I'm the sound designer on the Witness, and I appreciate the topic obviously. I think most gamers genuinely appreciate sound if you ask them. But for biological reasons, people don't consciously process a lot of what they hear. It doesn't make it any less important however. Tuning out sound is a necessity because there is SO much of it. Think about it....from the days of being in your mother's womb to lying on your death bed you will be listening - to everything, -in every direction, - from great distances away. You can't close your ears or hear away from a sound. I don't think any other sense spams the brain quite like the ears. But we make conscious and subconscious use of sound in some critical ways. Less evolved portions of the brain are responsible for passing important information - instantaneously. Otherwise how do you know to get out of the way of a city bus honking it's horn? Or know that your dog is hungry?
As sound designers...we play with this. Dead Space, another game I worked on is an example of scare tactics. We don't want you thinking about sound, and ultimately we're not so invested in people appreciating it independently from the game itself. Our goal is to enrich your experience with sound. What I do love however is that people like yourself enjoy using your hearing in new and different and challenging ways. That is the gamer spirit sound designers and game designers who are exploring this space really appreciate.
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Re: Soapbox: Why Is Sound So Underappreciated in Games?
I'm the sound designer on the Witness, and I appreciate the topic obviously.
I think most gamers genuinely appreciate sound if you ask them. But for biological reasons, people don't consciously process a lot of what they hear. It doesn't make it any less important however. Tuning out sound is a necessity because there is SO much of it.
Think about it....from the days of being in your mother's womb to lying on your death bed you will be listening - to everything, -in every direction, - from great distances away. You can't close your ears or hear away from a sound. I don't think any other sense spams the brain quite like the ears. But we make conscious and subconscious use of sound in some critical ways. Less evolved portions of the brain are responsible for passing important information - instantaneously. Otherwise how do you know to get out of the way of a city bus honking it's horn? Or know that your dog is hungry?
As sound designers...we play with this. Dead Space, another game I worked on is an example of scare tactics. We don't want you thinking about sound, and ultimately we're not so invested in people appreciating it independently from the game itself. Our goal is to enrich your experience with sound. What I do love however is that people like yourself enjoy using your hearing in new and different and challenging ways. That is the gamer spirit sound designers and game designers who are exploring this space really appreciate.