If you play Rock Band, then Social I.

They very idea behind Rock Band is to combine social aspects along with music and technology. Sure, you can play by yourself, but that’s just not near as fun as getting the ‘ol band back together and going on a world tour. However, I do not currently have the funcionality of playing this game online, so most of my critique will be from the social aspect of everyone playing in the same room.

Conversation

Although the game was meant to be played with others, conversation can be a very hard thing to pull off when you are in the middle of a sweet guitar solo or in a bass groove. There’s a lot of short phrase shouts here and there such as “Sweet solo!” or “This part is siiick!” 

Of course, these pieces of convesation aren’t really needed and don’t have a ton of meaning besides making the gamer feel involved as they say them. The short bursts of conversation that players really need to pay attention is something like “Help!” or “Use your star power!” These phrases invoke an immediate response in order to keep the band going.

Other non-verbal communication could be a guitarist standing up for a hard part, or even a complete lack of conversation when it’s getting tough.

Coordination

Again, this game is all about coordination between players to utilize it to the fullest. You have to choose the instrument you are best at, which difficulty you should be at, and even plan out with your band for an espescially hard song. Such examples could include “Hey, I’m probably going to fail this drum part at the beggining, so make sure to use your star power A.S.A.P., Ok?” 

However, for the most part, coordination is so well designed into this game and such an integral part that you never have to struggle at it. Every player generally makes small adjustments to help each other without thinking about it.

Awareness

If you are not aware in this game, you will fail repeatedly. It requires you to pay attention to the screen at all times. You have to see when the notes are coming, what color they are, and where your fingers/pitch/drumsticks are located to plan your attack.

Not only that, but you also have to be aware of everyone else. If they are not able to communicate that they are performing poorly, it may be up to you to notice it and then recognize if you have star power or not in order to help them out.