Influencing the Behavioral Responses of Players in an Interactive Narrative Game through Music and Arousal Congruency

Music has been shown to influence the behavioral responses of individuals in real- world scenarios, but little research exists on the effects that music has on the in-game behaviors of video game players. A song can be rated in terms of the level of arousal, or emotional intensity, it incites, and this study explores how music of various arousal ratings can be used to influence players’ choices in an interactive narrative role-playing game. We hypothesized that high-arousal music would influence players to exhibit avoidance behaviors in-game, and that low-arousal music would influence players to exhibit social behaviors. Experimentation showed that players were statistically significantly more likely to make avoidance behavior choices when high-arousal music was played. These findings are the first step into understanding how music can be used by game developers to influence player behaviors in interactive narrative games.