*[Literature review 1]

Audio and Gameplay: An Analysis of PvP Battlegrounds in World of Warcraft

by Kristine Jørgensen

Summary:

This is a research paper on game audio and how it affects the game play. The paper stated game audio are not merely for environment mood but it also act as a support for the gameplay.

Game audio can provide information such as feedback or indications to the players.

This paper covered the roles of game audio that affects the PVP in WoW:

1. User generated audio: The player may be the generator of the sound. This provides the information and response to the user on the avatar of the user.

2. Enemy/ allies generated audio: Enemy and allies generated sound should be distinct, as it may confuse the users.

3. System generated audio: This sound provides notifications and proactive messages.

Each of the section explains the difference of information players get from the game audio.

The author is not bias in her written paper. She did not just support her argument on the importance of game audio. She also stated that game visual too plays a big part in a game. This research paper is useful as the proposed essay is heavily based on gameplay and audio interaction.

This paper is reliable as it is written by an author of Gameworld Interfaces (MIT Press 2013) and A Comprehensive Study of Sound in Computer Games (Mellen Press 2009).

Reflection:

This research paper is helpful as the proposed essay is about audio visual interaction on games. By using semiotics to identify the sound and the meaning of the sound can help me to further understand how game audio are used in games. Besides that, the research paper gives me an understanding of the audio interaction and how it supports the gameplay in different perspective.

This research paper helps me to identify how to create an immersive game with audio and visuals.

Bibliography

1. Gamestudies.org, (2008). Game Studies - Audio and Gameplay: An Analysis of PvP Battlegrounds in World of Warcraft. [online] Available at: http://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/jorgensen [Accessed 7 Dec. 2014].

*Ethic concern

Ethic is to differentiate between the right and wrong based on the norms. There should be some consideration on ethics during research, whether the research is conducted in the right or a wrong way.

According to NIH, there are some ethic principals where researcher need to consider during their research which are: Honesty, Objectivity, Integrity, Carefulness, Openness, Respect for Intellectual Property, Confidentiality, Responsible Publication, Responsible Mentoring, Respect for Colleagues, Social Responsibility, Non-Discrimination, Competence, Legality, Animal Care and Human Subject Protection (NIH, 2011). 

The research paper proposed is about how audio & visual interface affects the game. Research based on the proposed idea will be a secondary resource. Therefore, the author will need to consider the ethics during his research.

Plagiarism

One of the main concern of ethical issues. Copying directly from the research source is prohibited.

Credibility

Be sure to credit the source used as other researchers spent their time and money to prepare the source.

Reliability

Information of the research must be accurate as there are too many resources on the internet. Therefore, acknowledged sources such as books and journals are recommended to be used as research materials.

The author research should focus on ludology papers and certified game websites.

Bibliography

1. Ethicsguidebook.ac.uk, (2014). Home | Welcome. [online] Available at: http://www.ethicsguidebook.ac.uk/ [Accessed 7 Dec. 2014].
2. http://www.apa.org, (2014). Five principles for research ethics. [online] Available at: http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan03/principles.aspx [Accessed 7 Dec. 2014].
3. Niehs.nih.gov, (2014). What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important?. [online] Available at: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/ [Accessed 7 Dec. 2014].

*Try playing it without sound

Here's a link to Patapon, a rhythm-based game. Try playing it with and without sound and will realize the difference. Even though you know how the beats work, but playing without sound will be difficult.

http://www.agame.com/game/patapon-2

Even though I've played this game on the console, however I've tried playing the game without sound and still I am not able to hit the beats all the time. This shows the game audio actually plays a very important role in the gameplay. It can actually help user to adapt the game with audio indications.

*Research Topic Refinement

Feedback has been given by my lecturer after the submission of the essay proposal. From the feedback, lecturer pointed out quite a number of flaws from my proposal. The idea I've proposed is too general and the scope is too big for me to do a specific/ narrow research. The essay proposal is about how user interface affects user experience including different theories such as semiotics, transmission model, modern art movements and etc. 

I've included too many different theories which caused confusion and up to now I am still lost in terms of what research topic I should be doing.

After the tutorial session, my lecturer advised me to research in a more specific content which are music, game & user interface and user experience. My lecturer also aided my by providing some helpful links which are related to the topic i'm researching at.

Currently, my idea of the my research topic would be how does the role of audio & visual affects the game experience.

Besides that, during the tutorial session we also had a small talk on our upcoming exhibition. We discussed about fund raising and sponsorship. He advised me to get lecturers in charge that have the details of previous batch on how they get their sponsors or using their list of sponsors to help us. 

*Something about sound..

Since my final year project is developing a mobile game, besides the visual my game is closely related to audio - rhythm. Therefore, I have done some research which may be beneficial to my essay as well as my final year project.

Here's something about sound:

Music/ sound effects has the ability to enhance to game play and also experience. There are researches done by other professionals which shows that audio can either enhance or interrupt the game play.

From http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-shapes-film/201402/video-games-do-you-play-better-the-sound-or the author have few researches from different professionals that discuss about audio affecting game play:

Taffala (2007)

He stated the players of DOOM, the first person shooting game scores better played with sound on. With the sound effects of the environment/ gunshots/ movements tends to help the player to play better in the game. 

It is probably because with the sound effects players can know the enemies in their surrounding without having the vision of the enemies.

Meanwhile..

Yamada et al. (2001)

From his research, he stated players tend to play better at racing game with the music off. With the music on it might have interrupt the players by making them more nervous/ panic and forced them to made more mistakes.

It is interesting to see that audio can have a good and bad impact to a game experience. All the while, I've thought that sound are merely just feedback for the game that makes the game experience better.