None of these things breaks immersion for me. What breaks immersion for me are invisible walls, horrible sound effects/music, npc's just standing in one spot all the time, and moronic players using words like "lulz" and "fail".
The number one immersion breaker for me is chat. It destroys everything when I read chat and people are talking about WoW or some game they saw last night.
Teamspeak/Vent - I do not want to know that the little dwarf chick is a 40 year old paste-eater with a lisp... I do not want to hear about how your cute little kitty is walking on your keyboard, or pissing on the rug... I don't CARE what you are eating/drinking/wearing/watching/listening to/whatever.
Zones - The world I live in is not cut up into discrete little pieces. There is no pause or loading screen when I cross the street or go from one city/state to the next.
Being able to carry about 4 tons worth of crap without ever getting tired, stuck, or even slowing down.
Useless armor -- while I agree that a lot of the skimpy female armor is a bit gratiudous, you can make several arguments for it - less armor means more mobility to avoid blows, showing some skin can be used as a distraction, and - not specific to females, but in regards to the coment about the Mesmer - magic-users have always had to content with less armor than the brutes in the party.
Children - after that little GW bash on the Me's armor I would mention here that GW actually has children running around some of the outposts and there are a few quests that involve children.
What breaks immersion for me more than anything are cartoonish looks.
This list makes me shake my head. A lot of the points seem so tiny and so insignificant to me. Some I just disagree with completely, others I only half agree with.
5.) Running Everywhere
Games are meant as quick paced events. Sure, you can complain about this in maybe a more 'social' MMo going around realism, but people don't want to snail crawl. People HAVE real lives and they don't WANT to waste time slowly crawling to a destination and give them less time to actually play. D2 stamina was one of my least favorite parts about the game. It agitated me more then anything and was far more of an annoance then anything. Sure, I don't mind a sprint ability for quick movement thats limited, but if your stuck walking everywhere it just feels so sluggish and feel like "if I was really here in RL, I could do this better" which pretty much is an immersion breaker to me.
4.) Mount Riding Indoors
Something on the list I do feel can belong here, yay! I honestly see mounts working indoors. Lets face it, if people want to, they can walk in a home with a horse. Its one of those 'rules' we follow in RL that nothing really is stopping us from. What I dislike is seeing a huge mount moving through indoor areas that just makes no sense to me. I'm one that personally dislikes mounts to begin with (I know, ironic since my first point was about not enjoying 'walking') but when it comes to immersion, a mount shouldn't be able to fit through a tiny door.
3.) Children
I do actually agree to some degree, though lets just take in consideration this. If you had a child and a blood bath and violence was paradeing around the streets of your town, and danger was actively prevelant, would you really want your kids out doors and near the danger? Sure, they should be involved in the game worlds more, having a bit more presence, but you got to consider your not going to be seeing children so carelessly tossed into the fray.
2.) Wonder Bras, G-Strings, Spiked Heels & Evening Wear in the Field
Agree with this in part. I find it rather dumb with some of the designs. A fantasy setting can have some more intricate designs behind it. I can see things being a little bit more 'showy' or a little less realistic if its done in the right way, otherwise you will have walking tin man verse walking tin man. It gets a bit rediculous seeing such skimpy wear on female armor in particular. Call it funny, but if I play a female character (which I do actually depending on the game/class, I know I'm weird) I don't want her to look like a tramp at all. Armor can look fancy but it needs to have some merit behind it.
1) Oversized Weapons
I disagree with this, though I do have some gripes with it. We play MMos for a fantasy world. Huge weapons are actually something we find as 'wow my character is bad ass!" kind of deal. I think its no where near immersion breaking so long as it has some realistic value. That being said, I do find animations and other effects of these weapons lack luster. Sure, have a huge sword, but its nice if some consideration was in effect for its size. Sure you can be super human and weild a giant sword like its nothing, but your still going to have to adjust for its size for swinging and the like.
