immersion
Steve Breslin
sundry, I submit a tentative "table of contents" for an essay on the
subjects. This is a proposal about how the ideas might be understood
in their mutual relation. Please fill in new points or reorganize the
table.
Game enjoyment (game immersion or engagement) generally involves some
subsets of the following:
No dumb distractions
Game-world consistency (i.e.,
no so-called "sins against mimesis")
Establish a consistent "world logic"
No "out of place" objects
Consistency of location
Logical puzzle placement and design
Personality-consistent NPC's
Consistent rules
No bugs
No bad writing or errors
Good support of synonyms (no "guess the verb" )
Engaging writing
Characterize the PC (and NPCs)
Descriptions which characterize, convince, and charm
No formulaic writing (no crutches or repetitiveness)
Consistency of style, control of tone
Fostering a mood (comic, melodramatic, heroic, etc.)
Engaging interaction
Responsiveness and development of the world
Fascinating things to examine
Puzzles that challenge
Fostering a sense of "goal"
Humor & irony
Winking at the player (breaking the "fourth wall")
Intentionally breaking the rules of immersion
Parodying real world events
Toying with or exploring the genre
Dropping character when the player drops his
Comic actors
Absurd (often meaning simply, realistic) scenes
N.B.: This reflects (probably much more clearly than I was able) what
I was about in the recent "mimesis" thread.
Adam Thornton
Adam cries!
Stephen Granade
> Towards a more useful treatment of immersion, mimesis, consistency and
> sundry, I submit a tentative "table of contents" for an essay on the
> subjects. This is a proposal about how the ideas might be understood
> in their mutual relation. Please fill in new points or reorganize the
> table.
>
> Game enjoyment (game immersion or engagement) generally involves some
> subsets of the following:
One comment I have is that game "enjoyment" is not the same as
"immersion" or "engagement." I've enjoyed works while still being at a
distance from them, for example.
> No dumb distractions
> Game-world consistency (i.e.,
> no so-called "sins against mimesis")
> Establish a consistent "world logic"
> No "out of place" objects
> Consistency of location
> Logical puzzle placement and design
> Personality-consistent NPC's
> Consistent rules
I'd consider moving this out of "no dumb distractions" or rename the
category. What makes for logical puzzle placement or
personality-consistent NPCs is not at all clear-cut. If you're going
to label a distraction as "dumb," I'd make that category only
encompass obvious and easy-to-agree-on things such as bugs.
> Absurd (often meaning simply, realistic) scenes
Could you explain what you mean by "absurd" meaning "realistic"?
Stephen
--
Stephen Granade
stephen...@granades.com
Steve Breslin
> One comment I have is that game "enjoyment" is not the same as
> "immersion" or "engagement." I've enjoyed works while still being at a
> distance from them, for example.
Yes, true.
> I'd consider moving [game-world consistency] out of
> "no dumb distractions" or rename the category.
Yes of course. "No avoidable ugliness" might suit. Or maybe
"immersion" is best here. I'll reshuffle things anyway.
> Could you explain what you mean by "absurd" meaning "realistic"?
Ah, life is often more absurd than absurdist art; something like this.
Thanks.