How immsersed do you get in games?

[Snotnarok]

I know that doesn't qualify for ALL games but in games you really enjoy how much does it pull you in? As in, do you get really pulled into the moment feeling perhaps what the character does, or just caught in the action and panic of being in a gun fight.

Last night I was playing Mass Effect 2 while playing the DLC and:

Spoiler

I was running around in the SR1 Normandy crash sight where they have the ship just ripped apart and you get to see various parts of the destroyed ship and see flashbacks of the first game and even get to read a data pad with logs from Ashly Williams.

All I felt was dread and kinda sad. After all you spent so much time traveling the Galaxy in the Normandy and then you get to watch it get ripped to shreds and later find it just on a cold lifeless planet.

So I caught myself really stuck in the moment, I didn't know I could get sucked in this bad but this isn't the first time it's happened.


Be friendly here, if you've got to say something with spoilers as I did, use the tags no need to ruin endings to even old games here.

 

[Simalacrum]

On very rare occassions.

The Ocarina of Time certainly made me very emotional when you leave Kokiri Forest... I had dreams about returning there as an adult once

And in Half Life 2: Episode 2...:

Spoiler

When Alyx Vance gets stabbed through the chest, I felt complete shock, like "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!" kind of shock.

 

[sms_117b]

Normally my immersion break comes with the line, "Is that the sun rising? Fuck, done it again."

I really let myself get drawn into games, I don't see a point not to, except to not stay up all night, the crash site felt cold, and upsetting, but used it to fuel my revenge against the collectors!

 

[FactualSquirrel]

Well, the main way that they pull me in is through challenge.

Like playing online and having a rivalry really gets me in the zone.

 

[Sassafrass]

I'm playing Bioshock for the first time.
I've never been so twitchy while playing a game. I'm reacting to any sound or movement.
And I'm loving it.

 

[SantoUno]

I normally do not get immersed in games because I still think to myself "is this any good? Am I really having that much fun?"

Obviously if I ask myself this then the game is sadly not so immersive or fun, unless I am overanalyzing my gaming activity.

Still the easiest way to tel is if I lose track of time, Prototype and Oblivion really did this to me.

 

[Project .hack]

In any RPG I get so attached to characters, their backstory, and the storyline that I feel like I am them when I am playing, on the other hand, when I play games like L4D, me and my buddy have set characters, I'm nick, he's Ellis. We get into the characters and when people (real people) are playing coach or rochelle we yell out things like, "damnit coach" instead of the players name. That and I hear the tank music when there is no tank.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Oblivion

Needless to say, I would snap out of a trance and it would be next week.

I'm playing Bioshock for the first time.
I've never been so twitchy while playing a game. I'm reacting to any sound or movement.
And I'm loving it.

Reminds me. I really should go play that.

 

[Snotnarok]

Normally my immersion break comes with the line, "Is that the sun rising? Fuck, done it again."

I really let myself get drawn into games, I don't see a point not to, except to not stay up all night, the crash site felt cold, and upsetting, but used it to fuel my revenge against the collectors!

Spoken like a true gaming "idiot moment" when you're having tons of fun, then you look toward your window and see light. "wait, there was already light today" you think to yourself. Then you play for a few more seconds, pause and go "..ah crap, I did it again!" and hope to cram in a few hours before [mandatory event].

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

Yeah, once my friend, (after a marathon COD spree) actually checked all the roofs for snipers when walking down the street

 

[Shaegor]

Depends on how well the game can suck me in. When I saw the cutscene in KotOR2, the fall of Ebon Hawk, I nearly wet myself from the sheer shock of what had just happened, I went into a fetal position and started mumbling "No, no, no..."

 

[Omikron009]

Fallout 3 gets me very immersed. I know I'm getting immersed when I start talking to a game, and I do it all the time during fallout 3.

EDIT: I just remembered that since playing mass effect 2 whenever I see a watermark at the bottom corner of a TV screen I think it's a paragon/renegade interrupt signal, and I see health bars above people's heads.

 

[Luke5515]

While recently playing the AVP demo as a marine, I got freaked the fuck out by every other movement, noise, or glimmer that looked or sounded out of place.
It's so much fun being fully immersed in a game so it can really give it's full effect on your emotions.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Very.

I remember one afternoon spending hours just wandering around the capital wasteland, just... staring. I get so lost in that game.

In Mass Effect 2, the scene where

Spoiler

you control Joker as the ship is attacked

had me shaking and going 'oh no... no no no!' out loud like a big fool.

 

[electric_warrior]

I get completely sucked in, to the point where i forget to eat and sleep. then, when i've exhausted the game, normal function resumes.

and i almost cried when agro died in SOTC, but it was 5 am and i'd been playing it for 7 hours straight so i was pretty mentally fragile at that point.

this only happens with games i really love though

 

[Snotnarok]

Oblivion

Needless to say, I would snap out of a trance and it would be next week.

I'm playing Bioshock for the first time.
I've never been so twitchy while playing a game. I'm reacting to any sound or movement.
And I'm loving it.

Reminds me. I really should go play that.

Oblivion never really drew me in, I'm going to say because I was spoiled by Morrowind quite a bit but I think there were other reasons. Not saying it's a bad game, it just didn't catch me but, I know what you're saying.

 

[Infinatex]

Oblivion and Fallout 3 by far the best at this. The character is you, which I finds add so much to relating with them and letting you mind wander into the game. Also first person is by far the best way to be pulled in. I've started playing Mass Effect, (which seems pretty good so far) but the 3rd person kills the immersion. I'm very aware that I'm controlling a character.

 

[FretfulGnome]

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R games are really immersive. There's no background music for one, I can't really get immersed in a game if the background music is constantly looping. The ambient sounds are creepy. You can walk by a group of Stalkers sitting by a campfire having a conversation in Russian. It's just really easy to get immersed in those games.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Oblivion

Needless to say, I would snap out of a trance and it would be next week.

I'm playing Bioshock for the first time.
I've never been so twitchy while playing a game. I'm reacting to any sound or movement.
And I'm loving it.

Reminds me. I really should go play that.

Oblivion never really drew me in, I'm going to say because I was spoiled by Morrowind quite a bit but I think there were other reasons. Not saying it's a bad game, it just didn't catch me but, I know what you're saying.

I've spent more time in Morrowind than in Oblivion

I loved both, sure Morrowind was better, but Oblivion was a great game also.

 

[Flames66]

I can get very into the story. I get VERY annoyed if an achievement suddenly appears while I'm playing because, for me, it completely ruins the atmosphere. I like to lose myself in the game world so I rarely play multiplayer on most games.