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industry is focused on the quality of the graphics
within the game. The computer game industry has
clear guidelines for visuals, but not particularly
for sound. Yet, sound is as least as important,
if not more important, than visuals for creating
immersion and evoking emotions (Anderson,
1996; Grimshaw, 2007), though often underrated
by the players (Cunningham, Grout, & Picking,
2011). Sound can change the player's perception
of images to the point where the sound dominates
even when the player is presented an opposing
relationship between the sound and image (Col-
lins, Tessler, Harrigan, Dixon, & Fugelsang, 2011).
Unfortunately, as Collins (2007) states, “work
into the sonic aspects of audio-visual media has
neglected games [and] video games audio remains
largely unexplored” (p. 263). Furthermore, as
Serafin (2004) wrote, “[s]o far no quantitative
results are available to help designers to build
soundscapes which allow the user to feel fully
immersed” (p.4). And, finally, according to Nacke
and Grimshaw (2011), “not much work has been
put into sensing the emotional cues of game sound
in games, let alone in understanding the impact
of game sounds on players' affective responses”.
The purpose of the current chapter is to create
a theoretical foundation and empirical evidence
for the study of how emotions and affect are
impacted by game sound. Although Roux-Girard
(2011) “firmly believes that adopting a position
that emphasizes reception issues of gameplay
can provide a more productive model than one
that would be grounded directly in the produc-
tion aspects (implementation and programming)
of game audio”, we believe that researching the
impact of the production aspects of game sounds
is just as productive. Ultimately, we believe that
both approaches are equally viable and should be
used to understand the experience of game sounds.
Whereas Roux-Girard attempts to understand the
effect of game sounds from a top-down approach,
our intent is to build from bottom-up a research
foundation upon which further inquiry into the
relationship between emotions and game sound
can be conducted. Furthermore, our aim is to
produce valid results that are able to both explain
phenomena and be useful for game designers.
Specifically, this chapter describes a study to de-
termine the best sound design principles pertaining
to game sound effects (defined here as all diegetic
game sound except dialogue) to cause fear and
anxiety in players—two common emotions that
players feel while playing computer games. The
empirical research examines how to manipulate
three basic properties of game sound (volume,
timing, and source) through a game level designed
to evoke fear, suspense, and anxiety. Through
this quantitative and qualitative examination,
the general design principles of how to develop
game sound effects to promote fear and anxiety
is better understood.
bAcKGrOUND: LItErAtUrE
AND FIELD rEVIEW
In order to design games and perform research us-
ing game sound for promoting fear, suspense, and
anxiety, both theories of emotion and the current
state of the art design of sound effects in games are
important to understand. Emotions and affect are
elusive in nature, and difficult to define (Cornelius,
1996). For instance, some consider emotions and
affect to be the same psychological construct,
while other researchers consider affect to be the
conscious experience of emotions. In either case,
our research measures the conscious experience
of emotion, whether that is considered affect or
emotion or both. Furthermore, rather than define
emotion and affect, which is attempted in Nacke
and Grimshaw (2011), we will describe emotions
from the perspectives of four theoretical traditions
of research on emotion in psychology (Cornelius,
1996). These schools of thought on the sources
and development of emotion are the Darwinian
theory of emotions, James-Lange theory, cognitive
theory, and social constructivist theory. Our intent
is to provide an understanding of the emergence
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