Computer Game Sound and Flow Experience: A Comparison of Diegetic and Non-diegetic Navigation Sound Cues in Games

Abstract: In many computer games, players are posed with the task of navigating from one area to another, or finding a specific item or character within an area. Such navigation tasks can be frustrating if the game play is not in some way enhanced. This essay investigates whether or not game designs with diegetic navigation sound cues correspond consistently to a sense of flow in games. A number of flow critera are compared in game designs with and without non-diegetic sound cues. A test game was created where subjects navigate through two different 3D-mazes, where the different navigation sounds were tested. Findings show that diegetic navigation sound cues were most often associated with the attributes of a flow experience.