Gaming can lead to all kinds of moods and scenarios. While you might pick up your controller to unwind, it can also get intense. Whether you’re strategically building your empire, exploring a map, taking care of a cat or conquering your enemy, gaming is a lot of fun.

There are many ways you can enhance a gaming experience. Playing with friends, playing for real money, and indulging in snacks are a few of the ways we can think of. Should that include music in the background? Some people prefer quiet, especially when it comes to poker or playing games at the best casino Canada has to offer. Others take the opportunity to blast it loud.

Does silence help you focus more than music? It’s time to dig into the two sides of the argument.

Disadvantages of Listening to Music While Gaming

When you add music to your gaming setup, you might not be sure whether it’s helping. If that’s the case, these cons might help you make up your mind one way or the other.

Missing Out on Game Sound Effects

If you’ve got music playing, then it’s likely that you won’t be able to hear what’s going on in the game. You might prefer that if you play something with a repetitive or annoying soundtrack. While not every piece of dialogue or sound effect is important, you’ll be missing out on the way the designers meant the game to be played.

Some research into gaming has shown that hearing the sound effects from the game can improve your reactions. Knowing when an adversary approaches, there’s an explosion, or any other relevant game point is easier to process when you hear as well as see the action.

Not Appreciating the Song

If you’re trying to combine two of your favourite pastimes, music and gaming, you might not succeed. Your attention will either be mostly on the game or mostly on the song, and the latter will have dire consequences for your game progress.

So if you want to be more focused on the game, it’s likely that you won’t have enough attention left over to appreciate the song. It could work if you’re only looking for something casual in the background. However, if you want to get into a new track or album, it might be best left to enjoy alongside a less demanding activity, like cleaning or cooking.

Advantages of Playing Some Tunes

If you can’t wait to add some songs to your gaming session, then you’ll be happy to read these arguments in favour of doing so.

Improved Mood

Gaming is already an excellent way to boost your mood. It can help you relax, spark interest and passion and act as an excellent way to escape from boredom or problems. Combine gaming with music, and you should get double the benefits, right?

Music is also a brilliant mood booster. That’s an advantage when you’re gaming. Not only will you enjoy the experience more, but you’ll already be feeling good when you start playing. The lack of tension will likely help you get your head in the game sooner, so it could improve your performance.

Increased Focus

For some people, a quiet space isn’t conducive to being focused. It means that any little noise or occurrence can act as a distraction. That’s especially problematic if you game in a shared house or public location.

Having some background music can get you in a zone where you can focus on the task at hand. Research suggests that’s the case for work and for memory-based tasks, so gaming shouldn’t be much different.

Use Console Features

If you’ve got a new generation console, you might want to make the most of everything it can do. One of those features for PS5 and Xbox Series X players is access to music apps. It’s now easier than ever to combine gaming with music.

Apple Music, Spotify, and iHeart Radio are just some of the streaming options available. If you want to create a PS5 Spotify playlist that goes with a specific game title, it’s now possible without any additional hardware.

How to Create a Gaming Playlist

For those of you won over by the advantages, your next step will be to create a playlist for playing. After all, music might help, but not just any music. Ideally, you should like the songs but not get so into them that you forget your game.

There’ll be particular artists or genres that fit well with the different games that you play. Picking the right songs for your playlist can become a satisfying hobby in itself. Upbeat music might help for a more intense gaming session, whereas something smoother, like jazz or classical music, can keep things chilled for longer stints of building or exploring.