Talking About Music in Gaming

A Bangor University student has turned his love for computer games into a postgraduate degree in interactive narratives.

Eoin Murray from North Wales came to Bangor University to study an undergraduate degree in Creative and Professional Writing. During his studies he realised that he could combine his passion for gaming with his academic work. Eoin is now studying a PhD in ‘Utopian Story Worlds in Interactive Narrative’ at the School of Music and Media at Bangor. He said,

“When I was playing as a fan of certain games, I found that I would pick up on things, such as a certain element of narrative, dealing with things like social media usage or depression, or immigration and refugee status and I’d make that connection and think that’s something that could be discussed in a more academic sphere. So taking that original narrative, that creative piece of art and moving it into an academic setting was a really good way to first of all see how these new forms of media are commenting on society in general and making more academic studies on how this interactive media is interacting with us all.”

Eoin is particularly interested in the use of music in gaming. He feels that the use of music in computer games is similar to classical music in that it’s trying to evoke emotion in the listener and tell a story. Eoin says that music in gaming is very powerful, he added

“There is one game by a company called Hello AB called ‘She Wants me Dead’ where the whole game revolves around one song where every obstacle you meet, moves to the rhythm of that song so you have to pay attention to the music or else you’re not likely to succeed. 

Watch the full interview with Eoin in the Talking About Music in Gaming video.

Publication date: 12 September 2019