An Acoustic Communication Framework for Game Sound - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 138

consoles such as the Gamecube , the Wii , and the
PlayStation 2 tend to feature games with more
authentic soundscapes and variety, and higher-end
consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
flaunt stellar graphics as well as multi-channel,
3D sound capabilities capable of delivering that
precision of spatialization and timbre character-
istic of FPS games. Similarly, fantasy and action
role playing games (RPGs) such as Final Fan-
tasy , Prince of Persia , Assassin's Creed 2, and
God of War , to mention a few, use limited and
uniform sound effects banks to build environments
with minimal acoustic properties: even though
the audio is less compressed in quality then in
their predecessors. Higher-end military, FPS and
strategy games such as Hitman , and Metal Gear
Solid often combine a rich variety of high-quali-
ty sound effects rendered with 3D sound spatial-
ization techniques and sound behaviour physics
engines to simulate the temporal and spatial tra-
jectories of competing sonic information in the
game space.
Finally, fidelity changes in game sound can also
be discussed in terms of Schafer's classifications
of hi-fi and lo-fi soundscapes (1977; Truax, 2001,
p. 21) reflecting the ecological acoustic balance in
a given environment. Quite simply, as game sound
has become more complex, richer in textures, and
in need of accommodating an ever-expanding va-
riety of alert cues and signals, game soundscapes
have become sites for much sonic masking. If
we look at Figure 2 we see a transition from a
one-track synthesized music model, which lacks
authentic fidelity but has little masking; to more
complex games where the soundtracks become
a constant broadband spectrum of high-quality
music, environmental sound effects, alerts and
signals, and ambience coloration.
However, the newest trend in game sound
design (Collins, 2008; Farnell, 2011; Hug, 2011;
Phillips, 2009) might be to return to synthesis
utilizing much more sophisticated tools - physical
modeling and real-time sound synthesis to real-
istically convey not only every sound occurring

in a game but its every unique variation, coloration,
temporal and spatial character, in interaction with
other sounds within the electroacoustic environ-
ment. Such an approach to game sound synthesis
would make the game soundscape truly personal-
ized through subtlety and non-repetition, and it
would reverse the tendency to use substitute aural
objects or sound images from the cinematic tradi-
tion, essentially returning game sound to a real-
istic modelling of acoustic phenomena. However,
would such a turn eliminate the necessity for
purposeful sound design? Would it make it all
about programmatic representation? After all,
sound's role in games is not simply descriptive,
one of reflecting reality in a high-fidelity manner,
but it is largely about function! Interface sounds,
warning sounds, alerts, and musical earcons must
continue to be part of this acoustic ecology, sub-
ject to issues of acoustic balance, masking and
fidelity, as well as the informational ecology of
interactive play.

the Listening Experience

So what types of listening do these aspects of
fidelity foster in game players/listeners? Listening
is essentially a particular way of paying attention.
Truax (2001) describes this phenomenon in terms
of listening positions that we have developed both
with regard to everyday listening and when en-
gaging with different forms of media (pp. 19-23).
Film theorists such as Chion (1994) and Murch
(1995), among others, have already spoken about
different listening modes : The one proposed by
Chion has also been discussed and augmented by
Grimshaw and Schott (2007) in their discussion
of FPS games. Tuuri, Mustonen, and Pirhonen
(2007) provide a more recent compelling account
of listening modes in gameplay, identifying a hier-
archical attentional structure of listening. Table 2
attempts to summarize popular notions of listening
to game sound and organize them according to
existing typologies of game functions (Jorgensen,
2006), attentional positions (Stockburger, 2007)