and non-
diegetic in relation to game sound, I have stressed
that these do not grasp how sounds are integrated
into the gameworld and that they do not empha-
size how sounds work as an interface providing
action-relevant information to the player. In this
section, I will present a game-specific approach
to describing game sound that avoids the use of
the diegetic/non-diegetic diad. Due to the scope of
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