This thing called "immersion"
- Thread starter Hairetos
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It's not something everyone feels, it's the RolePlaying aspect of an RPG. Immersion is when you can forget about the outside world and the fact that you're playing a game (I'm not saying you're hallucinating that you're controlling a character with your mind, just that you're focused enough on what's happening in the game that you can block other stuff out almost completely).Hairetos said:
When you start feeling with your character, you've felt immersion. It's the thing that makes you drop the super awesome armour in Oblivion because you're really into the black robes that only come with miserable stats or ignore the fast-travel system and rest until 2 AM cause you can feel awesome about just riding through the night on a black horse. It's when you play Shepherd in Mass Effect and use the dialogue system on instinct, rather than thinking about maximising his/her Paragon/Renegade score/not pissing an NPC off.
As I said, it's really not everyone's thing, but to those of us who love it there's little things that are better in gaming, cause we can play for a much longer time, imagining up extra things in the game world that aren't really there but that enhance our experience of it.
This is pretty much an exact definition. Immersion is that feeling that you're lost in the game, and it can so easily be broken by little glitches or terrible voice acting. But once you find a game that has the immersive sweet spot, you are sucked in but good.Vrach said:
I liken it to being in a swimming pool. You know you've been immersed in a game when you look up and it feels like coming up from the bottom of a pool, breaking the surface with a jerk and drawing a long deep breath of air. It's a startlement, but in a GOOD way.
It's a bit hard to define.
Immersion isn't exactly a case of forgetting that you're in a game, because that's virtually impossible. Rather, it's when you forget everything else. You know, you sit down for a quick 20min session then look up to find that it's nearly night time.
I'm not sure exactly what causes it. Good graphics and sound certainly help. A good setting. A sense of atmosphere. Good writing. That sort of stuff. Oh, and good controls are essential. If you end up having to fight to get the controls to work properly then the immersion factor goes out the window.
Some games that did it for me are Portal, BioShock, Half Life, Deus Ex, Mass Effect 2, and Mirror's Edge.
Incidentally, it isn't just a game thing. Good movies or books can have the same effect.
Immersion isn't exactly a case of forgetting that you're in a game, because that's virtually impossible. Rather, it's when you forget everything else. You know, you sit down for a quick 20min session then look up to find that it's nearly night time.
I'm not sure exactly what causes it. Good graphics and sound certainly help. A good setting. A sense of atmosphere. Good writing. That sort of stuff. Oh, and good controls are essential. If you end up having to fight to get the controls to work properly then the immersion factor goes out the window.
Some games that did it for me are Portal, BioShock, Half Life, Deus Ex, Mass Effect 2, and Mirror's Edge.
Incidentally, it isn't just a game thing. Good movies or books can have the same effect.
Hairetos said:
The best example i can give you actually happened not too long ago. I was playing Deus Ex and without thinking about it when i was running for cover or dodging rockets or somesuch i would actually lean in the direction my character was going like it would make him go faster or something. It's not like you feel like you're actually in the game, it's more like driving a car compared to watching a movie. WHen i played, just for the sake of example, Dragon Age: Origins, I felt like i was watching a really bad ripoff of Lord of the Rings that cost $60 and i had to constantly press buttons on the remote to keep it playing. Couldn't get into it at all, just boring. And in the aforementioned Deus Ex, i didn't feel like i myself was shooting at terrorists and whatnot, but it didn't feel so far away.
This is correct. Immersion is just another word for suspension of disbelief.Littlee300 said:
That being the case, I don't think every game has to be immersive. I don't mind being reminded that I'm playing a game in some cases. It can still have ways to suck me in.
When Assassin's Creed 2 came out I spent the entire day playing it and I remember being completely sucked in for a few hours straight. Like I only realised I was holding a controller when I sort of snapped out of it, but I kept playing and got sucked right back in.
Immersion is in this context is suspension of disbelief, you're in the story. Like when reading a good book, you're not thinking of anything else, you don't even think "this is a book" you're just going with the flow of the words and nothing else exists... that is immersion.Hairetos said:
If you're looking at a game and thinking "this is a game, this mechanic is nice, that graphic is nice" then you're not immersed. Thats like watching a film and constantly thinking "he's acting well, thats a good prop, I like the camera work, the special effect was off..." if thats what you're thinking then you're not immersed, when you are immersed in a film its like a different reality is being poured directly into your mind - you don't question it, you don't even recognise it, you just flow with it.
Immersion.