Time for New Terminology? Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sounds in Computer Games Revisited

Two concepts from narrative theory that often appears in discussions about game sound are diegetic and non-diegetic (Collins, 2007, 2008; Ekman 2005; Grimshaw 2008; Grimshaw & Schott 2007; Jørgensen 2007b, 2008; Stockburger, 2003; Whalen, 2004). The terms are used in film theory to separate elements that can be said to be part of the depicted fictional world from elements that the fictional characters cannot see or hear and which should be considered non-existent in the fictional world (Bordwell, 1986; Bordwell & Thompson, 1997). According to this approach, dialogue between two characters is seen as diegetic, while background score music is seen as non-diegetic. In connection with game sound, a likely adaptation of these concepts would describe the response “More work?” from an orc peon unit in the realtime strategy game Warcraft 3 (Blizzard, 2002) as an example of a diegetic sound since it is spoken by a character within the gameworld. Music that signals approaching enemies in the role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins (Bioware, 2009) would according to this view be an example of non-diegetic sound since the music is not being played from a source within the game universe. However, when analyzing the examples more closely, we see that using these terms in computer games is confusing and at best inaccurate. As a AbstrAct