________________________________
Why wasn't the biggest killer of immersion mentioned? Flying Mounts. Its something that seems to be forgotten about too often. As soon as you can fly over the danger and all the sights, you lose all the awe. Sure, its entertaining if your using some form of transportation like maybe an airship where you see everything so far below, but if your in control and can fly around, you have successfully made what could of been a relatively creepy zone into just "Eh". Flying mounts kill immersion so much and just leave a stale taste in your mouth and really don't let you get to enjoy the environments.
I normally don't care much for immersion, unless it's something that looks & feels glaringly wrong or out of place. Like when I enter certain zones in LOTRO I'm greeted with NPCs with money over their heads telling me that I have to spend my hard earned cash to experience the trash quest they have on offer. Or in Rift, these so-called Capital cities feel so small and with being able mount everywhere now, I can explore all of the Sanctum in 2mins.
There are several other immersion breaking issues I've had with the few MMOs I've played, but it really doesn't matter that much to me now, seeing how 1 of the 2 games I am looking to play (Guild Wars 2), will provide me with an exeprience where I won't even have to think about my immersion being broken. Heck, the game has cities that feel like cities (and there're child NPCs).
2. General/Global chat channels giving access to those mentioned in 1.
3. see 1/2
4. see 1/2/3
5. in game advertising...such as - not even pre nerf BFRs (or even hackers-although they just ruined the fun) in Planetside ruined my immersion more than loading in to the sanctuary and seeing above the equipment terminals a video of some fake cenataur dude in the shower telling me how cool AXE shower gel was when i am trying to pick my guns and ammo.
This list makes me shake my head. A lot of the points seem so tiny and so insignificant to me. Some I just disagree with completely, others I only half agree with.
5.) Running Everywhere
Games are meant as quick paced events. Sure, you can complain about this in maybe a more 'social' MMo going around realism, but people don't want to snail crawl. People HAVE real lives and they don't WANT to waste time slowly crawling to a destination and give them less time to actually play. D2 stamina was one of my least favorite parts about the game. It agitated me more then anything and was far more of an annoance then anything. Sure, I don't mind a sprint ability for quick movement thats limited, but if your stuck walking everywhere it just feels so sluggish and feel like "if I was really here in RL, I could do this better" which pretty much is an immersion breaker to me.
4.) Mount Riding Indoors
Something on the list I do feel can belong here, yay! I honestly see mounts working indoors. Lets face it, if people want to, they can walk in a home with a horse. Its one of those 'rules' we follow in RL that nothing really is stopping us from. What I dislike is seeing a huge mount moving through indoor areas that just makes no sense to me. I'm one that personally dislikes mounts to begin with (I know, ironic since my first point was about not enjoying 'walking') but when it comes to immersion, a mount shouldn't be able to fit through a tiny door.
3.) Children
I do actually agree to some degree, though lets just take in consideration this. If you had a child and a blood bath and violence was paradeing around the streets of your town, and danger was actively prevelant, would you really want your kids out doors and near the danger? Sure, they should be involved in the game worlds more, having a bit more presence, but you got to consider your not going to be seeing children so carelessly tossed into the fray.
2.) Wonder Bras, G-Strings, Spiked Heels & Evening Wear in the Field
Agree with this in part. I find it rather dumb with some of the designs. A fantasy setting can have some more intricate designs behind it. I can see things being a little bit more 'showy' or a little less realistic if its done in the right way, otherwise you will have walking tin man verse walking tin man. It gets a bit rediculous seeing such skimpy wear on female armor in particular. Call it funny, but if I play a female character (which I do actually depending on the game/class, I know I'm weird) I don't want her to look like a tramp at all. Armor can look fancy but it needs to have some merit behind it.
1) Oversized Weapons
I disagree with this, though I do have some gripes with it. We play MMos for a fantasy world. Huge weapons are actually something we find as 'wow my character is bad ass!" kind of deal. I think its no where near immersion breaking so long as it has some realistic value. That being said, I do find animations and other effects of these weapons lack luster. Sure, have a huge sword, but its nice if some consideration was in effect for its size. Sure you can be super human and weild a giant sword like its nothing, but your still going to have to adjust for its size for swinging and the like.
