Ludomusicological Semiotics: Theory, Implications and Case Studies

Abstract

Video games are a challenging object of study for the musicologist because they are never played the same way twice. As video games are interactive texts, the timing of their musical events is dependent on both conventional cues and player interactions. In essence, the musical experience of gameplay may be considered as a text that the player has a non-trivial role in creating. The player’s unique series of actions evolves into an interpretation of the developer’s preconception of the game experience; similarly, the player’s actions shape the music into an interpretation of the musical experience envisioned by the composer. The analysis of these musical events must consequently be able to account for dynamic processes in both reception and creation. An important step towards appropriate analytical methods is the development of a semiotics of video game music. Incorporating a performative approach to interactivity, this thesis proposes a semiotic framework that seeks to address the complex processes of creation and reception/perception belonging to video game music due to its position within the audiovisual text. This semiotic framework is twofold, focussing separately on the music’s initial composition (a primarily poietic set of processes) and on the player’s role during gameplay (simultaneously performing processes of ergodic reception and interactive poiesis). The framework is developed and illustrated using textual case studies. Additionally, the implications of the framework for cross-media studies are explored, including the in-game and extra-game contexts of video game music, and the distinction between video game music and music in other audiovisual texts.