Playing with Sound: A Theory of Interacting with Sound and Music in Video Games

An examination of the players experience of sound in video games and the many ways that players interact with the sonic elements in games. In Playing with Sound Karen Collins examines video game sound from the players perspective. She explores the many ways that players interact with a games sonic aspectswhich include not only music but also sound effects ambient sound dialogue and interface soundsboth within and outside of the game. She investigates the ways that meaning is found embodied created evoked hacked remixed negotiated and renegotiated by players in the space of interactive sound in games. Drawing on disciplines that range from film studies and philosophy to psychology and computer science Collins develops a theory of interactive sound experience that distinguishes between interacting with sound and simply listening without interacting. Her conceptual approach combines practice theory (which focuses on productive and consumptive practices around media) and embodied cognition (which holds that our understanding of the world is shaped by our physical interaction with it). Collins investigates the multimodal experience of sound image and touch in games; the role of interactive sound in creating an emotional experience through immersion and identification with the game character; the ways in which sound acts as a mediator for a variety of performative activities; and embodied interactions with sound beyond the game including machinima chip-tunes circuit bending and other practices that use elements from games in sonic performances.