Music Whilst Gaming

[Farmer Reil]

Does anyone else find that the music you listen to during gameplay tends to make a massive difference to your performance?

Obviously it's common knowledge that music can evoke different emotions, and moods. But I never knew how much of a difference it had, subconciously, on my performance in a game until last weekend (and again tonight).

Last weekend I was at a friends LAN/birthday party, and we were playing CS:Source (we ran out of options because none of you bastards responded in the reccomendation thread ). After five minutes of one particular round, I had a five-point lead (which is pretty damn unusual, especially considering who was on the Terrorist team) over everyone else on either team. By the end of the ten-minute round, I ended up fourth overall, and third on my team. So what event caused such a large turnaround, you ask?

Sons of the Riddermark by Battlelore finished, and my randomised playlist selected Don't Leave Me Now by Pink Floyd. :|

Pretty much the same thing happened tonight in a driving game. I was leading the race by a mile, and a Floyd song came on and I finished fourth.

In conclusion: Floyd = bad for gaming. Er, I mean, slow/quiet songs make you worse in reaction-based games. Fact.

So, having established this, what songs do you guys listen to while gaming? Or do you just stick to the game's soundtrack, if there is one?

Edited February 22, 2007 by Farmer Reil

[The Sultan of Swank]

I've got a list of songs I play when I'm gaming. It's Maiden heavy. Lost of epic sounding songs. I do it for sports also before games.

[Bushmeister]

Eh, it depends. Some games, like Rainbow Six's, I don't play any music at all because listening for gunshots and footsteps makes all the difference in the world. However, if playing something like Unreal Tournament or World of Warcraft, I'll have music blasting in the background to help set a proper mood. For UT it's mostly a lot of fast-paced industrial and some industrial metal (The Berzerker is excellent) and for WoW a lot of epic metal/black metal.

Can't say I'd have noticed that the music has any particular effect on my level of performance, though I will quickly switch tracks if I find something getting on my nerves whilst gaming.

[Cadet Ember McLain]

I only have one thing to add... When playing Gunz, DragonForce is your friend. (b^_^)b

[Hutch2004]

Dead Rising, with Queen on in the background. Twatting zombies with a large stick. Doesn't get any better than that.

[Cactus Drags]

That's rather reminiscent of a scene from Saun of the Dead.

I tend to stick to the original soundtrack, until it gets old at least. Then it's just random contemporary metal ahoy. Lots of indie/poppy stuff for the likes of football and basketball, more rocky/metally for American football and ice hockey. Stuff like Rainbow Six I don't play music for, it kills the atmosphere.

I've never consciously noticed an effect on my gaming performance, however.

Edited February 22, 2007 by Dragsy 7-0

[VerbalPuke]

Recently I've been taking advantage of the fact that I can play music while playing a game on XBox 360. Nothing rocks more than playing D.R.I.'s Manifest Destiny while slaughtering daedra in an Oblivion Gate. The fast pace of the thrash sound really gets you hyped and makes the game feel like a movie directed by me.

[Katsuya]

The Scissor Sisters helped me own Smackdown vs. Raw '07 >_>

[Scruffy The Janitor]

It's all about the Hammerfall or the Dragonforce. That music always gets me in a mood to kick ass.

Or Daylight Dies if I'm in a shitty mood when I play. It feeds my mood, well still being loud and quick enough to get the adrenaline going.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Well for example all the Metal Gear Solid games I never have any other music on as the atmosphere created by the ever changing classical soundtrack is excellent.

With GTA: Vice City Stories I've found myself constantly listening to the New Wave channel and still loving the start of and introduction of Blue Monday by New Order.

With Cycling Manager I turn off all the music and spend the time listening to the sound of the helicopter overhead and the pedaling. It's pretty mystical when you send your cyclist off in a solo breakaway and suddenly the volume of noice just drops dramatically as he's out on his own.

To be fair it seems I rarely listen to music outside of the actual game when I'm playing. I prefer to get totally involved in the game at hand.

[Skummy]

The Amelie soundtrack and Mario Kart Double Dash are intrinsically linked in my mind.

[stokeriño]

Ever had other music on when playing Guitar Hero?

Yeah, that fucks you up good and proper.

[Robsturgh]

It all depends what I'm playing, but usually Ill just have a selection of songs that are my flavors of the week on.

One thing that is always excellent is when you're just about to rush into a massive fight or boss battle and something like Otherworld comes on, thats probably as big of an adrenaline rush as you can get from sitting/laying down.

[LexChaney]

I usaly play a lot of music even when on EWR, 30 seconds to mars i usaly play that when i'm on Resident Evil "Attack" is by far the best, Enter Shikari when i'm on The Punisher really all different type's of music chill me out if i'm having some flacj with the game.

[King Ellis]

I suppose the most prominent one of my own music rather than the in game soundtrack was when I used to play FM whilst doing a alphabetical run through on my iTunes library. Going from a to z, two song maximum for each artist. It actually got me listening to stuff I don't normally listen to.

Recently I ripped a lot of stuff to my 360 to play along whilst I was slaughtering zombies but i've never actually had it run through. Just brief moments. Today though I did have some Bodies by Drowning Pool playing whilst I went nuts on Crackdown.

[sirdavinator]

I play music for whatever game I play. It's usually just random artists I feel like listening to at the moment - currently it's Akercocke. Since I'm usually playing CM 2007, it doesn't affect my performance much.

Edited February 22, 2007 by sirdavinator

[Rashid]

I need music for EWR, cause it's silent, just button clicking.

Whenever I play a Smackdown game past HCTP, I need music on. To drown out the awful soundtrack and terrible commentary.

[MDK]

Most action shooty games I like to listen to Infected Mushroom or any kind of dance/trance beat that is fast and PUMPY. It really gets me going. Oh baby.

[therockbox]

I usually listen to music with online games like CS: S, DoD and CoD just so I don't have to listen to all the whiny 12 year olds that think making stupid noises down their mic is amusing.

[Big Tuna]

I generally only listen to music when I'm playing Sports games. I find I miss things when I play Action games with other music on.

When I listen to music during sports games I usually go with heavier songs because I usually play more aggressive for some reason.