A Combined Model for the Structuring of Computer Game Audio - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 113

The game environment for our experiment was
a hexagonal structure comprising a labyrinth of
corridors that made it impossible to adopt a strat-
egy based on always going left or always going
right because that would only lead the test subject
back to the starting point. We also tried to create a
consistent environment, that is, a level consistent
with reality and including sound that would match
the visual environment. There were, however,
differences in the sound played at specific parts
in the corridors leading to intersections. The test
subjects played the game wearing headphones.
At certain points in the game's 4 levels, the game
was scripted to play 2 different kinds of sounds in
the right and left headphone speakers. The player
did not at first know when such a scripted sound
would occur but could turn back in the corridor
and the sounds would be triggered again. That is
to say, the first time a scripted sound played, it
was not the result of any conscious game strategy
formulated by the player. The difference between
the sounds was thatonekind of sound was meant
to have the semantic value open and the other
closed , at a basic level of categorization. In other
words, we tried to propose a certain universal user
pattern, to walk towards the open sound rather
than the closed one. The basic intention of the
test was that if a sound in the right speaker was
designed to suggest “closed”, the path to the right
would lead to a dead end and vice versa. The only
instructions the test subjects received were to play
a game. By doing so, we introduced the idea that
there ought to be some form of rules and ludus
element rather than free playing activity, that is,
paidia (Caillois, 1958/1961). The hypothesis was
that with only rudimentary instructions the test
subjects would need to identify the environment
as a maze by exploring it using the 4 different
types of vision that Gibson suggests, then devise
a strategy for moving through the maze. The idea
of our 4 modes of listening was not part of the
hypothesis but a result deduced from these tests.
We collected several layers and types of data
for this test:

• Video recordings of the gameplay session

from the players' perspective

• Video recordings of the game player from

3 different angles; face on, from the left
side and from above

• Sound recording of the player while play-

ing, for the purpose of capturing spontane-
ous comments addressed to the game as a
system 6

• Video and audio recordings of semi-struc-

tured interviews after test sessions and

• Video and audio recording of a replay of

each player's session, in which they were
given a chance to freely comment upon
their own gameplay.

Several test subjects adopted an audio-based
game strategy even if many were not actually
aware of it. What we can deduce from the data
collected is that many of the test subjects tried to
follow sound to reach the end of each level in the
labyrinth. We did put in a reversed level to examine
whether there actually was audio that mattered with
regard to choices. That is, 1of the 4 levels had the
sounds that signaled open leading to dead ends
and vice versa. This level indicates a tendency
that test subjects really followed sounds and were
confused when the pattern was changed. The data
shows that a perceptual/cognitive set (Bugelski
& Alampay, 1961; Wilhelmsson, 2001) may be
constructed of audio and visual stimuli and that
such a perceptual set may lead to the formation of
a strategy to reach the end state of a game.
We used the game engine of Half-Life (Valve
Corporation, 1998) for our case study test. Some
of the test subjects identified the game as a Half-
Life level very quickly, which in turn and, due
to previous experience of Half-Life , led to im-
mediate speculation about what the game would
provide. Half-Life is a FPS game based on the
principle of Agôn (Caillois, 1958/1961). Test
subjects with previous and deep experience of FPS
games therefore presumed they would encounter
enemies of some kind and quickly adopted a spe-