On reflection, RS Gold can see that the question of whether music functions uniquely in games could be seen as a little academic for many casual listeners simply after a catchy tune, and perhaps not even carrying that much weight for some hardcore fans of the genre, either. But for many composers actually working in the industry the question is an important one because establishing the role music plays in different types of games can actually determine the approach taken to its very creation – right from the earliest stages of composition through to application.

WOW Gold composers today face considerable pressure to create music that is both truly supportive of the gaming experience and ‘game world’, but is also listenable outside it as well, which I can tell you from my own experience is no mean feat.

Increasingly, composers are called upon to create interactive music that chops and changes as a game is played and, at times, for me at least, the very concept behind doing this can feel like it is turning my head inside-out, utterly challenging my preconceived notions of what music actually exists for. At the very least, in contrast with composing for linear media forms like film and television in any case, injecting a narrative or musicality into interactive music for some games can at times be very challenging indeed - but it can and does work. Some of the time, at least!

If only the job of composing for games today was as simple as writing catchy tunes!

What is 'real' game music and who gets to decide that?

Putting aside the role of music for a moment and what the industry itself deems appropriate for games, even for many fans of the genre the question of what really constitutes ‘good’ game music is a pretty divisive one.

Some fans clearly like older, ‘FIFA 15 IOS Coins’ forms of game music, created in an era preceding the use of recorded or ‘baked’ music and before any kind of equation existed between games and films (let alone between game music and classical music). ‘Chip music’, heard in many early video games, certainly sounded unique and was actually created and rendered using gaming hardware and the onboard sound chips present in consoles, home computers and arcade machines. Indeed, before the diversifying effects of digital audio were felt in the mid-to-late 1990s allowing for the playback of any recorded music (a change leveling the playing field with film, television and the music industry) this was one of the only ways to make music for games.