The Use of Sounds in Online Gaming
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Music is a familiar accessory when it comes to online games played. Soundtracks are particularly common, especially when it matches a theme or comes from a film being used as the backdrop of the game. But there are plenty of other sounds that are used in online games. These can indicate danger or a win to a player. Furthermore, each game will have its distinct sounds that a player will associate with the stage of the game they’re at. But how do players know this?
Think back to an iconic film that’s also been part of popular culture. Star Wars is just one of many that a lot of people would recognise after hearing the first few notes from its musical score. Once people recognise where it’s from, it’ll evoke loads of different memories. The same will often happen when people play online games.
First came video games
Initially, video game sounds were the odd chimes, like when players collected rings in the Sonic the Hedgehog games; when characters made noises, such as when a character won a race in Mario Kart; and themes, including the Super Mario theme at the start of the game.
These noises were simple and often had pentatonic scales in common. These sounds indicated to a player that they were doing well without the need of being told. But as time passed, gamers wanted something more complex and craved more adventure than what these one-dimensional games and sounds could offer.
This led to games becoming more immersive, with sounds becoming non-linear. This type of sound goes beyond what a human voice or musical instrument can create. An example of this would be animal noises, such as what’s found in Resident Evil.
Music and sounds had to be able to tell the player what was happening, whether they were in danger or needed to get ready for a challenge. With a history of sounds, including the pentatonic scales, non-linear sounds and other evocative noises, entire soundtracks were created. But even this proved to not be enough, so changes had to be made.
Then came iGaming
Online casinos were one of the first gaming industries to appear online. The pentatonic scales were a popular sound choice to use for many games, such as blackjack and slots. However, just as video game sounds have evolved, the same has happened with online casino games, including many of the Slingo games, such as the Book of Slingo in which players enter Egyptian tombs to win any one of several prizes.
Natasha Dow Schull, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, describes the sounds that appear in them as the universally pleasant tone of C. It’s made of several different casino sounds mashed together to create the ideal tone for slots games. It’s thought this tone of C fuses sounds together, making the sounds belonging to a game cohesive, rather than distinctly separate.
We forget that sounds play an integral part in gaming history, from video games to online games. Its inclusion in the iGaming industry is as important as the graphics that allow people to play these games. Sounds can be used to evoke emotion, draw people in, and indicate their level of success.
Players aren’t told what these sounds mean, instead, they learn as they play. Just as it’s said language has to have meaning to be understood, so does music, making it an important part of gameplay for players around the world.
