Music games and musical identities

This chapter extends the study of identity in music and video games respectively, to their synergy in the music-game context, exploring how music-games are influencing both our understanding of socially defined parameters of musicality and our use of music to negotiate and express our personal and social identity. From downloading iPod playlists on the move, to becoming a Guitar Hero in our living room and real-time collaborative composition across geographically dispersed contexts, a new generation of music-makers are experiencing and expressing music through digital literacy. We present an overview of music-game literature, suggesting the study of musical identities should be approached with recourse to the impact of music-games upon music participation, and thus what it means to be “musical” in the digital age.