Immersion

[FS3DPete]

oddly enough your post hit a mark, immersion appears to be a single player game. and i would agree to that aswell, once you bring in the human element you can say good by to immersion unless you play with Role players who like to keep in charactor. once you bring in that human element it may aswell be a Call of Duty online match. with other players informing you of how well your mother perfomed the previous night and that you probably come from Africa.

Immersion is when you dont have to deal with other people breaking that immersion,

I think that sums it up for me as well. It's why I've played games like Final Fantasy 7-10, but completely avoided games like Final Fantasy 11 and 14.

Nothing worse than you being in a game world and someone coming along and going "LOL GG" to blow your escape from reality out of the water.

 

[djh]

Discovering the Unknown

For me, what makes any game immersive is the feeling of being in an environment that I don't know. Therefore, my mind is forced to be attentive and pick up the most subtle and the most obvious clues in the environment - sound, movement, shadows, little and large objects, etc. So a large part of gameplay is exploring in most games, without rushing ahead. The more new, unexpected levels of detail (seen and unseen, obvious and subliminal) that a game has to find, the more immersive it feels to me.

What breaks immersion for me is playing with others in multiplayer who "know" the environment so well that it just becomes a race to the best vantage points. You might as well put them in a green-screen envrionment because nothing "surprises" or "interests" them. They just want to get to the spot that memory tells them is the best for whatever reason - sniping, collecting treasures, etc.

I reckon the key to making multiplayer games stay immersive is randomising the environments and creating new game assets all of the time. That way, everybody is always a "noob" and nobody can have an advantage except for their own skills. Also, having new assets appearing will ensure people keep exploring the environment, rather than just playing for kill points.

 

[Susimetsa]

I think there's some confusion between "engaging" and "immersive" here. Engaging is something that keeps you interested in continuing some activity, while immersive is something that immerses you in the world and makes you forget that you are playing a game and not "living a life" within the game universe.

 

[DraQ]

Immersion is "being there".

First and most critical component of immersion is premise not straining your suspension of disbelief (this is one of the reasons why we, the Newtonian crowd, want proper newtonian flight model - it's easy to gloss over spacecraft not behaving as it logically should in space in a movie, but less so if you actually pilot it yourself and have to pay attention).

Second component is internal logic of the setting remaining consistent and in-game events being consistent with the logic of the setting, so that your suspension of disbelief isn't broken.

Third component is care - you need some good enough reason to care about all that happens in game - the methods to achieve this can vary wildly.

Fourth and least important component is formed by technicals - perspective, audiovisuals, etc. They can be extremely helpful, but never critical - imagination can go a long way without those.

How about a game mechanic where hordes of bloodthirsty NPCs/Thargoids or police turn up and start vapourising anyone saying "LOLOLOL Noobz!!!" or similar?

Seriously...

Then they will be saying "L0L0L0L N00b2!!!" instead.

 

[Jack Booted Thug]

The most immersive experience I have had lately was when the Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead Mod "DayZ" was released.

Due to the aspect of permanent death and the mil-sim aspect of Arma 2 the firefights got the heart racing (literally) and were very tense indeed. The game was a psychological thriller.

This effect began to wear off as the game dynamic became familiar and many of the exploits and bugs became more apparent. This was especially the case when people began to hack the game.

Those first couple of months though were an amazing experience.


I am curious as to whether the Iron Man mode in Elite Dangerous will bring such a thrill.



The root dynamic of this pychological thrill was definitely the permanent death aspect. Thus every decision in either a combat situation or even a potential combat situation had great importance attached to it.

 

[KING5TON]

Having dabbled with an Occulus Rift Dev kit I'd say the inclusion of support for it in E: D is the biggest news regarding immersion.
I've been crossing my fingers for it for some time.

You will never feels as immersed in the game as you do when it appears that you are actually in the game world due to the rift.
Even with the low resolution and the fact that it's basically a prototype the dev kit was mind blowing when I first fired up Titans of space and gawped at the planets on display.

The retail version may be a while off but if they release a HD version of the dev kit (which I hear rumors there might be) then I'll be all over it like white on rice.

