On the ontological status of musical actions in digital games

This paper aims to discuss the ontological status of digital game players’ musical activities. Although in specific cases digital game play appears to be comparable to other musical forms of actions, for instance in the case of so-called music games, its complexities make for a variety of challenging cases. In fact, digital games engage with musical content in widely different ways, often affording players the possibility to interact with music. Popular examples of that are music games such as the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, in which players act in musical performances that have been defined as schizophonic (Miller, 2009, 2012). In these cases, original compositions and ad-hoc peripherals are provided to mimic emblematic musical actions of rock performers. However, digital games that are arguably not primarily focused on music seem to involve degrees of musical action, too. For example, player’s activities affect the playback of music compositions in the cases of dynamic and adaptive music (Collins, 2008), commonly present in very different digital game genres. Moreover, it has been observed that procedural music “evolves in real time according to specific sets of rules” (Collins, 2009) in reaction to player’s inputs, further complicating the musical status of player’s actions. A similar occurrence has been noted in relation to the notion of diegesis. Imported from film studies, diegesis has been adapted in different ways to digital games. This has brought to analyses of players’ action in relation to their diegetic placement (Collins, 2008; Grimshaw & Schott, 2007; Jørgensen, 2007). For instance, a player can act within the diegetic space following extradiegetic musical cues such as “background music”, short-circuiting the clear cut distinction of diegetic space (Jørgensen, 2007). According to these diverse examples, player’s actions have often meaning in a musical sense. Players, willingly or less so, control parts of musical content, juxtaposing them during gameplay. What are the musical actions of players? What is the ontological status of such interactions? In other words, what is the relationship in between digital game players musical activities and those of instrumentalists, conductors, listeners, or any other kind of musical performer? To answer these questions, this paper will look into resources ranging from philosophy of music, to musicology and ethnomusicology. In fact, the analysis of musical action is already well debated within these fields. Several key references in this regard consider musical actions, such as improvisation, as an under-researched kind of musical activities, with the bulk of attention mostly devoted to analyses of musical works. As such, the dichotomy in between musical work and music-as-action assumes central role. According to Alperson, “Anglophone philosophy of music [...] has seen music as an aesthetic practice centered on the creation of objects - musical works of art” (2018). His concern is clearly shared by Small, who criticise musicology for its tendency to equal “music” with “musical work” (1998). Instead, he argues that music should be understood as a range of activities: "to music is to take part, in any capacity, in a musical performance, whether by performing, by listening, by rehearsing or practicing, by providing material for performance (composing), or by dancing" (Small, 1998). These actions, and more, are to be considered “musicking”. This paper therefore argues that digital game players often act in ways that are musically meaningful, whether the musical action in question is more or less self-standing (such as in music games) or it is connected to other in-game actions. The concept of “playing” - ideally, the quintessential action of the game player - has already been considered as a broad umbrella term, which cannot accurately describe the diverse actions players perform, such as labor-like activities (Calleja, 2011). This paper explores the musical side of the spectrum of actions afforded by digital games, by providing an initial overview of the musical facets of game playing. To do that, the paper inscribes the ontological status of digital game playing within the ongoing research on musicking and musical performancespeer-reviewe