________________________________
Why wasn't the biggest killer of immersion mentioned? Flying Mounts. Its something that seems to be forgotten about too often. As soon as you can fly over the danger and all the sights, you lose all the awe. Sure, its entertaining if your using some form of transportation like maybe an airship where you see everything so far below, but if your in control and can fly around, you have successfully made what could of been a relatively creepy zone into just "Eh". Flying mounts kill immersion so much and just leave a stale taste in your mouth and really don't let you get to enjoy the environments.
I disagree with flying mounts causing lack of immersion. It depends on the game to be honest. Play Vanguard and when you fly on a mount it actually increases immersion and that "awe" factor tenfold.
1) Linear quest based games. I cant stand being led along like a little errand boy, doing quests in zone A, get done deliver a letter to zone B to find a whole slew of new quests that when your done leads to zone C. MMO's should be a world, you should have vast options on what to do, and where to do it. That rollercoaster is a big immersion breaker.
2) Quest based games The problem for me here is stupid little quests give big exp, think about it if you want to get better with your sword, what should you be doing? Going out and using that sword? Or in town being a little errand boy?, Its pretty simple if you want to be a better with your sword you should have to be using it. Practice makes pefect. Ok you get a quest to go kill 10 of something..... Great you go kill them, you get minimal exp, you turn in quest for huge exp. Theres something wrong with this picture. Quest based mmo's have degraded so far I cant even play them anymore.
3) Bunny Hoppers I am to the point now I would rather the game not have a jump feature, than have it just because of the jump spammers.
4)Oversized Weapons and armor No need to add more on this.
5) Naming policy We have all seen the problems.
Waiting for:EQ-Next, ArcheAge (not so much anymore) Now Playing: N/A Worst MMO: FFXIV Favorite MMO: FFXI
My character died - wait, a minute later, I'm right back into the middle of things? I understand the reasons (network, bugs, party-unity, grief-enabling, psychological break points where people might quit) why permadeath isn't popular, but games like Eve have shown that there are ways to create mechanics that make you really stop and think carefully about the resources (ship) you are carrying out into an adventure.
To be fair, NPC bosses are also also usually back up and at full health a few minutes after being slain, so at least there is some symmetry, even if every single quest-giver seems to sincerely believe that killing creatures/bosses will actually solve their problem.
One of the worst examples of this horrible trend was in the original Guild Wars. Think Mesmers here. I mean come on. My poor Mesmer had to run around in leather and lace with a party mask on. While I realize that MMOs are supposed to stretch the bounds of reality, this was simply too much.
Wow, seriously? Out of all MMOs out there you went with GW and Mesmer? You could've at least went with Elementalist or something if that was your aim.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
I understand some 'basics' need to be on the screen (chat, calling up a map even, health/status bars). Detriment and buff windows I would say are needed, but they become an eyesore when you have 10+ icons on them at any one time.
But my biggest pet peeve is the NEED for hotbars galore on the screen to play most effeciently. Sure I could simply only have one hotbar on the screen, which would require I either simply not have most of my skills on hotbars or constantly scrolling through different hotbar setups in my one hotbar, or worse yet macroing multiple skills to one button (lol skill). Luckily some games have already solved this. GW 1 and 2 as well as DCUO come to mind, allowing and only requiring 1 hotbar for combat. This also forces a need for strategy, opposed to hotbaring all your skills and mashing away *cough*SWTOR*cough* This also ties in with the other facet that kills immersion:
Poor implementation of combat
Mostly due to needing a bunch of hotbars, clicking rows of bars or pushing rows of keys really doesn't make me feel like I'm 'in the fray' more like I am instructing some completely different person how to fight. Also having to wait some 1-1.5 seconds betwen every act due to a GCD further pulls me out of the game. KB/M works well for FPS games but otherwise a controller provides the most immersion for combat, I find.
