Music is an important component to gameplay that is often goes unnoticed but is undeniably important to the gamer’s overall experience. A popular game may go unplayed for years, but if it can be remembered instantly as demonstrated in class on Tuesday with the Super Mario sounds.
What I found most interesting is how a particular sound can cause a certain emotion. There was a lot of discussion in class about why a sound brings about a certain feeling or emotion in someone. Is it because the sound naturally elicits the emotion or have we been classically conditioned to feel certain ways with the introduction of a particular sound? Both may be correct.
But the sounds we hear in Mario for instance, such as the coin collection, growing from eating the mushroom, and falling, we only only associate those sounds with those actions because we have been trained to do so, otherwise they hold no meaning. I’m sure the makers of Super Mario picked those sounds to try to best capture the action that was being performed. But how did the makers decide those sounds would fit best? It’s the nature vs. nurture / natural or conditioned question all over again.