Does horror game music make you anxious? : exploring horror music’s effect on players: a mixed methods study

Abstract

Anxious and suspenseful musical elements are abundant in horror video games, and a lot has been done in study-ing the ways this kind of music is made, and how it presents itself in-game. In video game studies fear and anxiety inducing elements are seen as key emotional elements in the horror genre. Most studies on music and anxiety focus on music’s ability to reduce anxiety in various situations. Despite this, fear, for example, is a typical emotion featured in the study of musical emotions and music has also been found to be effective in generating and amplifying suspense, as well as anxiety and stress. Video games also bring a noteworthy dimension into play through interaction and immersion. Music has a significant impact on a player's actions and the intensity of the emotional experience and ways to analyze player behavior have been developed in the study of human-computer interaction and games. Mixing those methods with previously established psychological and musicological models and research is a current issue for game and game music research in general. Combining interdisciplinary measures in the study of video games also brings in new possibilities for surrounding fields. This study aims to answer how well anxious musical ele-ments and sound design induce anxiety in a video game context and how experiencing video game anxiety affects player behavior. The study is also a good opportunity to compare how well different types of data succeed in de-tecting and measuring anxious responses. A mixed-methods study was formulated to test the research questions. The participants played a specifically designed video game with music as the sole variable. Participants were assigned one of three musical scenarios: anxious, neutral and control (no music). Physiological reactions (HRV, SCL, SCR) were measured and compared to player in-game movement data. Interviews for subjective appraisals of the experience were also conducted. The anxious scenario saw a significant change in SCL compared to the neutral and control scenarios. A sig-nificant increase in horizontal camera movement was also observed for the anxious scenario compared to other scenarios. On average, the players in the anxious scenario were the slowest to complete the game. The anxious scenario also produced visually distinct in-game movement patterns, possibly worth further study. Player perfor-mance in flaw detection got worse as more anxious musical elements were presented. The players who played the anxious scenario also had the most fun.