* Asian style. Oversized weapons, high heels, running while unnaturally leaned forward, muscular males like gay top models, females like porn stars and stuff and just ugly graphics overall. Although i'm really waiting for Archeage.
* Stylized graphics (childish, cartoonish) Huge spiky shoulders, silly animations, world like in a fairytale. Just can't feel myself in a living world, it rather feels like i'm in a fairytale or Disney Cartoon.
Mob loot doesn't match the gear they're clearly using. You just killed a mob that was wearing a set of plate mail and whacking at you with a giant axe but when you check the loot, there's nothing but a few copper pieces to be had.
Voice chat.
The Public, OOC, General, Trade and all other public channels on just about every MMO in existence.
Mounts that spring into existence on demand and disappear when no longer needed.
You'll never win the argument to dress females in proper armor on this site. Men just don't get why we women object to our avatars being dressed like harlots. If I hear " it's a fantasy world" one more time I will break my keyboard. The real immersion breaker for me is high heels. Really? Practical monster hunting shoes? Women can barely walk in high heels, let alone fight monsters.
The real problem isn't how many gamers are men or women, its how many game developers are men. They are the ones creating these ridiculous outfits. Please, at least give us a choice for non-whorish armor, so those guys who do want to play streetwalkers stll can, and those who want a warrior woman can have that too.
I have to love the irony of someone arguing against general sexist moronity by using general sexist moronity.
As to the article I think all your points are spot on Suzie. As to what I would add to the list from my own pet peeves, I'd say every and I mean EVERY character having the body of a greek god, and games where adventuring means just going out and whacking things with somehing heavy. About the only MMO I've played that offered alternatives was LOTRO with the hobbit quests.
I'd add my two cents about the issues of the silly chain mail bikinis and bulletproof nudity to help give you a man's perspective on the subject, but considering posters like the one I quoted, I feel there is probably very little point in doing so.
I will at least say that yes sadly sex does sell, but what annoys me is that marketing departments in every aspect of the entertainment industry seem to have have come to the conclusuon that it is the ONLY thing that does.
I've heard the arguments again and again. In the aggragate they amount to" It's a fantasy world, get over it." Of course it's a generalization, but if it wasn't true for the majority of men, why hasn't it been changed? TERA is looking to be one of the worst offenders. And being an Asian game doesn't excuse it. So it is still happening. There must be a reason, and I doubt that most women are clamoring for it.
@Senadina: Apparently you've never been to or have seen any footage on Blizzcon, Comicon or any game-related conference for that matter. Those places are either a haven for transsexuals and transvestites or those are indeed women that are half-naked almost everywhere I look.
Did you not shop for a costume or go to any Halloween parties this year. Seventy percent (or higher) of the costumes both in stores and those women were wearing were an excuse to come as close to being as naked as possible without the threat of being arrested for indecency.
If you believe it to be a man-thing, you are simply choosing to ignore reality.
Riding Mounts Indoors, Horrible Idiotic Names and seeing Pop-Culture related quests and items (ie CSI in Westfall) are the biggies for me!
My text is green because my posts are created with Willpower!
Three phases of immersion. It's hard to find a game that fills all 3, perhaps SWToR can cover #3 ? well up until the point when the npc ask you to go kill 10 ratdroids in the desert and report back
Tactical immersion
Tactical immersion is experienced when performing tactile operations that involve skill. Players feel "in the zone" while perfecting actions that result in success.
Strategic immersion
Strategic immersion is more cerebral, and is associated with mental challenge. Chess players experience strategic immersion when choosing a correct solution among a broad array of possibilities.
Narrative immersion
Narrative immersion occurs when players become invested in a story, and is similar to what is experienced while reading a book or watching a movie.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
You'll never win the argument to dress females in proper armor on this site. Men just don't get why we women object to our avatars being dressed like harlots. If I hear " it's a fantasy world" one more time I will break my keyboard. The real immersion breaker for me is high heels. Really? Practical monster hunting shoes? Women can barely walk in high heels, let alone fight monsters.
