The game has been a practice loaded with charm and mystery since ancient times. Music, in a certain sense, as well. In recent times, interest in the intersection between these two groups of human activities has notably intensified, with the proliferation of research around each topic separately, their similarities, and their differences. With the introduction of new theories, reflections, and applications to previously less-studied fields, funds and funding related to these aspects have seen an increase, and consequently, general attention has also risen significantly. The enthusiasm around these experiments has infected the academic world, and given the playful and entertaining nature that characterized these reflections, a growing interest in paradigms that use games to reach many artistic environments has become increasingly common, giving rise to new artistic genres such as Art Games (not be confused with Game Art, related to the design of actual videogames) and Video Game Art, form of Interactive New Media Art, when not even new field of studies - like the modern Game Design Cognition.
Moreover, technological development has allowed for an increasingly widespread dissemination of entertainment platforms of various kinds, leading to a rise in the number of users. Stream, a well-known online platform, saw the highest number of video games created since its inception in 2023, with over 14,000; passionate are the battles of groups that would like esports to be on par with physical sports. The ever-evolving modes of consumption of these games, stemming once again from the integration of new technologies into the available tools of gamers, such as VR and numerous motion sensors, position sensors, and so on, continue to reinvent both new and old gaming modes, new paradigms of consumption, and new user perception modes. This renewal of the gaming experience seems never to shy away from any innovation.
As consumable as the roots of this proliferation may be (mostly linked to digital experiences, and video games, among other things), there is an undeniable excitement surrounding what is new and not so new in games in human history. Music, on the other hand, in a certain sense, engaged in the opposite direction—trying to renew itself without ever repeating, or without relying on the novelties of the moment as the sole collector of research and innovation. It has long questioned elements of its structure and form that have much in common with the gaming experience and perhaps has recently realized the similarities between them.
Certainly, the appearance and general consideration of "play" as a "less serious" activity, unworthy of attention in an academic environment—or perhaps even just in an environment like the musical one, where the struggle for the perception of "respectable" or "worthy of intellectual interest" activities has been more or less active throughout human history—have not been helpful. Perhaps thanks to more recent artistic currents that, since the beginning of the 20th century, have dedicated themselves to what seems to be forgotten or is so small and insignificant as not to deserve attention from humanity. The game has also been recovered and included in the toolkit of the academic researcher. The tendency, in a sense, actually new, to reconsider aspects previously relegated to the sphere of banality in many artistic fields, and to look at everyday tools or even just earlier stages of life with new eyes, in addition to the fear of the repetition of certain post-structuralist mechanics, which resulted in the elitism of the musical artistic panorama related to a certain aesthetic, and consequently, the distancing to various degrees of the common and less experienced audience, have certainly contributed to creating the imaginary and aesthetic scenario ideal for a revival of a vital element so evident and transversal to every experience. The search for universality has thus effectively favored the return of play to the sphere of materials useful for artistic production.
Within this framework, it is fundamental to stress that my primary interest is to focus into the dynamics shared between the performer and composer. I consciously choose to not extensively delve into the audience aspect, recognizing the commonly underestimated breadth of this group. This decision is rooted in acknowledging the myriad reasons that can influence an individual's preferences and experiences within an audience setting, encompassing factors such as sensory perception, personal backgrounds, past experiences, and even transitory emotional states.
The decision is grounded in prior researches, such as the work of Marko Ciciliani in Ludified. Despite his declared consideration of the audience within the framework of his investigation, conducted through detailed surveys and targeted investigations to gather material on audience perception, Ciciliani's “Polar Diagram for the Analysis of Gamified Audiovisual Works” divides the analytical parameters’ space into only two fields, related to the perspective of the performer and the composer. In his detailed explanation of the diagram, Ciciliani emphasizes that the quality of the appearance of the interface to the audience is a parameter within the composer's considerations as well as the liveness and the audience perception of it, to which I indeed agree. Due to my mainly analytical focus, It is this rationale that I have chosen to follow.
This choice doesn't deny the importance of the audience; quite the opposite, it accentuates that the collective nature of the audience is too extensive for the specific analytical scope I am embarking upon. Consequently, the importance attributed to the role and experience of the audience becomes a subject of debatable relevance within the context of this study. It is an acknowledgment that while the audience undoubtedly plays a crucial role, the specificity of the examination I am conducting necessitates a focused lens on the dynamics inherent to the performer-composer branch of the three-armed composition of a common musical case study situation.
This choice doesn't deny the importance of the audience; quite the opposite, it accentuates that the collective nature of the audience is too extensive for the specific analytical scope I chose. Consequently, the importance attributed to the role and experience of the audience becomes a less applicable subject within the context of this study. It's an acknowledgment that while the audience undoubtedly plays a crucial role, the specificity of the examination I am conducting necessitates a focus on the dynamics inherent to the performer-composer branch of the three-armed composition of a common musical case study situation.