I found the conversation regarding ethics and sound design thought-provoking. At first, I had a hard time relating some of the ethics we talked about to my own role as a sound designer in Too Bee, however, after some consideration, it’s clear that I should design sounds that are correlated with Too Bee’s environmental message. A classmate kindly shared an article that discussed the different keys a bee may buzz in depending on their mood:

“The happiest bees I’ve heard are those at rest, back in the hive after a long day’s work, surrounded by their colleagues, and these hum in a steady ‘B’. ‘C’ is for a state of raised awareness, be that excitement or warning, a higher state of agitation. ‘C’ is ready to ride the zipwire.”

I have decided to rework some of the pollination and hive sounds that I originally had in the game. Instead, I want to incorporate a switch from buzzing in C to buzzing B that will signal a positive achievement to the player in the game.

We also had a guest lecture in which Rachel Simpson presented an honest and informative idea of what it’s like to work as a sound designer for games and VR. Her conversation on diversity when creating the game as well as the visuals seemed to be an important discussion. It is true that for any game diversity in the game and in the participants should be important. The topic of ethics was the main focus of the collaboration class and it was interesting to hear about what our roles are as sound designers. An awareness of where field recordings originated and their context came up. Censorship was also a topic that came up. Mindfulness of different opinions and a conscious effort not to silence them should be vital when creating any piece of work.