Do Players Perceive Emotional Content in Ambiances in Games?

Sammanfattning: Ambience or ambient sound is normally defined as the background sounds that are used to create a sense of atmosphere. This paper is about players, and if they perceive emotional content in ambiences in games. The study involved the creation of two game levels, a dense forest and a meadow, with two different sound designs each, one conveying joy and the other melancholy. The aim of the experiment was to determine whether the participants could detect the intended emotional content. The results indicated that the peaceful emotion was easier to detect than the melancholy one. The majority of participants rated the levels similarly. While it may be challenging to create an intended emotional response in players, the study concludes that ambiences can indeed be perceived as having emotional content.