Voice, Videogames, and the Technologies of Immersion

Abstract

This chapter examines the technologies of voice within videogames and how the voice is used as an extension not only of the principles underlying cinematic sound design but also of gameplay and game design. Drawing on an interview with Emily Ridgway, the Audio Lead of the game BioShock, it demonstrates how videogames rejuvenate the principles of sound design for the screen arts by transcending the limitations placed upon them by the technical apparatus of cinema. The chapter argues that the digital technologies and audiovisual designs of videogames create an “emotion-machine” which immerses and engages the human perceptual and emotion systems, thus intensifying the player’s sense of involvement and implication in the scenes under negotiation. It also looks at BioShock as an example of the interplay between sound design, vocalization, game mechanics, and narrative. The chapter concludes by suggesting that videogame sound designers employ voices to insinuate and integrate emotions familiar from the world which prevails not far from the game’s world.