world( Bocking et al. 2015). The interactivity of video games in comparison to other media forms means that the player has a high level of involvement( as opposed to passively watching a film), which can both help and hinder immersion. If the physics of a game breaks( such as a character becoming stuck in a solid game object) then the player’ s suspension of disbelief is broken, as the laws of physics in both the game world and the real world would stop the character from becoming suspended in a solid object.
This applies to sound too: if a non-player character becomes stuck in a loop of speech or song, it breaks immersion as it is either frustrating or humorous to the player- both cause them to momentarily break from the game world. Brown and Cairns( 2004) developed a three-tier theory of immersion, believing that in order to experience total immersion, players must go through two stages. The first is engagement, where they learn to use the game’ s controls and mechanics. The second is engrossment, where the controls become second nature and their emotions begin to be affected by the game. If we apply this theory to glitches, then the player’ s break from immersion takes them back to the first tier, but to have become totally immersed in the first instance they must have created an emotional connection to the character and / or narrative which
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means that a break from immersion is only temporary, and less work has to be done to get them back to a state of immersion. Although in other audiovisual media such as film the character will not experience glitches within the film world, the viewer could still have their immersion broken by mid-scene buffering or a scratched DVD, and this is a complete break from the film’ s world, as all onscreen action is paused and all sound stops. In video-game glitches the rest of the world continues to function normally around the glitch, and the interactivity means that a player could walk away from a non-player character on loop or experiencing broken rag doll physics. What they gain from the interactivity is a sustained high level of engagement and a direct effect on multisensory events.
The more dynamic and reactionary the sounds are, the more likely a player will experience immersion, as their inputs have both visual and audio outputs that work in tandem. For example, in Ubisoft’ s Assassin’ s Creed II, the player pushes the‘ jump’ button and the character reacts by leaping up. As we see him land we also hear the sound of boots hitting the ground, combined with swishing cloth from his clothes and clinking armour. This audio cue creates a much bigger picture of a simple jumping action than we could ever experience visually, because the way in which the sounds are
93 processed adds depth to the scene and a greater sense of a multidimensional world. Sounds can now be generated by using algorithms, for example the footstep sound will factor in the force( landing from a jump vs. stepping forwards), the speed, the ground underneath( grass vs. stone floor), the character’ s build and clothing, to create as authentic a sound as possible. Whilst procedural audio is not yet flawless, it was implemented as early as the Sega Mega Drive, which used the Texas Instrument SN76489 to create swoosh sounds using three square wave oscillators and a white noise generator.
We now have software audio generators such as Wwise’ s SoundSeed, which can give an infinite variety of swoosh sounds without needing lots of memory or even lots of raw audio source files. For example, Ninja Theory’ s Heavenly Sword used SoundSeed combined with a physics algorithm that determined the aerodynamics of object movement to create swoosh sounds that were unique and reactive. This use of sound synthesis is especially helpful for immersion in open-world games as the uniqueness of the environmental and reactionary sounds more closely mirrors the real world. This makes it easier for the player to get to a state of suspension of disbelief as their game actions have more tangible results.