“Even Though It’s Completely Random”

Abstract

Typically, the role of non-diegetic music in video games is to set the environment, connect important gameplay events, serve as a transition between moments of action, provide the player with information about the game, and/or create meaning in game events. Games that are successful in these functional goals use music that is bound to player action and game context including setting, time, and location. Music in popular open-world games such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Dark Souls, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild all achieve their functional goals through their connection with player action or game events. Minecraft is an outlier among open-world games in that its music occurs randomly and sporadically, it is inconsistently connected with elements of the setting such as time and location, and the role of silence is less apparent than in other games such as those mentioned above. This article examines the following questions: How does non-diegetic music typically create meaning in game events? What implications does this have in Minecraft? And why do different players experience the music in Minecraft differently?