The real problem isn't how many gamers are men or women, its how many game developers are men. They are the ones creating these ridiculous outfits. Please, at least give us a choice for non-whorish armor, so those guys who do want to play streetwalkers stll can, and those who want a warrior woman can have that too.
You certainly have my support here! This idea to put female chars essentially into whores, as you so rightly put it, is not only morally questionable, but also hilarious and childish. Sometimes you need to see something out of context to realize HOW wrong something is:
Just image we'd live in a matriarchal culture instead of a partiarchal one, where male would be made into objects the way women are now. Gamers have, in many topics, so far blocked all ethical questions and all dialogue about humanity and society out and away, gamers are a sort of the last bastion of 1950ies gender stereotypes. But you are right of course, the problem is not so much how gamers are, it's how almost ALL game developers are men! I haven't seen ANY other industry or service sector than gaming which is so male-centered and apparently seems to give women no jobs and no leading positions in game companies.
I also assume men are often too goal and competition - oriented. It shows in our games. Maybe more women as game developers would also help to create more creative games.
I agree to all 5 points of the article, and they sort of bother me too. Not strong, but enough. There is just so much "kitsch" in MMOs, so many bad and overdone stereotypes... it's not fun anymore. I think the bitter truth is: in the past, gaming was something for fewer people with a bit more in their minds. Today gaming developed into something for the masses, and the masses are always necessarily dumb.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Agree with 3-5. Hate 1 & 2, I don't care if they add more realistic armor and weapons, but don't take it out of games. I hate realism, having unrealistic stuff doesn't break my immersion at all. Things that really do:
1. Loading Screens.
2. Invisible Walls.
3. Hearing other real peoples voices.
Developers shouldn't change aesthetics of their games (ex: unrealistic armor and weapons) just to satisfy certain people, because at what point do they stop making it realistic? I don't know a soul who wants a 100% realistic game. To me, having people shoot fireballs out of their hands is 100xs more unrealistic than oversized armor, tiny armor and weapons, others think having a 4 toed wolf is a huge immersion breaker. Keeping the world the way you imagined (even realistic) will ultimately satisfy the most people in my opinion.
"Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds talk about people." - Eleanor Roosevelt "Americans used to roar like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security." -Norman Vincent Peale
Comments
None of these things breaks immersion for me. What breaks immersion for me are invisible walls, horrible sound effects/music, npc's just standing in one spot all the time, and moronic players using words like "lulz" and "fail".
The number one immersion breaker for me is chat. It destroys everything when I read chat and people are talking about WoW or some game they saw last night.
Teamspeak/Vent - I do not want to know that the little dwarf chick is a 40 year old paste-eater with a lisp... I do not want to hear about how your cute little kitty is walking on your keyboard, or pissing on the rug... I don't CARE what you are eating/drinking/wearing/watching/listening to/whatever.
Zones - The world I live in is not cut up into discrete little pieces. There is no pause or loading screen when I cross the street or go from one city/state to the next.
Being able to carry about 4 tons worth of crap without ever getting tired, stuck, or even slowing down.
Useless armor -- while I agree that a lot of the skimpy female armor is a bit gratiudous, you can make several arguments for it - less armor means more mobility to avoid blows, showing some skin can be used as a distraction, and - not specific to females, but in regards to the coment about the Mesmer - magic-users have always had to content with less armor than the brutes in the party.
Children - after that little GW bash on the Me's armor I would mention here that GW actually has children running around some of the outposts and there are a few quests that involve children.
What breaks immersion for me more than anything are cartoonish looks.
Leaving First Person view kills immersion. You are no longer your character; it's your toon, not you, walking around.
This list makes me shake my head. A lot of the points seem so tiny and so insignificant to me. Some I just disagree with completely, others I only half agree with.
