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Comment by _carbyau_ | Hacker News Reader

Every game I first start requires a trip to turn off music, in-game VoIP, HDR, bloom, lensflare, screenshake if possible.

It's like a keyword bingo for usually poor implementations. I grant that maybe the implementation is good for any specific game you care to mention - but history has shaped my habits.

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You automatically turn off music?

The presence of in-game music is a poor implementation indicator?

I am a big proponent of "there's no wrong way to enjoy a game" but wow. In nearly 50 years of gaming that's a new one for me. Congratulations. But do whatever works for you... and I mean that sincerely, not sarcastically or dismissively.

The mere presence of any of these things is not an indicator of overall game implementation clearly. I mean, trying to avoid the mere presence of these options would severely limit game choice.

But any one of these aspects can individually be crap and often are.

If I have a need for ingame VoIP I'll turn it back on. But I don't want to default to hearing randoms on the internet espousing bullshit using mic-always-on.

If it turns out the game is good with music, I'll turn it on. Rocket League works.

If one of my friends is raving about the graphics, I'll turn HDR or bloom on - though I haven't ever agreed with them enough to leave it that way.

So by default, yes I turn those things down or off before I even start playing.

Further detail for music. Often poorly implemented: repetitive, sounds similar to game sound effects, changes and gets louder when there's a rush horde. All distracting and ruining immersion.

I quit playing Day of Defeat because of the end of round music that I couldn't do anything about. I either couldn't hear footsteps next to me (part of the gameplay) or I was deafened with the end of round blaring. I don't have time to put up with poor UX when there are plenty of other games to play.

As I get older and find it harder to discern different sounds it is just easier to focus on what I want - the game and gameplay. It's the same thing as drivers turning down the stereo when they want to pay attention to finding a park or driveway - it's a distraction to what I'm here for.

I like music, and like to listen to it, either as a dedicated thing to do or while doing house chores or cruising long distances in the car. But generally not while gaming.

Thankfully so far, these are still options I can set to taste. I guess when the "the way it's meant to be played" crowd takes over I'll do something else with my time.

I can’t believe that in 50 years, you’ve been unable to imagine people disabling music. I turn it off in games like Minecraft because it serves no purpose, and my husband routinely disables it in Factorio. Then you’ve got people with hearing difficulties I would rather hear the sound effects as they help gameplay.

Truly, in 50 years, none of this has occurred to you or you’ve never witnessed it in friends or family? That seems hyperbolic

That's not what JohnBooty was responding to, though. Turning off game music because it's not doing much for you or because you have other things you'd rather listen to is not at all unusual. Listing game music alongside poorly implemented features that get turned off by default before you even start playing the game is, yes!

I have a long rant responding to JohnBooty but ... what is it that game music is meant to do for me most of the time?

I understand that it helps some people get "into the flow" or something. But I don't have an issue with that. I occupy my mind trying to grasp the mechanics and be good at using them to play. If the gameplay doesn't have enough then papering over it with music doesn't do it for me.

And I'm not always looking for "intense" stuff. I like to chill out too. But I've played quite a few games over the years and so the gameplay has to have something to keep me entertained.

I enjoy music with Rocket League because I don't play competitive and so some music playing while I'm hanging out with others on my couch shooting-the-shit as it were is fine. It's more of a "social setting music" than "game music".

After all these years, I don't miss it at all.

I don't think it's unusual at all, depending on what genre of games they play. For example, they may be thinking of the likes of many PC strategy games where the music seems to just come in seemingly at random and distract, or completely ruin the ambience that the game world is trying to set.

    That seems hyperbolic

I think maybe you skimmed instead of reading. I'm referring to the parent poster's practice of turning music off ASAP on first boot as standard operating practice, because they find it to be part of what they consider "keyword bingo for usually poor implementations" Here's what they said:

    Every game I first start requires a trip to turn off music, 
    in-game VoIP, HDR, bloom, lensflare, screenshake if possible.
    It's like a keyword bingo for usually poor implementations

But as you suspected: yes! I can imagine turning off game music, in general. Thank you for believing in me!

I have turned the music off in many games.

I also often have to turn of music because for some weird reason a lot of games have stopped providing a slider for music volume and replaced it with a checkbox. Game music is often too loud for my taste, I like it to remain in the background of the mix.

Don’t forget motion blur!

Motion blur is my only instant disable. I paid a lot of money and self-justification for this expensive GPU, and you want to make things look a blurry mess?

Motion blur can look fantastic / realistic. But almost never does. Especially when it's temporal.

I had forgotten it for my comment, but not when I see it in the graphics options! Yes, that is an absolute off switch every time.

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