Interesting perspective. Most people I know who are into strategy games listen to their favorite OSTs in their daily life. Personally, my Spotify playlists are mostly filled with composers like Paul Romero. There’s nothing like a good track to set the ‘right’ ambience (if there is such a thing) envisioned for an audience.
I agree that music is a super personal thing, though - in games or beyond. That mute button in echo chess is as old as the first SFX audio file I playtested. Point taken on its default state and persistence. Thanks for sharing your candid thoughts throughout.
I wouldn't say I'm all that into strategy games. I find them a bit addictive so tend to avoid them. I did play a bit of Grand Ages: Rome recently. The music was ok, but it obviously gets repetitive.
I have tried the thing you mention and listened to computer game music in other contexts, but really, it's not my thing. I'd rather listen to classical, or jazz, or pop, or...almost anything.
Understandable take. I also recognize that “strategy games” is such a broad umbrella term. Back in the OG board game era (pre-neo-renaissance of tabletop gaming these past pandemic years), we had abstract grand strategy like Risk, old-school tactical wargames, and crossword-type or rush-hour-like puzzle games. Nowadays, if you take MOBAs, TBS, RTS, 4X, GS, or even any TRPG or RTT, odds are it can viably be categorized as a “strategy” game to some extent or another.
Even the new strategy board game and analogue CCG scene is so stratified these days. Which one of these games would count as the “true” archetype of a strategy game: Mage Knight, Terraforming Mars, Agricola, Sovereign Chess, Dune Imperium, Gloomhaven, Azul, Catan, Theomachy, or MTG? They each seem to have increasingly more “strategic flavor” differences separating them from each other than similarities. Same goes for table-top RPGs of the 2020s.
All this is to say, if the strategy genre itself can’t be painted with the same brush, then it sure can’t be optimally paired with the same universal type of music.
No, but I would distinguish between immersive games that expect to be run full screen, with your full attention and casual games that you might flip back and forth between. It's much more forgiveable for the former to play music at you, I think.
You make me realise I'm not sure what makes a game "strategy" per se. Games like Agricola don't feel very strategic to me, in that there is not much scope for long term planning, or predicting what other players will do. Instead, you just react to the situation in front of you, trying to make the most +EV play.
> You make me realise I'm not sure what makes a game "strategy" per se.
The business world can’t even agree on this one. There are maybe as many HBR rants swearing by Michael Porter’s definition as there are indignant talking heads criticizing it. Same for all the flavors of Nash economics or ESS in biology.
For a game to be ‘strategy’, I’d say some element of deductive reasoning or foreplanning being a prerequisite for (better odds of) success is necessary, but not sufficient. A min decision space complexity that makes the former non-trivial is likely sufficient.
Some might argue that decision making under uncertainty, or some version of stochastic optimization is necessary too. Or that strategy (as opposed to logic) is only relevant when more than one agent is decisioning at some level - making a clearer distinction with puzzle solving, PvE, emergent gameplay or meta strategy. Are they right? Maybe. Does it make any difference beyond gatekeeping? Probably not. Some of the best designers I know purposefully blur the lines between established genres when creating their games.
> Games like Agricola don't feel very strategic to me, in that there is not much scope for long term planning, or predicting what other players will do.
BGG often has heated debates on this point. I think it’s mostly a eurogame vs american-style thing (I’m a fan of both camps for different reasons).
I agree that music is a super personal thing, though - in games or beyond. That mute button in echo chess is as old as the first SFX audio file I playtested. Point taken on its default state and persistence. Thanks for sharing your candid thoughts throughout.