5.) Running Everywhere
Games are meant as quick paced events. Sure, you can complain about this in maybe a more 'social' MMo going around realism, but people don't want to snail crawl. People HAVE real lives and they don't WANT to waste time slowly crawling to a destination and give them less time to actually play. D2 stamina was one of my least favorite parts about the game. It agitated me more then anything and was far more of an annoance then anything. Sure, I don't mind a sprint ability for quick movement thats limited, but if your stuck walking everywhere it just feels so sluggish and feel like "if I was really here in RL, I could do this better" which pretty much is an immersion breaker to me.
4.) Mount Riding Indoors
Something on the list I do feel can belong here, yay! I honestly see mounts working indoors. Lets face it, if people want to, they can walk in a home with a horse. Its one of those 'rules' we follow in RL that nothing really is stopping us from. What I dislike is seeing a huge mount moving through indoor areas that just makes no sense to me. I'm one that personally dislikes mounts to begin with (I know, ironic since my first point was about not enjoying 'walking') but when it comes to immersion, a mount shouldn't be able to fit through a tiny door.
3.) Children
I do actually agree to some degree, though lets just take in consideration this. If you had a child and a blood bath and violence was paradeing around the streets of your town, and danger was actively prevelant, would you really want your kids out doors and near the danger? Sure, they should be involved in the game worlds more, having a bit more presence, but you got to consider your not going to be seeing children so carelessly tossed into the fray.
2.) Wonder Bras, G-Strings, Spiked Heels & Evening Wear in the Field
Agree with this in part. I find it rather dumb with some of the designs. A fantasy setting can have some more intricate designs behind it. I can see things being a little bit more 'showy' or a little less realistic if its done in the right way, otherwise you will have walking tin man verse walking tin man. It gets a bit rediculous seeing such skimpy wear on female armor in particular. Call it funny, but if I play a female character (which I do actually depending on the game/class, I know I'm weird) I don't want her to look like a tramp at all. Armor can look fancy but it needs to have some merit behind it.
1) Oversized Weapons
I disagree with this, though I do have some gripes with it. We play MMos for a fantasy world. Huge weapons are actually something we find as 'wow my character is bad ass!" kind of deal. I think its no where near immersion breaking so long as it has some realistic value. That being said, I do find animations and other effects of these weapons lack luster. Sure, have a huge sword, but its nice if some consideration was in effect for its size. Sure you can be super human and weild a giant sword like its nothing, but your still going to have to adjust for its size for swinging and the like.
________________________________
Why wasn't the biggest killer of immersion mentioned? Flying Mounts. Its something that seems to be forgotten about too often. As soon as you can fly over the danger and all the sights, you lose all the awe. Sure, its entertaining if your using some form of transportation like maybe an airship where you see everything so far below, but if your in control and can fly around, you have successfully made what could of been a relatively creepy zone into just "Eh". Flying mounts kill immersion so much and just leave a stale taste in your mouth and really don't let you get to enjoy the environments.
I normally don't care much for immersion, unless it's something that looks & feels glaringly wrong or out of place. Like when I enter certain zones in LOTRO I'm greeted with NPCs with money over their heads telling me that I have to spend my hard earned cash to experience the trash quest they have on offer. Or in Rift, these so-called Capital cities feel so small and with being able mount everywhere now, I can explore all of the Sanctum in 2mins.
There are several other immersion breaking issues I've had with the few MMOs I've played, but it really doesn't matter that much to me now, seeing how 1 of the 2 games I am looking to play (Guild Wars 2), will provide me with an exeprience where I won't even have to think about my immersion being broken. Heck, the game has cities that feel like cities (and there're child NPCs).
top 5 immersion breakers for me?
1. Huge portion of the community
2. General/Global chat channels giving access to those mentioned in 1.
3. see 1/2
4. see 1/2/3
5. in game advertising...such as - not even pre nerf BFRs (or even hackers-although they just ruined the fun) in Planetside ruined my immersion more than loading in to the sanctuary and seeing above the equipment terminals a video of some fake cenataur dude in the shower telling me how cool AXE shower gel was when i am trying to pick my guns and ammo.
