Sound for Fantasy and Freedom - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 25

that the sound of hooves of a galloping horse
is not identical with the galloping. Instead, it is
part of the particular event of galloping: “Audi-
tory perceptual awareness as of the whole [sic]
occurs in virtue of experiencing the part” (part
2.3.2). This strong linkage between the sounds
we hear and the physical world we inhabit can
be brought into play in computer games through
rich soundscapes in order to convey information
about objects, environments, and events in the
game world. Try this simple experiment. Pick
an environment with a reasonable number of ac-
tivities, people, birds, machines or whatever you
can find that makes everyday sounds. Close your
eyes and try not to interpret, make associations
and create mental pictures from what you hear.
It is very hard to put the auditory interpreter to
rest and this is true for sounds from all types of
sources, including the headphones playing sounds
from your iPod. This interpretation, mapping, or
disambiguation of individual sounds and whole
soundscapes involves high-level mental processes
related to our conscious and subconscious, cogni-
tive and emotional layers. As such, these processes
have the potential to invoke a myriad of physical
and mental responses: fear, flight, well-being,
happiness, anger, understanding and so on. In
computer game design, this means huge potential
to both convey cognitive meaning and to create
moods and affect.
Auditory perception can be understood as be-
coming aware of the whole by virtue of the parts.
Sounds can also be said to be more ambiguous and
leave wider space for interpretation than visual
stimuli do, at least when it comes to interpreting
where and what we have heard. In Human Com-
puter Iinterface (HCI) contexts, ambiguity has
often been thought of in terms of disadvantage
and problem (Sengers & Gaver, 2006) and much,
perhaps even a majority, of the research done in
the field has tried to overcome this and find ways
to create clear and unambiguous systems and in-
terfaces. Research on sound interaction design is
no exception to this, as described by, for example,

Gaver (1997). This is true also when it comes to
sound in computer games but, in this context, the
need to interpret and disambiguate the computer
game system is not the only aspect of the issue. On
the contrary, some authors argue that ambiguity
and the need to interpret a system instead can be
used as an asset (Sengers & Gaver, 2006; Sengers,
Boehner, Mateas, & Gay, 2007). Here, we argue
that this is certainly the case. When the ideas of
ambiguity and interpretation are combined with
the concepts of flow and GameFlow described
below, the sum can be used to inform the game
design process in new ways.
Development of computer games has so far
mostly been geared towards vision. When it comes
to sound in games, much of the work is inspiring
case studies but less research. Sweetser and Wyeth
list three aspects of usability in games that have
previously been in focus for research (Sweetser
& Wyeth, 2005). These are interface (controls and
display), mechanics (interacting with the game-
world), and gameplay (problems and challenges).
Lately, also other dimensions of the design and use
of computer games have started to gain interest
among game researchers, dimensions that incor-
porate new and more complex aspects and ideas
of player enjoyment and computer game design.
Several research groups have, for example, made
connections between interactivity in general and,
more specifically, player enjoyment in games on
the one hand and the concept of flow developed
by Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi on the other. In the
1970s and 1980s Csíkszentmihályi conducted
extensive research into what makes experiences
enjoyable. He found that optimal experiences are
the same all over the world and can be described
in the same terms regardless of who is enjoying
the experience. He called these optimal experi-
ences flow. A flow experience is defined by
Csíkszentmihályi (1990) as being “so gratifying
that people are willing to do it for its own sake,
with little concern for what they will get out of
it, even when it is difficult, or dangerous” (p. 71).