Player-Game Interaction Through Affective Sound - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 266

and negative reinforcement are combined when
learning to play a song on Guitar Hero (2005) for
example (for a comprehensive list of interactive
music games see the list at the end of this chapter).
Hitting the button and strumming with the right
timing leads to positive reinforcement in the way
that the guitar track of the particular song is played
back and suggests player finesse, while a crank-
ing sound acts as negative reinforcement when
the button and strumming are off. Such reward
mechanisms that foster reinforcement learning
are a very common design element in games (see
Collins, Tessler, Harrigan, Dixon, & Fugelsang,
2011). Applying them to diegetic composition of
music is new and warrants further study as sound
and music effects in games are currently not stud-
ied with the same scientific rigour that is present
for example in the study of violent digital game
content and aggression (Bushman & Anderson,
2002; Carnagey, Anderson, & Bushman, 2007;
Ferguson, 2007; Przybylski, Ryan, & Rigby, 2009).
In addition to the reinforcement learning
techniques in game design, another design fea-
ture is what Bateman (2009, p. 66) calls toyplay ,
facilitating the motivation of playing for its own
sake. Toyplay denotes an unstructured activity of
play guided by the affordances of the gameworld
and is largely of an exploratory nature (Bateman,
2009; Bateman & Boon, 2006) being similar to
games of emergence (Juul, 2005, p. 67) and un-
structured and uncontrolled play termed “paida”
(Caillois, 2001, p. 13). Many music games work
completely without a narrative framing and derive
the joy of playing simply out of their player-game
interaction. For example, Audiosurf (2008) elimi-
nates most design elements not necessary for the
interaction of the player with the game, which is
essentially the production of music by “surfing”
the right tones. The colourful representation of
tones and notes is a visual aesthetic that drives
the player to produce music. A simple concept
brought to stellar quality in games such as Rez
(2001) or SimTunes (1996), which truly appeal to
the toyplay aspect of gaming. Therefore, toyplay

elements and reinforcement learning techniques
are two design methods most pronounced in
music interaction games and that drive affective
engagement with sound and music.
With recent efforts in the field of human-
computer interaction (Dix, Finlay, & Abowd,
2004), the sensing and evaluation of the cognitive
and emotional state of a user during interaction
with a technological system has become more
important. The automatic recognition of a user's
affective state is still a major challenge in the
emerging field of affective computing (Picard,
1997). Since affective processes in players have
a major impact on their playing experiences, re-
cent studies have emerged that apply principles
of affective computing to gaming (Gilleade, Dix,
& Allanson, 2005; Hudlicka, 2008). The field of
affective gaming is concerned with processing
of sensory information from players (Gilleade
& Dix, 2004), adapting game content (Dekker &
Champion, 2007) - for example, artificial behav-
iour of non-player character game agents to player
emotional states - and using emotional input as a
game mechanic (Kuikkaniemi & Kosunen, 2007).
However, not much work has been put into sens-
ing the emotional cues of game sounds in games
(Grimshaw, Lindley, & Nacke, 2008), let alone
in understanding the impact of game sound on
players' affective responses.
We start by discussing general theories of
emotion and affect and their relevance to games
and psychophysiological research (for a more
general introduction to emotion, see Cunningham,
Grout, & Picking's (2011) chapter on Emotion,
Content & Context ). For instance, we suggest it
is emotion that drives attention and this has an
important effect upon both engagement with the
game and immersion (in those games that strive
to provide immersive environments). Immer-
sion is an important and current topic in games
literature - rather than attempt to define it (that is
attempted elsewhere in this topic); we limit our-
selves to a brief overview of immersion theories
and their relationship to theories of emotion, flow,