That Delicate, Little Flower Called Immersion

That Delicate, Little Flower Called Immersion
I hear the word "immersion" intoned every time someone wants to object to a type of gameplay. It's both holy grail and delicate flower, withering at the mere sight of an LOL. Is that state of mind called immersion such a wisp that it's like holding smoke?

Poppycock. It's interruption is like pausing a moment between paragraphs, taking the moment to order a beer, or giving a few cycles to a passing thought.

A good story is magnetic. Stay near and it will hold you, stray and it pulls you back. I contend that if your immersion is so fragile then the story is not doing its job.

 

Thank you Mugly Wumple. I have been considering thoughts on this as well, but my problem is that I do not understand those who cry "immersion breaking" thus I could not write a dissenting opinion on the matter.

I think you did quite well

 

The difference is probably more generational, with the integration of technologies in collaborating the human sensory organs into the story telling to give a more immersive sensor experience.

Just reading a textual book, doesn't quite compare with a good story and 3d visual sound experience. Now if they could add smells, and touch to it...direct plug to the brain...one day...

 

I don't know my friend, I am not sure how good 50 Shades would smell or feel...

 

Different things cause immersion in a game really. In tabletop gaming and early CRPGs a good story trumped everything. However with online gaming, persistent worlds and higher technology, you can look beyond the story into the various aspects of the world itself.

Ultima stood apart as a series because it did things such as allowing you to use inworld items even if they were non-consequential to the plot. Things such as playing an instrument (hopefully SotA will use something like LotRO for this), baking bread, and so on all helped Britannia seem more alive.

Also in the Ultima series were the NPCs themselves. My first Ultima game was 6 and having the conversation trees in 6 done the way they were with (most) NPCs having a range of topics, again both plot related and non-consequential gave them each their own personality and made them more alive compared to other games. Also each NPC having a job, home, and daily schedule made them and the towns seem a LOT more alive and... immersive.

For a persistent online world, weather and seasons can help this out which is something I look forward to on the current stretch goals. In UO it was always fun during winter when the snow-covered map would be published in for the next couple months. In LotRO, the weather system made for amazing gameplay experiences, but the way that 3d games tend to do "zones", there was no room for a realistic cycle of seasons. Putting such a comprehensive system would IMO make a game feel MUCH more immersive than one where nothing ever changes.

Story is important, but it's not the ONLY thing.

 

The problem is people are trying to fill in the blanks from what we do know vs what we do not know.

They can't imagine how there will be immersion because some things are not what they are used to imagining.

We start getting some details to aid them then they will start to see the immersion.

 

I realize, as so well stated by @Dermott, that immersion is more than just story. I was playing curmudgeon to start a conversation on what we collectively mean by immersion, since its presence is so important.

As a hardcore role player story was most important to me. Not just the story as designed by the devs, but my own story and the stories of the people around my char. Breadmaking, NPCs, and the unmatched ability to use items as props all aided in that storytelling. I still laugh at the day a particular orc left a a pile of "sausage" on the throne of Winterfell and the subsequent pandemonium that ensued.

For others immersion is being attuned to a rhythm or pattern, the mouse/KB becoming an extension of oneself. For yet others it's a level of adrenaline sustained by high risk/reward.

So what is it that keeps you captivated, where the hours pass unnoticed and the game world becomes its own reality?

 

You are a word smith and scholar @Mugly Wumple, I am but an illiterate peasant to the RPG world in comparison.

Immersion, in this sense, is the act of surrounding yourself and mind in an activity or thought to help give a sense of reality or solidity to your fantasy. This can be achieved in many ways. In the D&D days of using dice, oration, pen and paper, figurines were sometimes used to give realism, or people would dress up in appropriate attire to play their role and help put themselves 'in character'. Things like this are the tools people use to help immerse themselves in their fantasy.

RG's life goal appears to have been to make the 'Ultimate' RPG. With the advent and development of computing technologies his goal coalesced into the creation of the Ultima series. The technology was the tool he used to aid the story teller in giving life to a world and a sense of reality to the player, and enabled the player to interact with the story and environment on a completely new level.

From what I have seen of the proto type for SotA and the RG interviews describing his vision, he obviously wants to instil more role-playing elements into this game. I sense that in this iteration, he is focusing more on the player driven content in shaping and adding to the world-story and giving that persistence in the online world. So that players can ultimately shape the world story, it's not just the almighty Dungeon Master dictating to the players. This sounds like a great ambition if it is so.

Even though the grandness of this ambition, the realism of the game's world and environment is important to me as a player. It disappoints me that the prototype looks much like a text based game and puts the player in a more removed position from their avatar.