Re-scoring the Game’s Score: Dynamic Music, Personality and Immersion in the Ludonarrative

This study explores immersive presence as well as emotional valence and arousal in the context of dynamic and non-dynamic music scores in the 3 person action-adventure video game genre while also considering relevant personality traits of the player. 60 subjects answered self-report questionnaires of experiential states each time after playing the game 'Batman: Arkham City' in one of three randomized conditions accounting for [1] dynamic music, [2] non-dynamic music/low arousal potential and [3] nondynamic music/high arousal potential, aiming to manipulate emotional arousal and structural-temporal alignment in the resulting emotional congruency of nondiegetic music. Whereas imaginary aspects of immersive presence are systemically affected by the presentation of dynamic music, sensory spatial aspects show higher sensitivity towards the arousal potential of the music score. It is argued that a compatible integration of global and local goals in the ludonarrative contributes to a motivationalemotional reinforcement that can be gained through musical feedback. Shedding light on the implications of music dramaturgy within a semantic ecology paradigm, the perception of varying relational attributes between the player, avatar, and game environment is assumed to moderate a continuous regulatory modulation of emotional response achieved by context effects of dynamic music.