 

[Patrick_68000]

ED will be immersive like Elite, FE.
I agree with Mobius all immersive games I've played was single player.

On the contrary, I think that multi-players will more be immersif. They will move closer to us to the reality, thus more immersif

 

[Susimetsa]

On the contrary, I think that multi-players will more be immersif. They will move closer to us to the reality, thus more immersif

Not really. If you have played any MMOs in the past, you will be hard-pressed to find human players who even want to get immersed into the game world. Most of them are just playing a game.

Hence, my earlier post about the difference between immersion and engagement.

 

[warbaby2]

Having dabbled with an Occulus Rift Dev kit I'd say the inclusion of support for it in E: D is the biggest news regarding immersion...

Agreed, E.D will tremendously benefit from the rift, as will most other games that will support it. The OR may very well be the next revolution in gaming, and the best thing: It will be pretty much PC exclusive, since consoles are not flexible enough to truly support it. I can't wait to actually look around in the cockpit of my Cobra Mk III...

That being said: The level of immersion players feel greatly depends on the game design, though...

 

[Patrick_68000]

Not really. If you have played any MMOs in the past, you will be hard-pressed to find human players who even want to get immersed into the game world. Most of them are just playing a game.

Hence, my earlier post about the difference between immersion and engagement.

It is true that some players could break immersion and remind us that we play a game. But I played Frontier Elite II in single player, of course, and now I can not see myself not playing ED in multiplayer

 

[Variform]

Immersion is "being there".

First and most critical component of immersion is premise not straining your suspension of disbelief

Second component is internal logic of the setting remaining consistent and in-game events being consistent with the logic of the setting, so that your suspension of disbelief isn't broken.

Third component is care -


Fourth and least important component is formed by technicals - perspective, audiovisuals, etc. They can be extremely helpful, but never critical - imagination can go a long way without those.

Good stuff.

Immersion is also, believable missions. Or content if you widen it up. For me a mission becomes immersive when the reasons to do it become lifelike. I don't like simple mission structures where you get hired to hunt down a pirate because he is a pirate.

I want to know he blasted a ship, stole the cargo and left the crew to die a slow death where he could have saved them by anonymously send word out to another vessel so they could assist his victim.

I want it mentioned that one of the crew was the youngest daughter of an Imperial Legislator, who got quite displeased and used loads of his own money to find who killed his daughter.

And then you take the contract and get the option in the comms panel to make it personal: 'My name is Guybrush Threepwood, prepare to die by order of the father of a woman you killed. Or maybe just 'I am selling these fine leather jackets.'

 

[Herik]

For me, what makes any game immersive is the feeling of being in an environment that I don't know. Therefore, my mind is forced to be attentive and pick up the most subtle and the most obvious clues in the environment - sound, movement, shadows, little and large objects, etc. So a large part of gameplay is exploring in most games, without rushing ahead. The more new, unexpected levels of detail (seen and unseen, obvious and subliminal) that a game has to find, the more immersive it feels to me.

What breaks immersion for me is playing with others in multiplayer who "know" the environment so well that it just becomes a race to the best vantage points. You might as well put them in a green-screen envrionment because nothing "surprises" or "interests" them. They just want to get to the spot that memory tells them is the best for whatever reason - sniping, collecting treasures, etc.

I reckon the key to making multiplayer games stay immersive is randomising the environments and creating new game assets all of the time. That way, everybody is always a "noob" and nobody can have an advantage except for their own skills. Also, having new assets appearing will ensure people keep exploring the environment, rather than just playing for kill points.

Very interesting djh; I think agree with you...

 

[Herik]

It's a sticky thing, isn't it? If immersion is total suspension of disbelief and being completely in character & in universe, then I agree multiplayer is anathema to that. It's like watching a movie where a large chunk of the actors are pointing at the camera and making faces. You just can't get into the experience when you're constantly reminded that what you're doing is watching a bunch of guys act rather than seeing a real story unfold.

If being immersed is more about being completely engaged in the experience and enjoying the possibility space presented by the game then it doesn't matter if it's single or multiplayer. If you ask any die-hard WoW or EVE player if they feel immersed in the experience I'll bet you dollars (pounds?) to donuts that they'd say yes.

