Music on or off?

[Yoshi155]

When you play video games, do you play with the music on or off? I play with the music on almost all the time. I really can’t stand playing a game with the volume down, it just feels so unnatural. Even when I really should have the volume down all the way I leave it up barely so if you listen closely you could hear it.

 

[Corrie]

Music on all the time. I want to hear the sounds, music, and voice acting in video games. That's the entire experience for me!

 

[Croconaw]

I use volume on all of the games I play. Depending on the game, I’ll have it set very low and have my AirPods in, listening to music. My game will still be loud enough so I can hear it, but I’ll also be more focused on my own music. The games that allow me to do this are Mario Party and Mario Kart, for example. I can’t play games in complete silence.

 

[Belle T]

It depends on the game and what I'm doing. For the first run through of a game I like to leave the music on, but I always enjoy going through a game again without music to examine the sound effects and ambient noises that you sometimes don't hear over the music. There's just something interesting about hearing the familiar sounds and voice overs without the aid of music to help contextualize them.

I also sometimes turn off the music if I want to multitask. And there are select games where I think removing the music actually increases the atmosphere. Some stealth and horror games come to mind.

 

[.: Meri :.]

Music on almost all the time for me! For mood and story and everything too of course, but I also just really like a lot of video game background music. The only times I turn off the music/sound is sometimes if I'm doing some very repetitive or uninvolved aspect of gameplay (like level grinding or something) and I want to watch something or talk to people while I'm playing, and sometimes even then I'll keep the volume very low instead of turning it off completely.

 

[QueenCobra]

I listen to my own music, or a YouTube video or podcast lol. However, I make exceptions with the RPG Mario and Luigi games.

 

[Seastar]

I play with the music on. I feel like it ruins the experience if I don't. The only exception was a couple of mornings where I wanted to quickly get done with my dailies in Animal Crossing New Leaf and didn't want to turn off what I was already listening to.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

On. It feels weird not too. I think the only time I have my sound completely off is if my environment is too noisy anyway. And I'm only on to check in on certian games. I like my environment quiet when gaming.

As for games that have sound options, I do keep the default music on and turn sound effects down a little. Ambient sounds are awesome and I leave those the same or turn up a bit. But, I rarely find a game that has it separate from sound effects or music.

 

[Xara]

it depends on the game and what i’m doing in it. if i’m doing something that requires the sound to be on or if i’ve just gotten the game and am hearing the soundtrack, sounds, characters etc for the first time, i’ll have the volume on. otherwise i prefer to just listen to my own music or watch something while i play.

 

[DarthGohan1]

For any game with a half decent soundtrack, music has to be on

 

[LadyDestani]

Always with the music on. I like to immerse myself in my games and the music/sound is definitely a part of that. I will turn the volume down if necessary, like to avoid disturbing others, but never completely off.

 

[-Blue-]

Even games with odd choices like waterfalls taking precedence over everything like in NH, I still have music on.

 

[FaeLeaf]

Always the in-game music.

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

I always have the music on, the only time I have ever had the music muted was when I was a child and I was playing OoT and I was at the Shadow Temple boss and the music stressed me out and distracted me so I muted it so I could concentrate. I love video game music for the most part.

 

[DJ-Mika]

Always on! Music, voice acting, SFX, etc. are there to build atmosphere and immerse you further into the world of the game; turning it off just robs you of all of that, not to mention putting all the hard work that went into making it to waste :c

I think the only time I’ve substituted a game’s music for my own was while playing New Horizons doing menial daily stuff, villager hunting, or scanning in villagers for other people

 

[Kitsuragi]

i hardly, hardly ever play games without the music on. the only exception is MMOs- whenever i play GW2, i'll turn off the in-game music and play something else on spotify/youtube. i have like 2000+ hours in that game and the music gets draining when you're grinding one map for hours lmao

 

[Flicky]

Music on, almost always. I think the only game I play without the music on is Pokemon Sword - for whatever reason, I really didn't care for the soundtrack at all. Even then, that was post-game.

If ACNH allowed you to switch the music off, I'd have switched it off there as well, considering the songs are a bit repetitive and somewhat off-putting when you're going for a certain theme.

 

[oak]

It's strange cause I never play with the music anymore. I barely even know what ACNH music is like. A lot of games make repetitive noises so it gets old fast. The last couple games I bought for the switch I never turned the sound on.

 

[Halloqueen]

For a first playthrough of something, I'll tend to play with the audio on so I can hear the music, hear dialogue if there is any, etc. I figure I might as well get the most out of the initial experience. This is subject to change if it gets too repetitive or if there's a bad voice acting performance or whatnot.

Most of the time when I'm playing games, though, I play with the music off and will be listening to something else like a YouTube video, podcast, Twitch stream, music, or whatever else. I don't buy that many new games (whether new or retro) per year where I'm having that initial playthrough experience, so since I've already heard and am familiar with the game's audio, I'd rather listen to something else. It keeps things fresh.

I might turn audio back on for something I've already played if it's a game I'm particularly fond of though.

 

[beachcrossin']

music music music!!