I've been sucked up into "omg it's 4AM!" by several RTS games, but I wouldn't really call that "immersion" so much as "easy to lose track of time in turn-based games".
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Final Fantasy XI, hands down, best experience in an MMO I've had.
Not having quest markers leading me through the game by the nose was great for immersion. Having to find all the quests by talking to all the NPCs was an awesome thing I wish more games would do.
The experience of running across zones and actually feeling like I was in danger because the creatures didn't have their difficulty on blatant display with colored names and knowing that pretty much everything within my level range was going to eat my lunch and 10% of my next level XP was thrilling. Getting from point A to point B was sometimes as exciting as battling the beasts.
Games are just not that exciting any more. There's no danger, no challenge. It's all poin/click/win to accomodate the Lowest Common Denominator.
-- immersion is do I care about this alternative reality
we do it all the time when watching a movie or tv show you enjoy --- or reading a good fiction
I agree! The typical definition that people give for immersion—you know, total suspension of disbelief, forgetting that the game is not real life—is an exaggeration of what we really experience when playing games or enjoying other forms of entertainment. And the less dramatic definition—losing track of time, paying attention to nothing but what's going on in the game—is more like "entertainment" than "immersion". Anything that entertains you can do that to you.
When you care about the characters and the world even while you are aware that they aren't real, that's immersion. When you feel yourself experiencing real sadness or real anger over some fictional character or event. Immersion is when you think what's happening is important. (It's not... it's a video game.) The best way for me to describe it would be to describe the opposite effect, which is when you don't care at all about the characters or the world. When you can uninstall a game right in the middle of a quest or throw away a book right in the middle of an important plot point, it's because you didn't care what happened to those people. And I think that's a more useful definition because it's something that you definitely cannot get without many factors coming together. You need sound and visuals and story to all be right in order to appeal to your audience's emotions.
Final Fantasy XI, hands down, best experience in an MMO I've had.
Not having quest markers leading me through the game by the nose was great for immersion. Having to find all the quests by talking to all the NPCs was an awesome thing I wish more games would do.
The experience of running across zones and actually feeling like I was in danger because the creatures didn't have their difficulty on blatant display with colored names and knowing that pretty much everything within my level range was going to eat my lunch and 10% of my next level XP was thrilling. Getting from point A to point B was sometimes as exciting as battling the beasts.
Games are just not that exciting any more. There's no danger, no challenge. It's all poin/click/win to accomodate the Lowest Common Denominator.
MMOs are a weak genre now.
yup was going to post about FFXI
the game has now bad graphics but the inmersion is 100% guarenteed
The first part of Fallout 3. You can sort of pretend you got dropped into a strange world, have to start looking for weapons and equipment and scrounging for ammo.
But then it just turns into just another thousand-pound-backpack, everything's-a-bullet-sponge, run-and-gun, instant-heal-potion FPS.
Comments
I've been sucked up into "omg it's 4AM!" by several RTS games, but I wouldn't really call that "immersion" so much as "easy to lose track of time in turn-based games".
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
for me immersion is not lack of sleep or food
-- immersion is do I care about this alternative reality
we do it all the time when watching a movie or tv show you enjoy --- or reading a good fiction
EQ2 fan sites
For MMORPGs:
SWTOR
Anarchy Online
Darkfall
SWG
For other games:
Tribes
Doom 2
Quake
Oblivion
Morrowind
KOTOR 1 and 2
Fallout 3
probably more that I am forgetting.
Final Fantasy XI, hands down, best experience in an MMO I've had.
Not having quest markers leading me through the game by the nose was great for immersion. Having to find all the quests by talking to all the NPCs was an awesome thing I wish more games would do.
The experience of running across zones and actually feeling like I was in danger because the creatures didn't have their difficulty on blatant display with colored names and knowing that pretty much everything within my level range was going to eat my lunch and 10% of my next level XP was thrilling. Getting from point A to point B was sometimes as exciting as battling the beasts.
Games are just not that exciting any more. There's no danger, no challenge. It's all poin/click/win to accomodate the Lowest Common Denominator.
MMOs are a weak genre now.
I agree! The typical definition that people give for immersion—you know, total suspension of disbelief, forgetting that the game is not real life—is an exaggeration of what we really experience when playing games or enjoying other forms of entertainment. And the less dramatic definition—losing track of time, paying attention to nothing but what's going on in the game—is more like "entertainment" than "immersion". Anything that entertains you can do that to you.
When you care about the characters and the world even while you are aware that they aren't real, that's immersion. When you feel yourself experiencing real sadness or real anger over some fictional character or event. Immersion is when you think what's happening is important. (It's not... it's a video game.) The best way for me to describe it would be to describe the opposite effect, which is when you don't care at all about the characters or the world. When you can uninstall a game right in the middle of a quest or throw away a book right in the middle of an important plot point, it's because you didn't care what happened to those people. And I think that's a more useful definition because it's something that you definitely cannot get without many factors coming together. You need sound and visuals and story to all be right in order to appeal to your audience's emotions.
yup was going to post about FFXI
the game has now bad graphics but the inmersion is 100% guarenteed
the game is full of life , full details
the cutscenes helped a lot
or
perfect examples
For Me, the best immersion tool is first person only. When you have to actively pivot your field of vision to look for things, that's immersive.
Aside from that my two most immersive games were EQ1 and DAoC, but they both may have had more to do with the people I was in game with.
Ultima Online (pre 99)
Baldurs Gates I
Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness
Gothic I
"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted.
Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world."
Hans Margolius
The first part of Fallout 3. You can sort of pretend you got dropped into a strange world, have to start looking for weapons and equipment and scrounging for ammo.
But then it just turns into just another thousand-pound-backpack, everything's-a-bullet-sponge, run-and-gun, instant-heal-potion FPS.