Does instant transportation effect game immersion?

[Rhomagus]

Anything that takes time requires us to be more involved, hence immersion. MMO's thrive off of that. That is the notion I was trying to provide.

I'm not trying to imply that we need to waste time, in order to provide immersion. Nor did I mean to insinuate that non-insta traveling provides difficulty. Those were 3 different variables that effect immersion in a MMO. Goals that don't require time spent to achieve them, more than likely, feel less rewarding than those that do.

A road less traveled and instant shortcut are not interchangeable.

Read my 2nd post, if you have no time....

We are supposed to make time for MMO's. Not the other way around.

A road less traveled and instant shortcut are not interchangeable.

You read it wrong, the road less traveled is actually the less convenient one. Nature follows the path of least resistance. In essence, the metaphor here applies to the immersionist not the person wanting convenience.

Anything that takes time requires us to be more involved

AFK on an airship involves me how again?

Read my 2nd post, if you have no time....

I've read your second post and agree with you in some aspects, if only a few. I've edited them accordingly in my response to reflect a fair compromise and the philosophies I too would like implemented.

We are supposed to make time for MMO's. Not the other way around.

Absolutely disagree with you on this, and I think the disclaimer that you accept before playing every time would also like a word with you. Forgetting your family, skipping school and work, and creating room in life for the purpose of "making time" in an MMO is not healthy nor condoned by Square Enix. I play an MMO in my "downtime". I don't "make time" for it. That's absolutely ridiculous and is the very crux of our design philosophies here.

If you respond, also take into account I've never played any other MMO besides Final Fantasy XI. I've never even tried WoW. This is not a WoW vs FF argument. Nor is it a churn and burn vs. immersion argument. It's an options vs. no options argument.