(05-14-2013, 10:54 PM)Prelauncher Wrote: You mentioned music and this might be a bit off topic, but why is music such an important ingredient for the atmosphere in games? I know that it is important and I don't have anything against it but isn't the atmosphere in a game suposed to make your brain believe that what you experience is "real"? So how come music adds to this feeling of connection to the game when there is no music in real life that tells our brain what mood we should be in? It should break the immersion and not strengthen it?
There are numerous studies that show a direct correlation between our perception of images and music that accompanies those images. The effect is so strong that in surveys that were conducted, I believe over 60% described a picture of someone grinning as sad because there was sad music accompanying it. I think enhanced expressiveness is worth more than immersion. In any case, the music and visuals need to complement each other, otherwise it does indeed break immersion a lot more than silence.