Emotion, Content, and Context in Sound and Music - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 239

the Use of Emotional
sound in Games

point of note from the study is that the intuitively
expected emotional response was not always the
one that was encountered in subjects.
One criticism of Ravaja et al.'s study is that,
although a reasonable sample size was used (36
participants), the gender balance was almost 70%
in favour of male participants. Whilst it can be
argued that the gaming population is likely to be
male in majority, the study could have reflected
the situation more accurately. The paper does not
attempt to account for this disparity or investigate
whether a significant difference was present
between the results of the male participants and
female participants (see Nacke & Grimshaw, 2011
for indications of gender difference in response
to game sound). Although beyond the scope
of their paper, the work could have been much
strengthened by performing some form of subjec-
tive response with subjects on their performance
in the game scenarios, thus allowing a more
valid conclusion by employing triangulation of
quantitative and qualitative methods. This would
complement the reliable results attained through
their objective measurements.
There is no doubt that emotion plays a signifi-
cant affective role in computer gaming and that
it has the potential to be used both as a reactive
and interactive device to stimulate users. The
emotion elicited in gamers is a function of both
the content of the game as well as the context in
which the user is placed, further justifying the
aims and underlying concept of this chapter: that
these three traits are inextricably linked and that
further understanding and utilising them must
therefore lead to more intense, immersive, and
interactive gaming. Conati (2002), for example,
considers how probabilistic models can be em-
ployed to develop artificial intelligence systems
that are able to predict emotional reactions to an
array of content and contextual stimuli in educa-
tion games, with the aim of keeping the player
engaged with the game. But what of sound linked
to emotion in games?

Research by Ekman (2008) bridges the gap be-
tween traditional movies and modern computer
games by explaining how sound is used to stimulate
emotions in each of these media. Ekman enhances
her discussions with summaries of some of the
numerous theories in the portrayal of emotional
involvement experienced through sound and
music. Perhaps most importantly in her work,
Ekman emphasises the difference between the
role of sound in movies as opposed to computer
games. Principally, this is that sound in movies is
present to enhance the narrative and heighten the
experience whereas, in computer games, sound
must perform not only this function but also serve
as a tool for interaction, often to the extent where
the narrative element is sacrificed in favour of
providing informational content. Ekman's work
therefore suggests that incorporating diegetic
and non-diegetic sounds into computer games
significantly increases the level of complexity
for the sound designer.
Kromand (2009) feels strongly that sound can
be used to influence a game player's stress and
awareness levels by incorporating suitable mix-
tures of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. He pro-
vides examples of several contemporary computer
games that feature such affective sound. In par-
ticular, his work focuses on the popular BioShock ,
F.E.A.R. and Silent Hill 2 titles. Kromand's work
is an interesting starting point and introduction to
the use of sound in games, especially in inducing
more unpleasant sensations. He provides extensive
discussion and illustrative examples and considers
the concept of trans-diegetic sounds (Jørgensen,
2011) those which transcend the traditional bar-
rier between diegetic and non-diegetic. Kromand
concludes by proposing that mixtures of diegetic
and non-diegetic sound can lead to confusion and
uncertainty about the environment and actions
around the game player. He hypothesises that this
confusion is purposefully implemented in the game