New Wine in New Skins - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 404

2006). This proprioceptive feedback could also
be proceduralized and, for example, be influenced
by the avatar's exhaustion.
Let us remember the power of ambiguity and
unidentifiable sonic objects in this context: Why
is it that, even in relatively experimental games,
standard gameplay elements such as pick-up
sounds, gates, teleporters, system information and
so on always sounds similar? Considered super-
ficially, it can certainly help the understanding of
the game's function and interface but, on the other
hand, exploration, surprise, and adventuring into
the unfamiliar is a fundamental, if not the “raison
d'être”, for virtual worlds. Again, consider the
most famous examples of innovative cinema and
you will notice that this quality is what many of
them share in their sound design. Additionally,
with games being procedural systems, ambiguity
can be dynamically controlled in relation to the
whole image-sound-action relationship. Why not,
for instance, surprise an overly self-conscious
player by introducing disturbances into the sounds
of artefacts and the environment?

failure, success and so forth) in which the sounds
of the events encountered play an important role.
A very simple and primitive example implemented
in many games is the change of state of the player
avatar, such as the “bullet time” in Max Payne
(Rockstar Games, 2001). Most examples of the
sonic enunciation of subjectivity can be found in
First-Person Shooters (FPS) and related genres
that feature an internal, first-person point of view.
So far, most of the first-person perspectives are
staged in a very “neutral” way, except for so-called
special game states, in which the changed states are
usually strongly enunciated by visual and auditory
means. Examples are various variations of rage
and invincible modes, for example, in Scarface:
The World Is Yours, Haze (Free Radical Design,
2008), or Prey. However, state changes are so far
inherently binary concepts and it is necessary to
explore more open and dynamic approaches to
“player states,” and their sonic enunciation.

Sonic Perspective

A further element of mediating the relationship
to the virtual world is sonic perspective. Vintage
arcade games and the 3D FPS probably are the
most restrictive genres in terms of perspective
limitation. They also represent two extremes of
sonic perspective, the “one dimensionality” and the
“emitter paradigm”. In terms of perspective, game
sound follows the same paradigms as the early
film sound: Intelligibility of dialogue is extended
by the need for intelligibility of any sound that is
directly relevant for gameplay. These sounds are
brought forward into a two dimensional space.
The naturalistic spatial perspective representing
distance from the camera from film in games is
embodied in the emitter paradigm. Why do we not
shake up these perspective rules and explore sonic
perspective and extension beyond the restrictions
of intelligibility and naturalism? Innovative film
sound has shown us that it is possible. Of course,
this means letting go of the general approach that

Subjectivization

In movies, extensive post-processing, as described
above, is used for enunciation markers and the
simulation or marking of subjective experiences.
Games are essentially subjective experiences,
so this would suggest that related sound design
strategies could be applied. Chances are, however,
that the designs used in movies cannot be applied
in straightforward manner, as in a game we do
not have a purely observational position. It is
also important to note that we tend to perceive
unexpected events, such as the sudden marking
of subjective experience, as the system's agency
which can result in a breakdown of flow and im-
mersion. Therefore, significant experimentation
with this design element is still necessary. A pos-
sible initial approach could be to relate enuncia-
tions of subjective experience to the experiential
story of the player during gameplay (experience of