Music in games, is it necessary?

[Denamic]

Depends on the game.
Sometimes, an eerie ambient sound is far more effective to create atmosphere.
Like in Demon Souls. That game is fucking lonely.
But sometimes, music is practically necessary.
Just imagine Final Fantasy 6 without music.
No battle music, no world map music, no epic airship score.
It's a horrible thought.

 

[Thaius]

I don't think so. Have you ever done real-life activities to fitting music? It enhances the experience so much! Angry music when you're angry just cheers you on, sad music when you're sad just lets you let it all out, exciting music when you're doing something exciting just makes the experience so much more exhilarating... Appropriate music enhances anything and everything you do. So no; music will always be an important part of video games. Besides, why would you want to get rid of it when there are such amazing songs coming from it?

 

[Gamemaniac3434]

without music there is nothing. even fallout 3 had sparse music here and there. atmosphere almost always demands music, and atmosphere is one of the best parts of games.

 

[Spitfire]

What if having a soundtrack built into your skull one day ceases to be immersive though? I'm not saying that music will leave games entirely, but it might move to purely being portrayed through things like in-game bands or even an iPod that explains why you always hear music in one ear. In your day-to-day life, you don't ever have a soundtrack playing along in your head that perfectly fits the theme of your personal world, but obviously reality is immersive, since it is reality after all. The world doesn't feel any less real because it doesn't have a beautiful score, so maybe one day games will be the same.

There are plenty of videogames that use music in the way you described, the GTA series being the most obvious example.
Thematic soundtracks, on the other hand, are an integral part of many videogames, and I don't thnk that they're going away any time soon.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Fallout is not about the high octane action.
If it had a dramatic musical score while searching through boxes in a dilapidated building, it would change the tone of the game and it would feel almost comical, lessening the experience.

And vise versa.

If Halo3's Climax had low ambient music, again would lessen the desired experience.

Bottom line is, its all about context.
What is happening and the desired tone of the game should determine the style of music.

 

[xchurchx]

well yeh, music gives a game atmosphere, if you walked into a dark basement and there were different kinds of music or no music at all, your perception of the area would be different

 

[Nieroshai]

I think it's exactly the same as movies and plays. Sometimes it's appropriate, sometimes it isn't.

This, as well as the fact that ambient music still counts as music.

 

[Fiad]

Music is without a doubt needed. The day that it stops being put in games is the day I stop being a gamer.

Fallout 3 I am unsure if it had much music besides the radio(I always had it on), but not having music in that environment just fits. You are meant to be alone in the waste. The silence enhances that. In New Vegas I lost interest in the radio pretty fast so I turned it off and noticed that it had actual music in the background. As I was walking down a road by myself, it really enhanced the feeling I was getting.

Minecraft does music pretty well, having long stretches of silence, then out of nowhere calm somewhat sad music comes up. You don't grow tired of it because it is so rare. The feeling it gives off just fits the game so well.

Music is the language of the soul. Music can evoke so many different feelings in man that most things can't. Music tells a story. Even without words a song can tell an epic tale of heroism and glory, of war and loss, of love and hope, all without even uttering a single word.

 

[GigaHz]

Personally, I'm more of a fan of believable soundscapes in videogames than wall-to-wall scoring. Then again, I am an audiophile.

But everything has its place. Some games I can't imagine without scores and others benefit from a more minimalistic score with a larger emphasis on ambience and sound design. It all depends on the mood and atmosphere the game is trying to accomplish.

Even a game like Team Fortress 2, which doesn't have a lot of in-game music has plenty of catchy musical stings to heighten the mood. I'd say it works to great effect.

 

[noble cookie]

Zelda would not be Zelda without the music.
Same goes for Mario, Metal Gear Solid, Halo and others...they all have memorable soundtracks.

Okay sure in the future perhaps but for now we definitely do need music in games.

 

[airrazor7]

Movies that are of the realistic fiction genre still have background music so I can't see games ever being too realistic for full soundtracks or background music. Look at games like Resident Evil 4 (RE4 isn't realistic fiction of course but it did set a tone of realism) or Heavy Rain that went for a mood of realism. Those games were full of ambient music.

Music is one of the greatest things about the medium of gaming. Music can help create or break the mood or pace. As big a deal as music has become in the industry, I really can't foresee it suddenly not being needed, realistic graphics or otherwise.

Besides, not all games are going to go the uber realistic graphics route. I don't think games like Angry Birds, Katamari, or Pikmin would be the same if they had realistic graphics.

