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Defining the Essence of
computer Games
creative process. Additionally, it is important to
break from the chains of the big studios and to
work in relatively small teams with a less strict
division of work. Last, but not least, technology
plays an important role as a catalyst for aesthetic
innovation, in particular through creative “abuse”
or exploration of less common applications.
First of all, a common conceptual ground for the
understanding of the essential qualities of com-
puter games, on which any further discussion can
be based, shall be established. Note that this is
by no means meant to be a general definition of
computer games. Also, it is not a comprehensive
review of the essential literature on the topic.
Rather, it forms a working definition, limited to
the scope of this chapter and serving to elucidate
its thesis.
Computer games, as understood here, are
computational systems that essentially are pro-
cedural, functional and interactive. These auto-
poietic (Grimshaw, 2007) systems gestate worlds
emerging only through the player's agency and
interaction. In this sense, computer games are
both narrative spaces and tools for action. Ac-
cording to Neitzel, games have a transitional,
hybrid character, oscillating between the closed,
symbolic spaces of representative media that
function through observation and immersive sys-
tems of agency in a virtual world. Depending on
genre and type of game, the player is situated, or
constantly shifts, between experience and action.
Computer games thus resolve the subject as being
the centre and origin of diegesis, as it is presented
in film (Neitzel, 2000). Using Neitzel's term, this
“playful schizophrenia” is pushed even further
through multiplayer games and online worlds,
where the computer only provides the setting and
rules-a kind of procedural experience system but
one where the interaction mainly happens between
humans represented by avatars. Narrative may
well emerge, but is not a constituent of the game
system any more. A similar impact results from
the diffusion of games into everyday life through
pervasive gaming applications. Here, life is a
game, literally.
In the immersive, performative experience of
playing, the boundary of engagement through the
“interface”, which involves physical controllers
rEDrAWING PAttErNs OF
cHANGE: PErsPEctIVEs
FOr GAME sOUND DEsIGN
In this section I will revisit some of the innovations
in film sound described above 18 and propose “con-
ceptual derivatives” for computer game sound.
As previously mentioned, it is clear that there is
neither a repetition of the aesthetic history nor can
patterns or guidelines derived from film sound
phenomena be applied directly to game sound. 19
There are certainly commonalities, but there are
also essential differences between game and film
sound. I will not elaborate here upon these dif-
ferences; the reader may refer to the discussions
in Deutsch (2001), Jørgensen (2007), Grimshaw
(2007), Collins (2008), and, in particular (Grim-
shaw, 2008) who offers an in-depth discussion of
several core elements of film sound theory and
their applicability to game sound. 20 Nevertheless,
as I have made clear in the introduction to this
chapter, historical developments in film sound
aesthetics can serve as models of transformation
and as points of reference for my proposition of
new creative and aesthetic directions for game
sound and thus providing an inspirational source
and motivation for exploring new directions. The
creative leaps in film sound design are interesting
also because, despite originating in experimental
artistic approaches, they were not only relevant to
a small underground scene, but have finally made
their way to the mass market and the mainstream.
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