Poll: Is sound important in games?

[pilouuuu]

When the game needs atmosphere and has a great soundtrack, there's no reason to turn it off. For example in Fallout 3. When I listened to all the radio songs, I just intalled some mods which included more songs, but in the same style. The same in GTA IV. I just added a bunch of songs to the game's folder.

But when the game has repetitive music and the atmosphere is not so important I make a playlist and listen to that instead. Those games can be games like The Pinball Arcade , Plant Vs Zombies or Hearthstone. Something that is not heavy on plot and characters.

I think that if the developers made sure to include an amazing soundtrack in accordance to the atmosphere of the game, there's no reason not to listen to it.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

The only time I change the sound in a game is if I turn off the music and start up my own library (any PVE coop games, or online FPS').

Otherwise, I keep everything turned on, the way the game makers intended it to be heard.

 

[Ajarat]

Ever since I played Quake for the first time, I realized what sound can do for a video-game. That was the first (and pretty much only) time I almost forgot there was music playing, for it all fit so well. I was visibly shaking when I first played Quake, mouse and keyboard abolutely soaked with cold sweat.

However, the audio-experience that came with Quake was largely unique in that they put a LOT of care into it. Sound for me is vitally important, but nothing is more annoying than crap-soundtracks that get into the 'annoying' spectrum. A great example of this is in (almost) every RPG. One minute you're enjoying the atmosphere, both visually and audibly, then suddenly you enter combat and some 15s ditty starts repeating until you feel like exploring how far you can push a Q-Tip into your ears. It's at that point sound tends to get muted while my mp3 player (wmp, WinAmp, etc.) gets employed to give me my own soundtrack to the game, a sure sign of failure in the audio-department.

At that, I would say in MOST cases, more effort should be put into games atmosphere and environmental ambience over music in exception to those rare titles that realize this fault and change their audio-scheme to something more appropriate.


As an after-thought, to this day I still enjoy the Quake-soundtrack. That Game-disc has had more plays than any other album in my collection. But then again, TReznor is a genius imho.

 

[broadbandmink]

Is sound important in games? Wholly subjective issue that I won't even bother to discuss.

Is sound necessary in games? From a gameplay-standpoint I'd say yes. Sound cues have been an integral part of gameplay for the last 30 years and I can't see any reason they'll go away anytime soon.

One thing...

If something is necessary, that means that it is important, right? They sort of go hand in hand, almost to the point of being interchangeable terms.

Semantics. I personally think a distinction between those terms can be made. But perhaps I need to be clearer. Now, let's say we take the example when Sony was hired to design a CD-addon for the SNES. A endeavour which fell through but which also provided Sony with "blueprint" (sorta) for the first Playstation. I'd argue that this project was an important experience for the folks at Sony in order to learn the ropes when it comes to designing a game console, but I'd be more careful with stating that it was a necessary experience. Hypothetically, they might instead have established a R&D department with the intended focus of designing, testing and eventually shipping a game console for a mass consumer market. This might also have meant that Sony would have had to learn the hard way how to overcome various potential technical issues, but that wouldn't necessarily have prevented them from pulling it off.

There, I hope my distinctions came across.

 

[bluepotatosack]

Semantics. I personally think a distinction between those terms can be made. But perhaps I need to be clearer. Now, let's say we take the example when Sony was hired to design a CD-addon for the SNES. A endeavour which fell through but which also provided Sony with "blueprint" (sorta) for the first Playstation. I'd argue that this project was an important experience for the folks at Sony in order to learn the ropes when it comes to designing a game console, but I'd be more careful with stating that it was a necessary experience. Hypothetically, they might instead have established a R&D department with the intended focus of designing, testing and eventually shipping a game console for a mass consumer market. This might also have meant that Sony would have had to learn the hard way how to overcome various potential technical issues, but that wouldn't necessarily have prevented them from pulling it off.

There, I hope my distinctions came across.

In this example it seems that you're saying something can be important, but not strictly necessary. That's absolutely correct. However, if something is necessary, that means that it is extremely important. To the point that whatever it is important to would not function without it.

 

[Phlogiston]

In singleplayer games it builds atmosphere. In single and multiplayer it adds awareness.

99% of the time I'll have the sound on, although once I've heard most of the soundtrack and it's looping endlessly I'll just put on some of my own music.

 

[mitchell271]

Depends on the game. Something story based, like Fallout 3 or something with really good music, like Dust: AET, I'll leave everything on. With something completely mindless like Serious Sam or Castlevania, I'll have something else playing in the background.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Generally I keep all sounds and music on. Someone's put a lot of effort into those, the least I can do is listen to it and usually it's good. That said, there are some occasions where I'll turn the sound off and play some of my own music, usually in games where I've already beaten the game and I'm carrying on in the post-game or replaying it. Skyrim and other RPGs are the games where I mostly do this - nothing beats wandering around Skyrim, Cyrodiil, Kanto or the Capitol Wasteland listening to some pumping metal for me. But yeah, only after having beaten the game, I like to hear what's gone into it the first time around.

