Inappropriate music:
Although player-made EVE videos sometimes have masterful musical accompaniment, EVE Online itself is a little behind the times in that regard. Only a few new tracks have been added to the jukebox since the game's release and they don't do a particularly good job of enhancing the game experience. Slow stellar echoes and flowing background tunes form the majority of EVE's current music, with some fast-paced techno occasionally playing when the player enters a deadspace complex or mission.
No special action music exists to enhance our PvP experiences, which I think is a terrible shame. Developers could do well to create an entirely new musical score for dynamic PvP music based on the type of music players have shown works in their PvP videos. Upcoming sci-fi MMO and EVE Online competitor Black Prophecy has been given a very appropriate orchestral and choir selection which EVE videos have shown can give sci-fi some much needed mood. In contrast, a large portion of EVE players turn the music off and many switch the audio off entirely, leading to the oft-heard jibe "EVE has sound?".
Audio cues:
Perhaps more important than music is the need for appropriate audio cues and sound effects. Audio cues or "incidental sounds" are simply sound effects tied to certain events such as jumping, picking up an item or opening a menu screen. The need for good audio cues is even more ingrained on us than most people realise. They offer us a reassuring sensory feedback that makes a given in-game state transition feel natural. Actions in real life are verified through corresponding sensory feedback. In a game, enhancing the natural visual feedback associated with an action by adding an audio component makes it simply feel more correct and real. In fact, we've now come to expect corresponding audio for in-game visual occurrences so much that its absence feels odd and disconcerting. An example is recent release Runes of Magic, which is missing many key audio cues and contains a lot of silent actions and animations.
A piece of solid advice I once obtained on game design is to make sure that the game's transitions are good no matter what. Transitions are simply any event in which the game switches from one state to another, such as when you open a menu screen or perform some in-game action. It wouldn't feel right if the screen just flicked from one state to the next, something has to blend the two states together. Whether that's an inventory screen coming in from the side of the screen, a user interface element fading out or even an audio cue playing, good transitions add some much-needed polish to a game. If you've ever wondered why something simply "felt right" about how World of Warcraft plays, this is a big part of it. Blizzard were careful to ensure that almost every visual cue and transition has a corresponding audio effect, even if it's a simple blip when pressing a button.
Summary:
In today's high-budget MMO market, perhaps too much credit is given to graphical quality and not enough to the effect of music and sound on players. Everquest 2's musical score alone has drawn me back to the game on several occasions and at times it has managed to convert mundane questing from a grind into an adventure. Effective use of mood-inducing music has the ability to transform our game experiences and good use of audio cues adds some much-needed professional polish to a game. While some development studios have clearly understood the role of audio in an MMO, others seem to remain oblivious.
