Does instant transportation effect game immersion?

[Aldwin]

I would agree 100% with op.

A very clear example of this would be wow. If you've played it or are familiar with the dungeon finder, then you know what i'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, i think the dungeon finder is a genius idea, but a lot of people don't have any clue where at least half of the dungeons they do are located. There is no reason to. You can sit in town, when a group is ready, you teleport there. In such cases why even have open world zones?

I agree that to me xi had a perfect blend between travel and immersion. But that's my opinion. Having the option to instantly port w/e you want pretty much whenever you want destroys the sence of "adventuring" to me. I have been voting for the removal of anima since day 1. Let people port to a crystal maybe once every 24 hours, I could live with that.

One thing I read people argue against my point on this is that they don't have time, or don't want to spend time, traveling for "no reason". While i understand how it was frustrating trying to trek half way across the world in xi, even if you got a port close, you still had to travel, IMO online rpgs aren't for people with very little time. I'm not saying your time on games like these should be spent completely wasted, but isn't this type of game about exploring a virtual world? I had so much fun on xi sometimes just exploring zones, every inch.

[Seif]

I would agree 100% with op.

A very clear example of this would be wow. If you've played it or are familiar with the dungeon finder, then you know what i'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, i think the dungeon finder is a genius idea, but a lot of people don't have any clue where at least half of the dungeons they do are located. There is no reason to. You can sit in town, when a group is ready, you teleport there. In such cases why even have open world zones?

I agree that to me xi had a perfect blend between travel and immersion. But that's my opinion. Having the option to instantly port w/e you want pretty much whenever you want destroys the sence of "adventuring" to me. I have been voting for the removal of anima since day 1. Let people port to a crystal maybe once every 24 hours, I could live with that.

One thing I read people argue against my point on this is that they don't have time, or don't want to spend time, traveling for "no reason". While i understand how it was frustrating trying to trek half way across the world in xi, even if you got a port close, you still had to travel, IMO online rpgs aren't for people with very little time. I'm not saying your time on games like these should be spent completely wasted, but isn't this type of game about exploring a virtual world? I had so much fun on xi sometimes just exploring zones, every inch.

I think you put it nicely there. Playing a MMO really isn't about getting everything by pressing a button it's about the journey getting there.

When I think of my time in the world of Vana'diel that's literally how I think about it. My time in another world and place.

When I think about the time spent playing XIV there is no such connection to the place the game happens in. Nothing in the game makes you think about the locations or distances of the world and that's why they feel meaningless.

I guess in the future this aspect will only be more pronounced since the future focus is only on raids/levels instead of gameplay based on travelling.

Actually now that I think about it this is exactly what made the XI fetch quests more fun because you actually had to plan how to get to places with your character. In a game with anima a fetch quest has no gameplay design as the player will just zap there and feel like his time was wasted because of the quest.

[DNO]

I think you put it nicely there. Playing a MMO really isn't about getting everything by pressing a button it's about the journey getting there.

When I think of my time in the world of Vana'diel that's literally how I think about it. My time in another world and place.

When I think about the time spent playing XIV there is no such connection to the place the game happens in. Nothing in the game makes you think about the locations or distances of the world and that's why they feel meaningless.

I guess in the future this aspect will only be more pronounced since the future focus is only on raids/levels instead of gameplay based on travelling.

Actually now that I think about it this is exactly what made the XI fetch quests more fun because you actually had to plan how to get to places with your character. In a game with anima a fetch quest has no gameplay design as the player will just zap there and feel like his time was wasted because of the quest.

this is all opinion that not many people share.

[DNO]

This topic is and always will be stupid. if you think for one second waiting on an airship while i am peeing, eating, watching netflix, blu-rays, playing street fighter, is FUN or IMMERSIVE you are wrong. there is no other way to put it. your wrong.

[AlexNiculaie]

Sorry, doesn't affect my "immersion." Seriously hate when someone tries to use immersion as the basis for an argument. It's a completely subjective notion that is only used to force something into gameplay to make it "better." However, "better" is nothing more than "that which I want regardless of what others do."

[Azurymber]

Sorry, doesn't affect my "immersion." Seriously hate when someone tries to use immersion as the basis for an argument. It's a completely subjective notion that is only used to force something into gameplay to make it "better." However, "better" is nothing more than "that which I want regardless of what others do."

pretty sure the topic was a question which i claimed i had no clue about and not an argument.....

[Onidemon]

God... people are still talking about that immersion crap? Games are made to be fun,that's it. Airship travel has been confirmed many times that the instant part is just for NOW and it WILL BE CHANGED in the FUTURE.

and if you think that starting yet another thread about instant airship travel and whining about it will make the devs rush even more so that you get your 10min ride for 1.19 then you are very delusional and maybe need to setup out a bit of your total immersion....

[PrettyPrincess]

no. noise/sound is something interpreted by your brain subjectively and therefore nothing "really" makes a noise, it just emits certain waves or signals that we interpret in a way. Since no one is near the sun to interpret the noise, it is not making a noise.

Theres also the quantum mechanics Schrodinger's cat type argument which says that all events are random on a sub-atomic scale so unless we observe them we can't be sure they happened. Thus the sun even emitting a wave that can be interpreted as a sound is unknown. As such we say it is both emitting and not emitting a sound.

my...MY MIND IS BLOWN

[Len]

• Implement a 10 minute mediocre, uninspired airship ride nobody will enjoy (a la Limsa Lominsa ferry).
  
  
• Players whine endlessly on the forums about length of flight, mediocrity.
  
  
• Yoshi-P apologizes, makes plans to improve said mediocrity, promises to shorten airship ride.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

That being said, I'm not fond of this streamlined, instant gratification content.

[Eekiki]

I don't have a clue about this but I'm wondering if the whole anima thing + now the "instant airship travel" is going to ruin any possible sense of immersion that this game could have.

** So based on your experience with other MMOs and games, do you feel more immersed in a game world when you have to run around everywhere and when airships and ships take time (ex. ffxi), or do you think that instant transportation doesn't effect immersion? **

here are my thoughts (feel free to skip them and just post your opinion):

Anima allows you to instantly port to the important spots in the game (leve crystals). So you don't really have to run around the pointlessly large world. It basically results in people only really utilizing maybe 20% of the world or less on a regular basis. As such the entire game to -me- feels kind of instanced and focused around small areas (leves).

FFXI had instant port but it wasn't to the "important" spots in a zone and was often out of the way. And you often had to run past agro mobs to get where you wanted to go. I found that to be a lot more immersive than just porting directly to leves.

Instant airships really destroys the sense of immersion for me because it essentially lets you travel to wherever you wanna go instantly for a fee.

Put another way, this game doesn't seem like a massive dynamic world I have to explore, but like a series of instances inside a massive world that you can warp to with anima or buy your way to.

And while I understand there will be an -option- to travel on the airship, it still makes the game seem more like a series of instances rather than a dynamic world.

To me FFXI was blended perfectly. You could warp to some places but they were usually in the middle of the zone and you still had to run or chocobo to where you wanted to go. It was like a warp would take you out to the wilderness, surrounded by agro mobs and such, and then you'd have to run from there past things that can actually kill you to get to your parties camp, or the town you wanted to go to, etc.

Your concern is well-founded.

The instant airship thing is temporary, meant to quell of the "GIV US CHOCBS N ARSHPS NOW OR I QIT" minority. Once more of the core of the game is fixed, little nice things like actual airship rides and personal chocobos will be added.

Whenever you have questions like these, the answer is usually three simple words:

work
in
progress

And the answer to any questions regarding Kiki is usually three simpler words:

in
my
pants