One of the aims of modern First-Person Shooter (FPS) design is to provide an immersive experience to the player. This paper examines the role of sound in enabling such immersion and argues that even in ‘realism’ FPS games, it may be achieved sonically through a focus on caricature rather than realism. The paper utilizes and develops previous work in which a conceptual framework for the design and analysis of run and gun FPS sound is developed and the notion of the relationship between player and FPS soundscape as an acoustic ecology is put forward. Some problems of sound practice and sound reproduction in the game are highlighted and a conceptual solution is proposed. Read more...

In previous work I have provided a conceptual framework for the design and analysis of sound in First-Person Shooter games and have suggested that the relationship between player and soundscape in such games may be modeled as an acoustic ecology. This paper develops these ideas further and uses them to describe and define a variety of sonic spaces within the First-Person Shooter and their relevance for player immersion in both the acoustic ecology and the wider gameworld. Read more...