Immersion, The Facts & Fiction

[Rhomagus]

Two kind of playerbase when it comes to Immersion:

1) easy immersed "hey look a bird " "that tree is green and has bark"

2) put detail thoughts into an object or an idea "hmm a cave, wonder what it connects too.." "hmmm this airship is of unique style... maybe a stolen technology from garleans!"

.. i still wondering why they didn't put an NPC A at departure and NPC B at arrival, save some time instead of making a airship models and scenery... clearly players don't give a shiz about their detail.

I appreciate detail. Choosing to appreciate that detail makes all the difference as Ciccoricco alluded to in his article.

[Reabs]

Immersion is something created by the game devs. Its what brings a game a good review. If this wasn't true than games would be reviewed on gameplay alone, and they are not.

Immersion is only a part of what brings a game a good review especially since gameplay alone can create immersion so games can have good reviews and it not be based wholly on immersion (Being that the immersion only exists because the gameplay exists). Unless your trying to say gameplay does not create immersion (In that case some of the best games of all time have no immersion because they are pure gameplay)

Back to the original topic. The def. of immersion based on your link is "To engage wholly or deeply; absorb" if they add something like a minimap and that stops someone from "engaging wholly" then clearly that took away from the immersion instead of adding to it (At least for that player). I don't see how you can possibly argue that anything they add will add to immersion when anything they add could stop someone from engaging wholly?

What I think is your confusing someone being immersed (Ex they accept the game now and all aspects of it and engage wholly) vs. something changing the state of possible immersion (Ex. you add minimap player A is no longer engaged wholly while player B now is engaged wholly therefor the minimap changed the state of immersion). Your making a pretty big assumption that anyone who plays this game will be immersed("To engage wholly or deeply; absorb") regardless of the content of the game but this just is not the case and whenever anything is changed in the game someone who possibly was immersed will no longer be immersed and a player who wasn't immersed could possibly become immersed.

P.S. if someone already mentioned this sorry I didn't read all the post.

[Konachibi]

Immersion is only a part of what brings a game a good review especially since gameplay alone can create immersion so games can have good reviews and it not be based wholly on immersion (Being that the immersion only exists because the gameplay exists). Unless your trying to say gameplay does not create immersion (In that case some of the best games of all time have no immersion because they are pure gameplay)

Back to the original topic. The def. of immersion based on your link is "To engage wholly or deeply; absorb" if they add something like a minimap and that stops someone from "engaging wholly" then clearly that took away from the immersion instead of adding to it (At least for that player). I don't see how you can possibly argue that anything they add will add to immersion when anything they add could stop someone from engaging wholly?

What I think is your confusing someone being immersed (Ex they accept the game now and all aspects of it and engage wholly) vs. something changing the state of possible immersion (Ex. you add minimap player A is no longer engaged wholly while player B now is engaged wholly therefor the minimap changed the state of immersion). Your making a pretty big assumption that anyone who plays this game will be immersed("To engage wholly or deeply; absorb") regardless of the content of the game but this just is not the case and whenever anything is changed in the game someone who possibly was immersed will no longer be immersed and a player who wasn't immersed could possibly become immersed.

P.S. if someone already mentioned this sorry I didn't read all the post.

Yeah it was mentioned, no worries, the whole mini-map thing was the case that immersion one a player-to-player basis was subjective. the player only felt immersed if they allowed themselves to be immersed, if they didn't, that's their own fault, not the games. The assumption is that anyone who plays the game could be immersed, if they didn't let little things like a mini-map or a *skip cutscene* button bother them so much. They're only small little things, so bickering over them and demanding their removal just seems kind of childish, and selfish, because other players appreciate that these things are here.

Just a run down on our little 'debate' thus far

[Synapse]

Players want instant gratification, its simple, thats how the new player base are.

my gaps between playtime is slowly increasing :/, lets see how easier the patch 1.19 makes the game.

[Azurymber]

Players want instant gratification, its simple, thats how the new player base are.

my gaps between playtime is slowly increasing :/, lets see how easier the patch 1.19 makes the game.

yeah i feel the same way. I don't think easymoding the game will improve it either, just make people get bored and quit faster.

[tymora]

Regarding realism in fantasy, please read up "plausible fantasy".

it can be as unrealistic and fantastical as it wishes to be.

This is true only if the world lore accounts for it in some way.
"Magic" and "Gods" allow for quite a bit of leeway in this respect but there are still some boundaries to be respected.

[Rhomagus]

Regarding realism in fantasy, please read up "plausible fantasy".


This is true only if the world lore accounts for it in some way.
"Magic" and "Gods" allow for quite a bit of leeway in this respect but there are still some boundaries to be respected.

A way to instantly transport is in the lore. That's like saying Star Trek ruins immersion by teleporting.

The game also utilizes cutscenes to present certain aspects of the story.

There are instances where your character is knocked out but you wake up somewhere else in mere seconds. The depiction of that time is not visually presented to you even though you can play in third person.

When your character is knocked out you can view your unconscious body from the third person view.

[Dargoth_Draconia]

I hope when the PS3 launches some new servers come up that noone can transfer onto. That way the servers will be new fresh and no max level players and if you want to reroll over there you have the option to do so. If they do that I shall make the All-Stars

[Konachibi]

I hope when the PS3 launches some new servers come up that noone can transfer onto. That way the servers will be new fresh and no max level players and if you want to reroll over there you have the option to do so. If they do that I shall make the All-Stars

This +infinity. I'd join that server quite happily. I imagine quite a few people would in fact. Sometimes it's nice to start fresh and do things differently, it let's you enjoy parts of the game you may have missed the first time around (like the main story arc of another city if you only had one character)

[Kirith]

So she's still going on relentlessly, even after pretending to quit it? "play-to-play immersiveness"?
"Immersiveness" isn't even a word... her argument has transcended logical fallacy to become entirely surreal!

Since there is no actual logic or coherency behind it there is also no point in either reading or arguing her statements. I'm outta here, but unlike Konachibi i won't return in five minutes, saying triumphantly that "the things i say and the things i do are different", lol!