By Shelly Schiff
Music is one of humankind’s most impressive inventions. Harmonies, rhythms, and melodies speak of immaterial things, conveying emotions as few other things can. Listening to a carefully crafted piece of music is not the same as taking in random sounds. It is a far more immersive experience that activates our brain in many different ways, even when done passively.
According to neuroscientist Kiminobu Sugaya, music impacts our mind by helping it produce more neurons. It may also potentially lead to increased spatial-temporal learning and better motor and cognitive skills. Per his research at the University of Central Florida, a human’s grey matter reacts favorably to whatever music that person most enjoys. Thus, the myth that listening to Mozart and Beethoven is more beneficial for boosting cognitive ability than Jimi Hendrix goes out the window.
One debate that has persevered in gaming circles for close to three decades is – how music affects gameplay. An older survey on this topic showed that 45% of multiplayer gamers pretty much constantly listen to tunes when commanding digital avatars. 22% claimed they do so with some degree of regularity. The types of music those surveyed said they liked to savor when playing offline and online varied dramatically, with rock being the most common choice for 39% of the participants of this poll. Regardless of which side of the fence a gamer may be on, there is no doubt that music creates excitement and can help keep a player on edge while also focused on the task at hand by tuning out distractions. Below, we go into listing three playlists for different types of gaming that may appeal to gamers of different sensibilities, depending on the genre they most fancy playing.
The Best Video Game Soundtracks – Pandora Journey
Pandora Journey is a YouTube channel with close to 850,000 subscribers. It has been active since October 2011, dedicated to uploading megamixes of instrumental, epic, and hybrid music. At least, that is how this creator markets his content. Aspiring composers can submit their work to get featured in a video in the Pandora Journey library. The most popular mixes featured there utilize the word epic in their title and last around two hours.
The one most suitable for gaming is a one-hour compilation of what the author believes to be the best video game soundtracks of all time. Whether this is a definite list is up in the air, as with all best-of collections. An issue many may have with this one is that it focuses on titles released in the past two decades. The compilation contains instrumental music from games like World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, Mass Effect 2, Dark Souls III, Overwatch, Guild Wars 2, and League of Legends. This playlist has a dark fantasy feel to it, excellent for massively multiplayer online role-playing gaming products.
Ultimate 80’s Arcade Music- James Zahn
James Zhan is a Spotify user that, at the time of writing, only has 43 followers but is responsible for creating thirty-eight public playlists. The one that has caught many nostalgic gamers’ eyes is his ultimate 80s arcade compilation that mixes game soundtracks with hits from the colloquially called Greed decade.
Many modern gamers may not realize, but back in the 1980s and early-1990s, playing video games was a real-world communal experience. People walked to physical establishments and enjoyed gaming fun in public. Classic machines from this era that captivated gamers of all ages include Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Street Fighter II, Super Mario Bros, and many others. Zahn shuffles the themes of many of these games with modern neo-80s songs and retro rock and pop hits. This combo works perfectly even for those who love to play online slots that feature high-energy gameplay.
50 Best Gaming Songs Ever – Monstercat
Monstercat is a Canadian independent music label founded in July 2011 by Ari Paunonen and Mike Darlington. The first addition to their portfolio was a compilation titled Launch Week. Over the years, they have become synonymous with gaming due to their tracks getting featured in multiple games. Thus, it made sense that Billboard selected them as the entity most suitable to compile a list of the fifty best gaming songs ever.
Monstercat rose to the occasion by concocting a wild list that includes themes from SNES titles, pop-charting songs, techno/electronic tracks, and even a few new-metal hits. Goldfinger’s Superman kicks off Monstercat’s selection to put gamers in a joyous mood before DragonForce, and Linkin Park, take the reins that they hand off to the likes of Tristam, Tiesto, daedmau5, the Prodigy, and others. Unfortunately, this playlist is not up on Spotify or YouTube. Interested parties can put it together on the latter platform using the original playlist article posted on Billboard’s website.
About the Author
Shelly Schiff has been working in the gambling industry since 2009, mainly on the digital side of things, employed by OnlineUnitedStatesCasinos.com. However, over her eleven-year career, Shelly has provided content for many other top interactive gaming websites. She knows all there is to know about slots and has in-depth knowledge of the most popular table games. Her golden retriever Garry occupies most of her leisure time. Though, when she can, she loves reading Jim Thompson-like crime novels.
