When thinking of a voice for a mechanical device or software, monotone voices with standardized pronunciation comes to mind. If not the typical TTS (text-to-speech) robotic, it’s something more like Siri’s. These voices, however, are most often devoid of unique characteristics that can be derived from a person’s life and upbringing. Even voices like Siri’s, while distinctly human, is bland and lack character.
The Game’s voice in There Is No Game, on the other hand, is quite distinct—thick with an accent and speaks with particular intonations, but also just a regular voice. The first time I heard it speak, I wondered ‘What accent is that from?’ followed by an ‘It really just be voiced by some dude, huh.’ The voice so full of character and humanness differs greatly from the image of a game/piece of software that in the context of a metagame, the player goes beyond wondering about the character of the voice’s background, but to the voice actor themselves.
Personally, I could not stop thinking about the creator’s decision to use his voice to represent his game, and whether he was aware of the immersion break. This also does bring up the topic of vocal representation and why certain voices are associated with particular roles, and whether creators should break away from such tropes and diversify what voices can constitute what.
I think the most effective thing for me about the voice acting in There is No Game is how well the think accent combines with the often ridiculous dialogue writing to make something that is simultaneously extremely comeding and extremely empathetic. It’s pretty clear that the only way you get that is if it’s voiced by someone who has clearly put a lot of love and thought into the game and its writing. Who also is willing to lean into their kinda funny accent.
*comedic lol