I disagree with flying mounts causing lack of immersion. It depends on the game to be honest. Play Vanguard and when you fly on a mount it actually increases immersion and that "awe" factor tenfold.
My list:
1) Linear quest based games. I cant stand being led along like a little errand boy, doing quests in zone A, get done deliver a letter to zone B to find a whole slew of new quests that when your done leads to zone C. MMO's should be a world, you should have vast options on what to do, and where to do it. That rollercoaster is a big immersion breaker.
2) Quest based games The problem for me here is stupid little quests give big exp, think about it if you want to get better with your sword, what should you be doing? Going out and using that sword? Or in town being a little errand boy?, Its pretty simple if you want to be a better with your sword you should have to be using it. Practice makes pefect. Ok you get a quest to go kill 10 of something..... Great you go kill them, you get minimal exp, you turn in quest for huge exp. Theres something wrong with this picture. Quest based mmo's have degraded so far I cant even play them anymore.
3) Bunny Hoppers I am to the point now I would rather the game not have a jump feature, than have it just because of the jump spammers.
4)Oversized Weapons and armor No need to add more on this.
5) Naming policy We have all seen the problems.
Waiting for:EQ-Next, ArcheAge (not so much anymore)
Now Playing: N/A
Worst MMO: FFXIV
Favorite MMO: FFXI
5. Phasing of public zones
4. Artificial world design and zone transitions
3. One-shotting town guards
2. Invisible walls
1. Too lenient death penalty
My brand new bloggity blog.
Too many loading screens and use of too much instancing like say, AOC, STO etc.
The biggest immersion breaker of all, to me, was voice chat. Closely followed by global chat channels.
The number one immersion-breaker for me is death.
My character died - wait, a minute later, I'm right back into the middle of things? I understand the reasons (network, bugs, party-unity, grief-enabling, psychological break points where people might quit) why permadeath isn't popular, but games like Eve have shown that there are ways to create mechanics that make you really stop and think carefully about the resources (ship) you are carrying out into an adventure.
To be fair, NPC bosses are also also usually back up and at full health a few minutes after being slain, so at least there is some symmetry, even if every single quest-giver seems to sincerely believe that killing creatures/bosses will actually solve their problem.
One of the worst examples of this horrible trend was in the original Guild Wars. Think Mesmers here. I mean come on. My poor Mesmer had to run around in leather and lace with a party mask on. While I realize that MMOs are supposed to stretch the bounds of reality, this was simply too much.
Wow, seriously? Out of all MMOs out there you went with GW and Mesmer? You could've at least went with Elementalist or something if that was your aim.
User interface.
I understand some 'basics' need to be on the screen (chat, calling up a map even, health/status bars). Detriment and buff windows I would say are needed, but they become an eyesore when you have 10+ icons on them at any one time.
But my biggest pet peeve is the NEED for hotbars galore on the screen to play most effeciently. Sure I could simply only have one hotbar on the screen, which would require I either simply not have most of my skills on hotbars or constantly scrolling through different hotbar setups in my one hotbar, or worse yet macroing multiple skills to one button (lol skill). Luckily some games have already solved this. GW 1 and 2 as well as DCUO come to mind, allowing and only requiring 1 hotbar for combat. This also forces a need for strategy, opposed to hotbaring all your skills and mashing away *cough*SWTOR*cough* This also ties in with the other facet that kills immersion:
Poor implementation of combat
Mostly due to needing a bunch of hotbars, clicking rows of bars or pushing rows of keys really doesn't make me feel like I'm 'in the fray' more like I am instructing some completely different person how to fight. Also having to wait some 1-1.5 seconds betwen every act due to a GCD further pulls me out of the game. KB/M works well for FPS games but otherwise a controller provides the most immersion for combat, I find.