Both ED and SC are trying to walk the line between pure multiplayer and single player experiences. I feel for the single-player advocates out there, since I consider myself one of you. I'm willing to see how it pans out. Gotta support innovation, right? Otherwise we'd all still be playing Pong.

Thankfully Jenner; I think Elite Dangerous will provide the degree of immersion we all would like. Some of us more (single player), many less, ... multiplayer.

 

[DrBaggy]

For me, it's the realistic physics. That made Elite more immersive despite wireframe graphics than any numbers of prettified space sims.

 

[Jenner]

Thankfully Jenner; I think Elite Dangerous will provide the degree of immersion we all would like. Some of us more (single player), many less, ... multiplayer.

Everything I've seen so far points to a high degree of immersion. Whether the multiplayer diminishes that is yet to be seen.

 

[warbaby2]

As I said earlier: It's all about WHAT immerses one in a game... some things E.D will be able to provide, some not so much.

For me, immersion comes from the believability of the world immerse myself into. That doesn't mean it has to be realistic, mind you, it just should function under believable rules. Like, say, Skyrim is a fantasy world in which every NPC, monster and item has a place... every game mechanic makes sense in the bigger picture.

Also: A virtual world has to feel alive... one problem I always had with EVE was: It's a universe of 100ks of worlds, but everyone I ever met was either a player, or a station NPC... who are pretty much talking heads giving you missions. I never felt any of the rich lore that was supposed to be there.

Finally: Visual presentation has to homogenous... one art style and flair should be represented everywhere in the game.

That are immersion factors for me...

 

[Variform]

The same style all over works against my sense of immersion. The real world isn't like that. Go into a busy street and there is nothing homogeneous around to see. Of course your local main street will be different from one on another continent.

But to me, as a wanna-be writer, I have always liked to do the off-thing. As soon as some baseline assumption of the world has been established and became ingrained in most people dealing with it, I like to add contrast.

So I take one of the established universal facts and then use that to create a scenario to oppose it, create the antitheses perhaps, or create friction. In doing so you affirm the baseline universe but immediately make it interesting by challenging the status quo.

Identifiability is alright, but the world or universe isn't a collection of logo's and corporate house styles. So to me, believability is a subset of diversity. So in describing the odd thing you both affirm the expectation as well as challenge it.

What makes an exciting immersive experience or a nice adventurous story, is the different road taken.

 

[Riandor]

Immersive for me is when i can imagine myself in the game or in the story. The OR will visually aid with that due to helping cut out the pc screen effect. But for the game to be truly immersive it takes more than that... A game has to feel like more than numbers, more than vantage points, more than just trade routes which just feed you credits until you have the biggest ship.

Those things can engage you, give you structured concepts if progression, but true immersion is getting caught up in a damocles esque scenario, escaping with your life and telling your mates about it (possibly to weird looks).

Lolz noob and other chatter ruins the effect quite frequently, it pulls me out of the universe and story and reminds me im playing a game that many are trying to turn into a ing contest. Fine just about for fps maps, but poor for MMOs.

I look forward with great interest to see how ED immerses me into its fold.

 

[W4rSkuLL]

I got a moment of immersion earlier today in BF4. Running the game on max graphics with 2 780 GTX cards is fantastic. I was playing an island/sea map. Cant remeber its name though. But the weather suddenly changed and I found myself onboard a boat in full storm duelling with another boat. The waves was huge and the water roaring. While cannons and mgfire rained. Then I jumped out of the boat and was riding the waves while the boats jumped over waves and fought out the strange battle over my head. Hehe. Crazy stuff in BF 4 on full graphics .Then I swam ashore

 

[Mobius]

I got a moment of immersion earlier today in BF4. Running the game on max graphics with 2 780 GTX cards is fantastic. I was playing an island/sea map. Cant remeber its name though. But the weather suddenly changed and I found myself onboard a boat in full storm duelling with another boat. The waves was huge and the water roaring. While cannons and mgfire rained. Then I jumped out of the boat and was riding the waves while the boats jumped over waves and fought out the strange battle over my head. Hehe. Crazy stuff in BF 4 on full graphics .Then I swam ashore

was that in single player or multiplayer?