Fantasias sonoras e experiências imersivas: um estudo de caso sobre bandas sonoras de videojogos (1980-2010) = Sound fantasies and immersive experiences: a case study of video game soundtracks (1980-2010)

Abstract

One of the most prolix sources of approach to the practices of enjoyment by and on digital screens, comes from the consumption of video games. Therefore, our approach comes from the analysis of the ways in which the experience of enjoying video games can be infl uenced, particularly considering the sounds (soundtracks) that accompany and/or produce these immersive virtual scenarios, praising them as a signifi cant way of conducting the virtual/digital behavior of social actors in a parallel reality. In this sense, we base ourselves on the concepts of identity, fruition, nostalgia, retromania, etc. The music that accompanies video games - combined with the need to preserve them as cultural heritage - reveals the role that video games have in reinforcing individual and collective identities in times of late modernity, as well as having a decisive role in the emergence of collective memories. Viewing video games as cultural heritage refl ects a nostalgic feeling that accompanies not only consumers, but also the evolution of the gaming industry. In this article, we propose a relational approach to virtual immersive experiences, through music, in four iconic video games, one from each decade (between 1980 and 2010).