* Cash shops
* Flying mounts or too fast ground mounts
* Quest grinding
* Asian style. Oversized weapons, high heels, running while unnaturally leaned forward, muscular males like gay top models, females like porn stars and stuff and just ugly graphics overall. Although i'm really waiting for Archeage.
* Stylized graphics (childish, cartoonish) Huge spiky shoulders, silly animations, world like in a fairytale. Just can't feel myself in a living world, it rather feels like i'm in a fairytale or Disney Cartoon.
Top immersion breakers for me:
@Senadina: Apparently you've never been to or have seen any footage on Blizzcon, Comicon or any game-related conference for that matter. Those places are either a haven for transsexuals and transvestites or those are indeed women that are half-naked almost everywhere I look.
Did you not shop for a costume or go to any Halloween parties this year. Seventy percent (or higher) of the costumes both in stores and those women were wearing were an excuse to come as close to being as naked as possible without the threat of being arrested for indecency.
If you believe it to be a man-thing, you are simply choosing to ignore reality.
Riding Mounts Indoors, Horrible Idiotic Names and seeing Pop-Culture related quests and items (ie CSI in Westfall) are the biggies for me!
Three phases of immersion. It's hard to find a game that fills all 3, perhaps SWToR can cover #3 ? well up until the point when the npc ask you to go kill 10 ratdroids in the desert and report back
Tactical immersion
Tactical immersion is experienced when performing tactile operations that involve skill. Players feel "in the zone" while perfecting actions that result in success.
Strategic immersion
Strategic immersion is more cerebral, and is associated with mental challenge. Chess players experience strategic immersion when choosing a correct solution among a broad array of possibilities.
Narrative immersion
Narrative immersion occurs when players become invested in a story, and is similar to what is experienced while reading a book or watching a movie.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
I'd like to add to the list: Terrible player names.
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
Funny how TERA seems to be the poster child for this list. One reason a lot of us won't bother to try it.
Another immersian breaker for me is gender locked classes.
You certainly have my support here! This idea to put female chars essentially into whores, as you so rightly put it, is not only morally questionable, but also hilarious and childish. Sometimes you need to see something out of context to realize HOW wrong something is:
Just image we'd live in a matriarchal culture instead of a partiarchal one, where male would be made into objects the way women are now. Gamers have, in many topics, so far blocked all ethical questions and all dialogue about humanity and society out and away, gamers are a sort of the last bastion of 1950ies gender stereotypes. But you are right of course, the problem is not so much how gamers are, it's how almost ALL game developers are men! I haven't seen ANY other industry or service sector than gaming which is so male-centered and apparently seems to give women no jobs and no leading positions in game companies.
I also assume men are often too goal and competition - oriented. It shows in our games. Maybe more women as game developers would also help to create more creative games.
I agree to all 5 points of the article, and they sort of bother me too. Not strong, but enough. There is just so much "kitsch" in MMOs, so many bad and overdone stereotypes... it's not fun anymore. I think the bitter truth is: in the past, gaming was something for fewer people with a bit more in their minds. Today gaming developed into something for the masses, and the masses are always necessarily dumb.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Agree with 3-5. Hate 1 & 2, I don't care if they add more realistic armor and weapons, but don't take it out of games. I hate realism, having unrealistic stuff doesn't break my immersion at all. Things that really do:
1. Loading Screens.
2. Invisible Walls.
3. Hearing other real peoples voices.
Developers shouldn't change aesthetics of their games (ex: unrealistic armor and weapons) just to satisfy certain people, because at what point do they stop making it realistic? I don't know a soul who wants a 100% realistic game. To me, having people shoot fireballs out of their hands is 100xs more unrealistic than oversized armor, tiny armor and weapons, others think having a 4 toed wolf is a huge immersion breaker. Keeping the world the way you imagined (even realistic) will ultimately satisfy the most people in my opinion.
"Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds talk about people." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Americans used to roar like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security." -Norman Vincent Peale
I despise the over-size weapons, and the hooker-chic armour styles. Good list in general! I want immersion!