Woooah Sweet Child O.. OH MY GOD I DIED

When it comes down to it, gamers can be split into many distinct groups, what genre of game they play, whether they use the analog controller or an arcade stick for fighting games, the conservationist who hordes all ammo and special items - just in case there's something a bit bigger hiding round the corner, or the fire everything you have until it dies kind of player. But the distinction I'm drawing up today is not to do with game play per say, but music.

 I for one, can NOT listen to music while i game. I'll hold my hands up and admit that i take gaming pretty seriously, it's my biggest hobby and it's what i do to relax, i enjoy it. I'll also hold my hands up and say I'm fiercely competitive - i hate to lose, but realistically who doesn't? Thus, when I'm playing a competitive game online, be it fighting, FPS, Warcraft PvP, I like to be able to hear what's going on. Any CoD player will tell you there are unmistakable sounds, the dreaded click of a claymore, the sound of bullets giving away enemy positions, and yeah even footsteps of that one player who just keeps on backstabbing you.. Listening to music just drowns these out. I find it more of a distraction than anything, my favourite songs actually bug me because they're taking my attention away from what my brain is telling me is more important. Maybe I'm just horribly over-competitive?

But that's not the only reason I dislike listening to music in gaming sessions. In non-competitive, (single player for example) games, I like to listen to the soundtrack.If the developers have gone through the trouble to make the game look as visually impressive or play as well as it does, it's only fair i give the time to listen to the music too. I feel it helps with the atmosphere, which is something I'm big on in games, and more often than not the music fits perfectly with whatever it is I'm playing. I don't know about you but some thing just doesn't seem right about listening to Journey's, 'Don't Stop Believing' while having a troubled vampire hunter scale a colossal stone castle, unaware of what demons lay ahead of him - unless he needs a little motivation.

Despite having realised what i have written in the past 2 paragraphs, i realise that there is 1 exception to my dislike, Nazi Zombies. Those familiar with Treyarch's spin off game 'series' will know that in each map there is a hidden musical Easter egg. Whenever i find myself cutting the undead masses to ribbons with heavy machine gun fire, i love nothing more than to hear the heavy metal music of Elena Siegman playing in the background - it's just so fitting. I have a weird kind of trait when i play games like that and music that really fits starts playing, I imagine it to be kind of a story that's playing out - almost like a movie - and every movie needs a backing track, right? The Nazi Zombie songs have all in fact raised themselves to the heights of being in my top favourite songs on my iPod. Maybe it's all about finding the balance from a perspective of volume, or genre matching, I dunno.

But that's not to say that there aren't those who listen to music while gaming, much to the contrary in fact. I know many people who have music on in the background, or have it so loud the TV is inaudible. It was the realisation of this trait that led one of the PS3's big name games to implement the ability for players to create custom soundtracks for the multi player aspect of the game. Killzone 2 allows players to compile a list of songs stored on their Playstation, to be played whilst in the multi player of the game - a feature much praised by fans and critics alike, so it is undoubtedly a very normal thing to do.

However... This is more of a request than observation. There are those of you out there, you know who you are, who for some reason feel the need to play your music while gaming - which is fine - but with a headset on so that all of the lobby can see what awful taste you have. Not only that, but singing along, badly, please stop. Unless you're that 13 year old French kid i keep coming across who insists in singing Pink, with your high pitched voice, you can carry on - the laughs are just too good to miss out on.