Overview

Authenticity in the Music of Video Games explores the many facets of gamers’ relationship to the concept of authenticity. From historical games to hyperrealism to retro gaming, authenticity proves to be a sticky, ever-shifting term. What do gamers believe authenticity to be? How are their expectations structured and manipulated by the soundtrack? Are they conscious of music’s impact on their gameplay? And how do their actions as gamers impact the overall interaction of sound with game world and narrative? Stephanie Lind explores three facets of authenticity—accuracy, expectation, and emotion—through the lens of music analysis. Ranging from harmonic analysis, mappings of musical form, to more multimedia approaches to the overall soundtrack and game world, the book takes a theoretical approach as well as links analysis to the practical experience of gamers. Lind shows how specific processes of musical organization help to structure player experience with a focus on games as true multimedia experiences and that all three components of authenticity are inseparable.

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9781793627124

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Reviews

This book is an exciting new addition to the fast-growing field of video game music studies. Lind's exploration of the complex concept of authenticity (for some, historical accuracy, for others, general believability) is carefully connected to ideas of expectation, prior knowledge, and cognitive response. Lind's approach is uniquely based in music theory, particularly in player understandings of musical and sonic structure. A thought-provoking investigation into how games and their music evoke the past, create thematic associations, and (literally) play with our emotions, her book will be a welcome read for musicologists, theorists, and game aficionados of all stripes.--Karen Cook, University of Hartford

As one of the first books entirely devoted to examining video game music through a music theory lens, Lind's Authenticity in the Music of Video Games is a fruitful contribution to multiple fields. Building on a solid and thorough foundation of previous scholarship on video games and music, Lind constructs a pathway into the complex subject of authenticity in video game music and handily guides us through this subject's challenges and rewards, with accessible prose and lots of new analytical insights along the way.--Elizabeth Medina-Gray, Ithaca College This book is an exciting new addition to the fast-growing field of video game music studies. Lind's exploration of the complex concept of authenticity (for some, historical accuracy, for others, general believability) is carefully connected to ideas of expectation, prior knowledge, and cognitive response. Lind's approach is uniquely based in music theory, particularly in player understandings of musical and sonic structure. A thought-provoking investigation into how games and their music evoke the past, create thematic associations, and (literally) play with our emotions, her book will be a welcome read for musicologists, theorists, and game aficionados of all stripes.--Karen Cook, University of Hartford Finally a monograph about video game music and sound from the perspective of music theory! Stephanie Lind's innovative approach to studying video game music is refreshing and cuts to the heart of how music shapes players' expectations. That she takes those expectations and situates them within the overarching ludic concept of authenticity is nothing short of brilliant. And she accomplishes all of this in lucid prose that is accessible both for the gaming public and scholar alike.--James Deaville, coeditor of Oxford Handbook of Music and Advertising

"""As one of the first books entirely devoted to examining video game music through a music theory lens, Lind's Authenticity in the Music of Video Games is a fruitful contribution to multiple fields. Building on a solid and thorough foundation of previous scholarship on video games and music, Lind constructs a pathway into the complex subject of authenticity in video game music and handily guides us through this subject's challenges and rewards, with accessible prose and lots of new analytical insights along the way."" ""Finally a monograph about video game music and sound from the perspective of music theory! Stephanie Lind's innovative approach to studying video game music is refreshing and cuts to the heart of how music shapes players' expectations. That she takes those expectations and situates them within the overarching ludic concept of authenticity is nothing short of brilliant. And she accomplishes all of this in lucid prose that is accessible both for the gaming public and scholar alike."" ""This book is an exciting new addition to the fast-growing field of video game music studies. Lind's exploration of the complex concept of authenticity (for some, historical accuracy, for others, general believability) is carefully connected to ideas of expectation, prior knowledge, and cognitive response. Lind's approach is uniquely based in music theory, particularly in player understandings of musical and sonic structure. A thought-provoking investigation into how games and their music evoke the past, create thematic associations, and (literally) play with our emotions, her book will be a welcome read for musicologists, theorists, and game aficionados of all stripes."""

Author Information

Stephanie Lind is associate professor at the Dan School of Drama and Music, Queen’s University, where she teaches courses in music theory and musicology.

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