Immersion and games Anna Tito
Before we begin consider... Why do we make Games?
Immersion... “A stirring narrative in any medium can be experienced as virtual reality because our brains are programmed to tune into stories with an intensity that can obliterate the world around us... The experience of being transported to an elaborately simulated place is pleasurable in itself, regardless of the fantasy content. We refer to this experience as immersion. Immersion is a metaphorical term derived from the physical experience of being submerged in water. We seek the same feeling from psychologically immersive experience that we do from a plunge in the ocean or swimming pool: the sensation of being surrounded by a completely other reality, as different as water is from air, that takes over all of our attention, our whole perceptual apparatus…” – As quoted by Alison McMahan in her essay Immersion Engagement and Presence: A method for Analysing 3-D Video Games in the book The Game Theory Reader ed. Mark J. P. Wolf and Bernard Perron
Immersion in gaming... “Immersion is mentally absorbing and a process, a change, a passage from one mental state to another. It is characterized by diminishing critical distance to what is shown and increasing emotional involvement in what is happening.” Virtual Art: from Illusion to Immersion - Oliver Grau “…a suspension of disbelief , a state in which the player’s mind forgets that it is being subjected to entertainment and instead accepts what it perceived as reality.” Game Design Perspectives – François Dominic Laramée
Immersion: Why we play?... “I am a video game addict and it is not because of the certain number of hours I have spent playing or nights I have gone without sleep to finish the next level, it is because I have had life altering experiences in virtual space ” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IznAvaJb5Q
Immersion in history...
Immersion: Avenues... � Intellectual � Emotional � Visual � Technofetishism Vs Invisible Technology � Auditory � Kinesthetic/Haptic � Olfactory (scratch and sniff games?) The Star Trek Holodeck the epitome of the immersive environment
Intellectual: The RTS...
Emotional: The Final Fantasy series...
Auditory: Bio-Shock...
Kinesthetic/Haptic: Wii...
Visual Immersion and realism... “The quality of apparently being present in images is achieved though [the] maximization of realism…” Virtual Art: from Illusion to Immersion - Oliver Grau
Does realism matter?... You can have a great game with crap graphics but a crap game will always be a crap game no matter how pretty.
Question... � What is your favorite game? Why?
Is Game playing immersive?... “…image spaces that are delimited by a frame that is apparent to the observer… particularly the television. In their delineated form these image media stage symbolically the aspect of difference. They leave the observer outside and are thus unsuitable for communicating virtual realities in a way that overwhelms the senses” Virtual Art: from Illusion to Immersion - Oliver Grau
Is Game playing immersive?...
Does this change how we make games?... � We begin to ask the questions: � why do players play? � What makes a good game? � How can we make better games? � We start looking at developing better user interfaces and better game play as well as the standard immersive bells and whistles. We start asking ourselves why do we play?
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