 

[Phlakes]

FUCK YES IT IS. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Top-Ten-Songs]

Now, I'm sure that if there was some hyper-realistic game that tried to emulate real life as best as possible, it might be better without a soundtrack, but with every other game ever FUCK YES.

 

[Julianking93]

Demon's Souls proves that it isn't.

 

[targren]

I find in the last few years that I'm noticing the in-game music less and less often. Nowadays it's just easy to tune out. Back in the old NES days, you got some great music that you remember 20 years later. I remember reading an article (or was it a video?) about that (think it may even have been on here) that suggested that because they only had a few midi-type channels to work with, they had to really go balls-to-the-wall to make it work.

And that gave us such classics as Vampire Killer and Monster Dance, Dr. Wiley's Fortress (Megaman 2), and the Zelda Overworld theme.

Good times...

 

[Delsana]

You are so accustomed to sound describing the events that if it truly wasn't there when you expected it your subconscious would be shocked.

 

[Spambot 3000]

Well I hope it stays necessary, otherwise I can kiss my most desired career goodbye.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Fighting at the Battle of Hu Lao Gate in Dynasty Warriors 4 just wouldn't be the same without this playing in the background...


Listening to this makes killing zombies so much easier...


Hearing this peacful music play while exploring the western frontier just made the experience much more atmospheric...


However, having no music play while riding around in Shadow of the Colossus, and not having music play while playing online mutiplayer in CoD is not problem at all and makes them better by not having music.

So in the end, it really depends on the mood and context.

 

[magequest]

I would like to bring minecraft to the table

 

[TheMann]

Video Games are always moving closer to being an experience as compelling as any experience you could have in real life, and perhaps in some instances be more compelling, given the nature of fiction. Because of this, do you think that one day, music in games will be entirely unnecessary? You can already see this happening in some cases.

Okay here's my take on this:
Game are usually more compelling than real life. If they weren't, who the hell would want to play them? Real life is available 24/7/365. They have to offer something that real life cannot. And because they are works of fiction in a modern form of media that includes visuals; sound and music will most likely accompany it. Now, games are much more diverse than, say, film. Some games, by their very nature, cannot accompany music due to gameplay elements. I can't imagine MMOs having music other than the title screen (I don't play MMOs. If they do have in-game music let me know, I'm curious now.), because it would interfere with players ability to communicate with each other in a complex manner. However, even many multiplayer games have great in-game music, Unreal Tournament being a great example. The kickin' tracks really add to the play. In single player games, I can't imagine there not being a music score of some sort, even if it's minimal (like Half Life). Music adds and conveys further gravity and emotional impact to various scenarios, much like film.

EDIT: Yes, I know that it's pretty much necessary at the moment, but I'm talking about the future, when video games are more like virtual reality than anything else.

That's actually not the way I see it. Games, to me at least, are evolving more into a new form of narrative storytelling. Any game with a narrative will have music. The difference between games and other media, such as film, instead of watching characters act out a story, the players are thrown into the worlds created, allowing the story to unfold on their terms. However, there's still a story to be told most of the time, and that means using devices used in every medium expect literature; music being one of those. Things that are akin to virtual reality in the future, in my forecast, won't really be games at all; they'll be considered simulations at that point.

This is a good example: Watch this clip, and imagine it without music, specifically how the in-universe canned music fades into Garry Schyman's amazing score, that compliments the visuals perfectly, much like a movie. This is probably one of the best openings in recent games. Without the music it wouldn't be even 1/10th as good.

 

[Vault101]

Video Games are always moving closer to being an experience as compelling as any experience you could have in real life, and perhaps in some instances be more compelling, given the nature of fiction. Because of this, do you think that one day, music in games will be entirely unnecessary? You can already see this happening in some cases.

Look at any Fallout game for instance, whether it be the originals or the two newest games, they all have zero in-game music outside of an ambient soundtrack and a few radio stations. They don't have any proper score, I'd say that 95% of the soundscape is in-universe (including the radio stations of course), and you don't even notice the other 5% unless you pay attention. I think this works to its benefit, but it could be something unique to the universe that makes it work.

My point is that music can add to the mood and greatly improve the experience of watching a movie or play, but I'm not entirely sure that it will always be true for something as already inherently as visceral as video games. What do you think?

EDIT: Yes, I know that it's pretty much necessary at the moment, but I'm talking about the future, when video games are more like virtual reality than anything else.

it will ALWAYS be the nessicary

I mean youre talking as if ALL games will strive to be ultra realistic in the future