While reading How to do Things with Videogames I became most interested on the chapter about Music. I have been playing the violin and piano since I was very young so music has always been a part of my life. More specifically related to video games, I was an avid Rock Band player all throughout high school. My father and I would play it almost every day and I quickly rose to expert level on drums, guitar, and base. This is the one game that I have really played a lot and become attached to aside from Left for Dead 2.
The book refers to Guitar Hero and Rock Band as music performance games and I think that is a very accurate title. If you are playing the game in the right setting it can almost feel like you are actually playing the song. Creating an atmosphere like this can be very powerful and inspire some players to go out and learn a real instrument.
“…technology neither saves nor condemns us. It influences us, of course, changing how we perceive, conceive of, and interact with our world… it structures and informs our understanding and behavior” (pg 2).
Rock Band has succeeded in changing how many young people interact with our world. Playing this game won’t instantly give you the ability to pick up a guitar and play, but it can give you “a greater understanding as a listener” (pg 34). According to the article Will Guitar hero really make me a better guitar player?, being able to pick up on rhythms is one of the skills that you can get from playing this game. I know that I definitely listen to music a little bit differently and pick up more on the drums in the background of songs. I can pick apart the different instruments that go into creating the final composition.
Players can actually get electronic drum sets and hook them up to Rock Band 3 and play on Pro mode. This is more advanced and includes the symbols and hi-hat, but it more accurately symbolizes you playing the actual drums. It is teaching you to the play the drums in a fun way, with songs that you enjoy. I ended up doing this and now I know that I have a better understanding of music /drums since taking the game a step further to learn music in a more creative way than just staring at a bunch of sheet music. As a kid I never wanted to play piano because I didn’t want to take the time to sit down and learn the boring classical songs and all of the scales. While the technical knowledge behind music is something that everyone should learn, games like Rock Band are a great way to introduce music and teach it to kids in a fun way.
This reminds me of that one article we read where the teachers and video game professionals were trying to find a way to make a game to teach children different school topics. I see Rock Band and Guitar Hero as something similar. A fun way to teach children something new that they might not want to pick up otherwise. While the songs on these games aren’t necessarily for children they definitely work for teens and adults, getting more people interested in music.
In terms of these games changing our behavior, “In a 2008 study conducted in the UK, more than half of young people reported playing music games, a fifth of whom said they took up an instrument after the video games spurred their interest” (pg 33).
While Rock Band is specifically a music game. I also believe that music is one of the most essential parts to any video game. Just like music is very important in the movies, it can set the tone for the entire game. Without music and sound effects games would not be the same.
I think it would be really interesting to play a game without sound. I believe that being able to fully immerse yourself in a game relies heavily on the music and sound. Without it, games would not be as engaging. And if games are not engaging then they are no longer effective.
Questions:
For any reason have you had to play a game with the sound low or off? How did it affect your feelings towards the game?
What games have the best music? (ex. Final Fantasy) Does the music that is playing in a game affect the way you play? For better or worse?
My comments:
http://dtc375.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/blog-7-anthropological-examination-of-blogger/
Language, Texts, and Technology 375 
I love this blog post because I can relate to playing Rock Band and thinking that after I played it I could go and play the guitar but it was not the same at all. It gave me an appreciation for music and the talent it takes to play instruments. Playing video games without the sound is weird and makes me not focus as much on what is going on because I am not as immersed and into the game. I have played video games without the sound when I have been in a room where other people are watching tv and didn’t want the sound of the game to compete with the sound on the TV. It was indeed distracting to me trying to play and made the game experience less enjoyable because I was trying to multi-task.
I think you use really great examples. Games give us a bit of a feeling of what a situation is like but it’s never real life. Even if a game gives you a slight idea of what the situation is like, we can get a bit of the idea which is good. That’s what I really enjoy about games, the fact that we are engaged in a whole different new world and we virtually feel that we are actually doing that task, we can even go beyond and do more in games than what we can in real life. I think this is why people find games amusing, we can do more and go beyond. Besides that, we get a bit of a feeling of what the situation is.