Do you ever play games with the volume muted?

I find that I play a lot of games with the volume muted. I’m subscribed to over 30 podcasts and in order to listen to them all and play games at the same time I have to mute the games. So I will frequently choose to play games in which the sound is inessential. This is mostly RPGs, racing games, sports games, games that I’ve already completed before and Little Big Planet. I probably play about 40% of my games muted. Sometimes I’ll even play Lumines muted so I can focus more on clearing blocks.

The only game I can’t play muted is Patapon. It’s rhythm based and you have to base your rhythm on the rhythm you hear so any kind of outside noise can mess up your concentration. The need for absolute silence to play it is one of the reasons that I only got half way through it.

Most games I have to play with the sound on, but for MMOs I never have the sound on ever, that's podcast time.

I always have the sound on except when I play online fps games. Gun sounds just get grating after a while.

I play almost all my games with sound on - sometimes when playing MMOs or multiplayer games I'll listen to music or podcasts (or watch videos) while playing.

I do this often and will watch quick looks or some other video online (like Netflix or the videos from Gameinformer). If the game is a new one that I really care about or the game requires audio to play well (like a FPS) then I won't mute the audio.

Only with MMO's or sometimes with RTS games when I tire of the soundtrack.
 
Not Red Alert 3 though, amazing music.

I play most games with sound on, but when I am playing something that I care less about, the volume goes down, the story is ignored, and the podcasts or music come out. My best examples are Dark Void and Dark Sector. I simply did not find the story in those games fun and I mainly played them for achievements at a point, so I ignored most of what goes on.

Every game gets a chance though.

Only with games where I don't have to pay much attention, I like to boot up TM2, M&B or something and look at quick looks or the like.

I play games on mute that don't have any voice-overs or are not cutscene heavy when I listen to podcasts. Stuff like MInecraft, TF2, racing games & puzzle games.

Once I've finished the game and I'm going back in to get the cheevos (Saints Row) or I just find the game boring (Skyrim), I play with the sound off and the podcasts on

As a lot of people have said, the answer is yes, but not during a first playthrough of a story or aesthetic focused game.

Street Fighter 4 SILENT and podcast or music playing

Bunch of times I've played with no sound. Last time it was Lego Indiana Jones as there was no reason to have sound at all.

Only when I'm listening to podcasts, but then I only play games that doesn't really have a story.

i will sometimes keep the game sound on and have an ear-bud from my iphone in one ear with a podcast or audiobook playing. then pause my iphone if a cutscene or NPC talks.

I don't think I can play games completely muted since audio feedback plays a big role in most of them. However if I want to play a game while listening to a podcast I just turn off the BGM.

'Twas how I beat Majora's Mask the first time around. Couldn't stand hearing link scream every time I screwed up.

Yep, but never for story based games

Games that don't require a giant amount of pure concentration tend to eventually get lowered in volume so I can watch a TV show while playing. I don't know why I do that, but there you have it.

No. I'm one of those crazy people that don't listen to anything but the sounds of the video game I'm playing.

No. I like to hear the music and such in games. Makes me feel like I'm part of the action.

Almost never have the volume totally muted, but for games like Fallout (Where having a "radio" is actively encouraged) or for other "grindy" type games, podcasts are perfect for making the downtime fly by.

I play Final Fantasy games with the volume muted. I hate J-pop and Japanese music in general, not to mention the god awful voice acting. It's subtitles and a good music playlist for me.

A lot of the time i'll play handheld games muted so that I can listen to podcasts. For console games its only ones like Fifa or when I mess about in open world games that it gets muted.

Play Counterstrike Source whilst listening to the podcast. So I mute the game

Play all games with the sound on. If its a game i have played through once, i usually listen to music or podcasts over it.

I turn the volume down low and listen to podcasts with head phones .I like a little bit of game audio while I play .

Yep I do so if I'm doing something repetitive or if I'm playing an MMO (heh) cause it's podcast time.

Play less story driven games virtually always without sound. Games like wwe12 and fifa 12 is podcasts or general music

Often while grinding in any number of JRPGs or MMOs. Podcasts, music or the TV replace my audio needs.

I never mute a game, but I do turn the sounds down and listen to/watch other things as I play.

I almost never mute my games. As when I'm playing them, I'm almost always completely focused on them. (I'm not a multi-tasker like most of ye! :P )

For a reason completely unrelated to multi-tasking though, there is one game I always mute. >_>

This one: http://www.giantbomb.com/missionforce-cyberstorm/61-334/

D:

Very rarely. There have been a few times where I would mute a game like terraria and listen to the bombcast, or even bejeweled. But as I said its very rare.

Only the music. I never mute dialogue or sound effects.

I play some FPS (BF3 or Call of Duty) muted, and with music on the background.

Sometimes when I'm chatting with friends I turn the volume off. Find it too distracting otherwise.

It has happened. Though it's rare.

As to the opposite I got an expensive surround sound headset. Maybe it's just me but it doesn't help much with FPS. and there are cords everywhere!

Only really small and simple once or games without any really "needy" sounddesign. Atom Zombie Smasher and Minecraft are two games that comes to mind as muted most of the time (although AZS actually has a great soundtrack).

I'm surprised at the results so far. Who knew the majority of Giant Bombs forumites have played games muted?

@LitterAlley said:

As to the opposite I got an expensive surround sound headset. Maybe it's just me but it doesn't help much with FPS. and there are cords everywhere!

I got a decent headset with a 3 meter cord so I could play Rock Band in the middle of the night. I find that it does help me play better. My scores tend to be 3-5% better than without.

I pretty much always play multiplayer games muted so I can listen to music.

Normally NO. There are times when I mute the sound if it's distracting. In Dead Space I was stuck on the asteroid shooting turret level. I played it so many I just wanted to break the disc in half. I read some tips about adjusting the brightness to see asteroids sooner and turning of the sound. I tried a few times with the brightness turned up then gave in on the muted sound tip. Got passed it on the first try. I have tried this on a few other games with sequences like that and it helped me. Normally I prefer the game music and sounds.

MMO's and Battlefield 3 are pretty much the only games I've done this in, though I don't mute the sound, just lower the volume a bit so it won't interfere with listening to podcasts. For pretty much every other game I instead turn the volume for the game's music up quite a bit (they tend to set that to really low for some reason).

MMMO's and Grinding constantly in any rpg's is a muted time to listen to music,podcasts or just play another game while i do that one for the most part.

Most games I have to play with the sound on, but for MMOs I never have the sound on ever, that's podcast time.

When doing something repetitive yeah.

Yeah I mute the sound when listening to the podcast.

When I do boss battles for fun, I sometimes mute the game and turn on this:

Yes I listen to iTunes University lectures all the time while playing games it offsets the feeling of not wasting my time if I am learning somethings in the process.