Why no music in Multiplayer?

[KenzS]

I didn't buy a turtle beach to listen to music, I bought it to hear the sound of my enemies' eyelids closing..

 

[Solo-Wing]

Because, music is usually timed well to be used to great affect (in the single player: Eg, person dies, dramatic music, explosions = exciting / loud music). In multiplayer this can't be done as much. ALthough I get that having some sort of music in the background would be better, from my view anyway, but that's the reason you don't see it I think.

But Left 4 Dead has a Music director that edits each players music individually so that it fits what they are doing. It works really well, and it actually helps. Especially when it helps me know when a Tank is in the area.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

Yes, but you stated it yourself, the music helps there, that's the key difference. It's an audio cue alerting you of something. This is the same reason why in other games music would be a bad idea. You might miss the sound of a grenade bouncing at your feet, a spy (or nanosuit user) decloaking behind you, a sniper's bullet just barely missing you, and various other things in various other games.

So while in some games music can help in multiplayer, in other games the player benefits from a lack of music.

 

[TerranReaper]

Well, RTS games tend to have music, just background music. FPS games are more mixed, sometimes it does work, most of the time it doesn't work. Take a game like CoD or Battlefield or Counter-Strike, to do well, you need to listen to footsteps, gunshots and other sounds that gives you an awareness of your surroundings. Even Quake and sometimes Unreal Tournament opts for no music, or at least gives you a choice, since footsteps are really important to consider.

 

[Polock]

Music is played in TF for dominations/revenges/ and game victories.

 

[octafish]

Listens to the vehicle radios in BF:BC2 Vietnam. What the hell are you talking about? Mind you I only play Battlefield games and TF2 in multiplayer and I'm pretty sure TF2 has some incidental music..

I prefer to listen to my own music in online racers, Boss Hoss by the Sonics or Thunder Express by the MC5 are choice.

 

[Rad Party God]

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 does it well. Music changes from quiet almsot ambient-like to war drives during the action. Very satisfying to have your anthem playing while you punish the opposition.

Would be nice to have more games using music similarly, but I can see why developers don't use it in most multiplayers.

Company of Heroes does exactly the same thing. When you're building/exploring, the music is calm and sometimes feel too suspenful, but when you get to kill nazis, the music ramps up.

OT: I noticed that like 6 or 7 years ago, back when I played Counter-Strike, since then, I always bring my music cd or I run iTunes/Media Player Classic in the background, turn the volume down a bit, so it won't interfere with the game itself, grab a bunch of songs I like and I know fit well with shooters (mostly Infected Mushroom and Led Zeppelin) and I let it play in the background while I'm playing. I still do it with many multiplayer games, mostly Quake Live and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.

This is something I greately missed when I had a 360 and one of the main reasons of why I sold it back. I know it plays MP3 and M4A, but It's just not the same and a lot of hassle for something so simple as to play custom music in the background.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

I usually get my own music going for multiplayer, but it also depends on what I am playing. If I am playing a shooter and I need to hear for enemies I'll obviously not listen to music, but if it's just harmless team deathmatch I'll likely have it going.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

Music would drown out footsteps in FPS games, which would make my headset useless. You have no idea how big an advantage soundwhoring is in Call of Duty. No music for me, thanks.

 

[Squilookle]

Well, RTS games tend to have music, just background music. FPS games are more mixed, sometimes it does work, most of the time it doesn't work. Take a game like CoD or Battlefield or Counter-Strike, to do well, you need to listen to footsteps, gunshots and other sounds that gives you an awareness of your surroundings. Even Quake and sometimes Unreal Tournament opts for no music, or at least gives you a choice, since footsteps are really important to consider.

Speak for yourself- I play battlefield with movie soundtracks to enhance the action all the time, and I'm usually in the top 5 at the end of a round. People (I'm talking generally here) just don't seem to get that you can adjust the sound levels to have music playing softly with sound up loud or vice versa. It's really not that difficult to find a perfect balance...

 

[BellHooks]

I'm a game designer and a sound designer so I think some of the responses in this thread are pretty interesting.

The reason why so few multiplayer games, especially competitive FPS games, do not have music is due to music detracting from player situational awareness.