 

[Samael Barghest]

Depends on the game and atmosphere. Sound in a game like Skyrim lets you know if a dragon is overhead. But sound isn't really needed in sports games, ya know.

 

[oZode]

Very important, sound gives immersion to the setting and the music can hep set up the atmosphere very well. There's multiple examples of games and movies that have, do to a good music track become very popular. The remake or Tron and Halo are good examples of this.

 

[broadbandmink]

Semantics. I personally think a distinction between those terms can be made. But perhaps I need to be clearer. Now, let's say we take the example when Sony was hired to design a CD-addon for the SNES. A endeavour which fell through but which also provided Sony with "blueprint" (sorta) for the first Playstation. I'd argue that this project was an important experience for the folks at Sony in order to learn the ropes when it comes to designing a game console, but I'd be more careful with stating that it was a necessary experience. Hypothetically, they might instead have established a R&D department with the intended focus of designing, testing and eventually shipping a game console for a mass consumer market. This might also have meant that Sony would have had to learn the hard way how to overcome various potential technical issues, but that wouldn't necessarily have prevented them from pulling it off.

There, I hope my distinctions came across.

In this example it seems that you're saying something can be important, but not strictly necessary. That's absolutely correct. However, if something is necessary, that means that it is extremely important. To the point that whatever it is important to would not function without it.

I do agree that when something is necessary for something else to function (for example sound in games) it is of high importance. But since something that is deemed important doesn't have to constitute a necessity I think the distinction is still valid.

To get back on track. When I interpreted what the OP wrote (He/she may correct me) I thought the importance in question was twofolded. 1) From a technical standpoint sound is definitely necessary (and thus important) in order to play most games properly, but 2) from a aesthetic or atmospheric perspective I'd say the importance of sound lies in the eye of the beholder and therefore I refrained from commenting upon it. Hope this clears things up a bit.

 

[Fifty-One]

I'll turn things down a little or mute loud or annoying players in voice chat, but sound is incredibly immersive and important in a lot of games. Many times you hear things before you see them. Also, horror or survival horror games wouldn't be the same without sound. Ever watched a horror movie on mute? It goes from suspenseful to comedic with the press of a button.

 

[optimusjamie]

Sometimes I turn off the sound effects in space games, but only the realistic ones like KSP.

 

[InkySpines]

I would go so far as to say good sound can be more important than graphics.

For example, even years ago WoW had dated graphics, but the music was top notch. I always kept it in a continuous loop and probably less than 2% of thousands of hours I played was spent listening to anything besides game sound or Ventrilo. The Storm Peaks soundtrack is echoing in the back of my head now and sending shivers down my spine. The music saturated the experience, but was still inobtrusive. All that grinding would have been unbearable with even mediocre music.

Another example is Europa Universalis 4 and Crusader Kings 2. CK2 is starting to show its age especially, but even in EU4, if you zoom in close on army units you can see some very jarring problems with the animations, which seem to have been produced on a small budget, or by lazy animators. But the work of Paradox's composer is almost uniformly excellent. I can take or leave the unit or face pack DLCs Paradox puts out, but I snap up every music DLC instantly. With Paradox titles dominating my play time in the last year, they are absolutely ESSENTIAL to add variety to the listening experience. I would have put CK2 down months ago despite still enjoying the gameplay if I were stuck with only the launch tracks.

To put it another way, your eye can still instantly recognize almost all games as computer generated, but there is a much, much slimmer margin between real world sound and digital. Good sound brings games closer to reality and so is critical to maintaining the all important immersion.

 

[josemlopes]

Almost always all on unless some special cases, games that try to be realistic (simulator kind) I usually turn off the music and with other games if the soundtrack isnt all that special and there is a better playlist that suits the game better then I will listen to that instead (even made a thread about it recently with Return to Castle Wolfenstein and the soundtrack of the Indiana Jones movies)

 

[Amir Kondori]

I like to listen to the full sound experience in games, except when I am used to a games soundtrack and then sometimes I will turn off the music and play my own.
I still leave the sound effects on though.

 

[Bocaj2000]

Yes, yes, and yes. Why would anyone mute the sound of an interactive-video-audio medium? You are essentially eliminating a third of the experience! The only modification I make is when there is a built in option to play my music instead of the in-game music, and there are only three reasons I would do that:
-If the music gets very repetitive
-If there is no music/only atmospheric sounds
-If it fits the tone better than the provided music

I mean, come on... In EVE Online I was an explorer who traveled with Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd in the background. In WoW, I was an orc who listened to FinnTroll.

BUT these are rare occasions that are specifically for atmospherically ambiguous MMOs.

EDIT: With this said, I NEVER turn anything off... just replaced on rare occasions.