Playing in 7D: Considerations for a study of a musical instrumentality in the gameplay of video games Pedro Cardoso, Miguel Carvalhais ID+, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
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[email protected] Abstract. The intersection between music and video games has been of increased interest in academic and in commercial grounds, with many video games classified as ‘musical’ having been released over the past years. The purpose of this paper is to explore some fundamental concerns regarding the instrumentality of video games, in the sense that the game player plays the game as a musical or sonic instrument, an act in which the game player becomes a musical performer. We define the relationship between the player and the game system (the musical instrument) to be action- based. We then propose that the seven discerned dimensions we found to govern that relationship to also be a source of instrumentality in video games. Something that not only will raise a deeper understanding of musical video games but also on how the actions of the player are actually embed in the generation and performance of music, which, in some cases, can be transposed to other interactive artefacts. In this paper we aim at setting up the grounds for discussing and further develop our studies of action in video games intersecting it with that of musical performance, an effort that asks for multidisciplinary research in musicology, sound studies and game design. Keywords: Action, Gameplay, Music, Sound, Video games. Introduction Music and games are no exception when it comes to the ubiquity of computational systems in contemporary society.