R P G A M E R . C O M   -   E D I T O R I A L S

Swish

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!

Mike "JuMeSyn" Moehnke
FAN EDITORIALIST

*Clunk*. *Thwack*. *Hah*. *Squick*. *Plink*. *Crunch*. *Fwish*. *Zonk*. Aside from a vague reference to the 60's Batman TV show, this is also a little list of sound effects that came to mind. The problem with these sound effects is they can get really annoying to hear over and over. Especially the ones that weren't fun to hear the first time.

This litany is not unique to RPG's, however. Every video game has sound effects and the potential for them to be ear-jarring. My most misliked malady in the sound effect realm, however, is in the form of a little something that is released when text is ready to scroll to a new page. This sound varies depending upon the game, but has yet to elicit support from me. Whoever found it necessary to inform players of text scrolling by another method than seeing new text appear was most foolish.

What possesses a developer to insert this sound, whatever form it takes, into RPGs? Is it to simulate the feel of page-turning in a book? If so, it most assuredly fails on every account, since pages in books (save picture books) do not have to be turned every two or three lines. Also, the sound effect does not bring to mind a page turning; usually it brings to mind a microwave's reminder noise more than anything else. Is the sound effect instead intended to aid the blind? Mighty poor way to go about it if the title does not have 100% penetration of voice acting, considering Braille has yet to even be attempted in the RPG world. Is the sound supposed to tell a player that, in fact, the text has been scrolled along? Unless the game automatically scrolls text without player input otherwise, this seems redundant given that the player's decision to advance the text is the only way to make it occur. On the other hand, perhaps a collusion with sellers of headache medications was the initial stimulus to unleash this onslaught, which it has probably had great success in.

The list of titles possessing this irritation that I have played is rather long, which is why I have not cited specific titles here. Nor do I feel it necessary when the ailment afflicts so very many RPGs. Certainly other sound effects can be aggravating and irritating, but this one is not only possessed of those qualities but adds another: unnecessary. Its elimination from future RPGs can only be a boon to the human race.