Sound Judgment: A Multi-Year Evaluation of Audio Aesthetics and Gameplay Impact in DareFightingICE Sound Design Competition

This paper presents a multi-year evaluation (2022-2024) of winning entries from the DareFightingICE Sound Design Competition, analyzing the interplay between audio aesthetics and gameplay functionality for visually impaired players and the Blind AI agent. Through user studies (<tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathrm{n} {=} {2 6}$</tex> and <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathrm{n} {=} {2 1}$</tex>) and a comprehensive ablation study of the 2024 winning sound design, we reveal three key findings: (1) While winning entries consistently achieved high aesthetic ratings, scores plateaued despite year-on-year improvements in Blind AI performance, indicating a decoupling of these dimensions; (2) Systematic muting identified “critical” sounds whose absence severely impaired AI decision-making, whereas static background music introduced detrimental noise; (3) Drastically reducing sound design to <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">${1 0 \%}$</tex> of sound effects degraded both AI win ratios and human aesthetic perception. These results demonstrate that practical accessible audio requires prioritizing unambiguous cues for frequent actions, minimizing sonic redundancy like non-adaptive BGM, and validating sound designs through dual AI/human evaluation. We provide actionable strategies for designers targeting future competitions and inclusive gaming.