MMO immersion

[Shadowstrike]

Yesterday, me and a couple of friends got ourselves thinking after watching an Anime called Sword-Art Online. "What kind of MMO makes you feel immersed?"
"Total Immersion" is having the sense of being totally drawn into the world in a way that engages all your senses mainly through imagination. This will be further discussed later.

These are in a nutshell the different PoVs. Oh, and VR was not discussed at all since, you know, not a reality yet.
-Ultra-HD graphics. The better they are, the better the feel and "attachment".
-Community. Replicating, in a way, real life society.
-Sandbox. EvE online style.
-Everything is unique. No copy-pasted textures, no rock is the same. Even the scales on the same fish are different from one another.

My point of view is that it goes way deeper than this. Yes, if you combine all three of the above you will have a somewhat "ideal" MMO. Still, imo, that's not all it takes. I had managed to replicate the feeling of "Total Immersion" in 3 games so far for a time.

You see, in my belief, it does not depend entirely on the game. It is the psychology and mindset of the player and how he reacts to initial stimuli. The experience must be strong enough to engage him and make him believe in the universe he is about to be thrown into. Some players can do this on their own, like, how no two people read the same book in the same way. For some it's easier for others it is not. Other than that it falls to the game designer to try and immerse the player through manipulating human psychology. This can be achieved by replicating intense feelings like fear. This can be any kind of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of dying, fear of losing gear etc. Another strong feeling is the one that comes with exploration. The joy of a world unraveling in front of you. Popularity and fame. Being known as the best of the best, a well achieved person famous throughout the gaming world. There are more intense feelings like these, but you get the drift.

I first got the feeling of "Total Immersion" in a game called "Lineage II". My first MMO, brought to me by a friend who played on a local "private server". It was simple. 1: Get this cd. 2: Install game. 3: Create account (fake mail, fake id). 4: Play. Now here is the thing. My friend was a newbie as well (he got the game from another friend as well). I had no info, no warning, no reviews, no guides and generally nothing to streamline me through the game. The joy of exploration. In that game you also had a chance to lose your items upon death along with losing HP. Fear of death. Also it had a serious focus on PvP with a lot of fame hovering around it.

The second time was when i started WoW. Still the same things, but dying was not scary, and fame was something really hard to attain. It did not last long.

The third time was the game "Wizardry Online". Death there can be permanent. As in "if you die you lose your character. The end". Really scary. The drawback was that the game in itself wasn't very interesting in my eyes.

So all in all, what do you thing about this? Is it just me or do others share those experiences as well?

[alkyd]

In my opinion, "total immersion" can be only experienced by a player who is completely new to MMO genre. The first MMO I played was WoW back in 2006, and I remember how scared I was to ride through Duskwood on my own. As a newbie, you don't have a target such as getting to max level fast and hop into end game. That's what creates "total immersion": You don't rush. You enjoy the game's world.

This is also explains why so many WoW players want vanilla WoW back because their brain still remembers the feeling of "total immersion", though they don't understand that they will never experience it again.

So I doubt that any experienced MMO gamer will ever get "total immersion" feeling in any MMO game no matter how good it is.

[Kazi]

In my opinion, "total immersion" can be only experienced by a player who is completely new to MMO genre. The first MMO I played was WoW back in 2006, and I remember how scared I was to ride through Duskwood on my own. As a newbie, you don't have a target such as getting to max level fast and hop into end game. That's what creates "total immersion": You don't rush. You enjoy the game's world.

This is also explains why so many WoW players want vanilla WoW back because their brain still remembers the feeling of "total immersion", though they don't understand that they will never experience it again.

So I doubt that any experienced MMO gamer will ever get "total immersion" feeling in any MMO game no matter how good it is.

I couldn't agree more with this. I keep going from game to game trying to recapture that first year of WoW, before I even knew what a raid was, and it just isn't going to happen. I'm having fun leveling a toon in Aion right now but it's nothing like the first time through Azeroth. And you're probably right, nothing ever will be again. MAYBE when we have full on Virtual Reality??

[Deleted]

I felt immersed when I played classic WoW because everything was so new, every tiny detail was exciting, every action was an unknown, plus I mostly played it alone back then. But to be honest, I haven't really since. Since I'm a social MMO player, I am always in a guild, usually in some sort of voice call or on vent etc. so I never really feel like I'm immersed in the game in the same way as I do a single player. There are always people running in front of me, always text flashing up on screen, always voices that I'm listening to - and that's my choice, to play MMOs from a heavily social perspective.

In competitive content I am usually theorycrafting, looking up guides, working out numbers, deciding what to wear / what to do based on efficiency - and that destroys any sense of immersion for me, and again - that's the way I choose to play MMOs. Guild Wars 2 had no real competitive content and I think I felt pretty immersed in that levelling up, especially as I enjoyed the lore so much but an MMO with nothing competitive about it also has little chance of keeping me playing once I've hit max level.

Ultimately though with MMOs I tend to feel like I'm a person playing a game to enjoy an activity with friends, not someone exploring a wondrous universe which is the way I tend to feel about single player games. I've felt fear, joy, wonder, confusion, excitement from single player games last year alone... but I just find it very hard to feel those in an MMO, even though MMOs remain my favourite type of multiplayer game.

[Vankrys]

what breaks my immersion in MMO is the constant repop of enemy i killed.

For exemple. I arrive in a zone terrorized by a gang of bandit, i do a few quests, thinning their numbers, defending village, collecting weapons for villagers, retake farms and lands, assault bandit camps, ultimately kill their leader and scatter the gang, i saved the region. All is good, but if i come back a few hours later, bandits are still there, leader still alive and i feel i have done nothing. I should have secured the area.

This is an example, but you probably encounter similar situation in whatever MMO you played. I understand the need for a persistant world, so player comming after me can experience the same quest line and adventure. I think the phasing is a great tools to make MMO more immersive, but it has his problem too (segregating players)


Another thing that break my immersion is the combat system. for exemple

you can kill giant by hitting them repeatedly on his toe!!! The giant swings his fist 5 meters higher than your head, but you are still getting hit. You swing your axe in air, you never connected with the enemy, but as long as you are withing the hit box, it's a hit (or dodge, parry whatever).

[Nurabashi]

I agree with what the people have said. When you are new to a genre, and some games, you can't help but feel enthralled and totally engaged with it. When I first played vanilla WoW, I felt like I was entering a whole new world, a vast place I could explore, and experience. Not many games provide this feeling anymore because as you play a certain type of game, you start getting used to the mechanics, as they are familiar.

The most recent game that I can think of that actually made me feel immersed was Skyrim. To this day I still go back and have that moment where I just play, exploring, and find different places I never knew were there. The availability of mods also allow me to make it even more immersive. Another game that I was some what hooked to was Star Wars: The Old Republic. This was an MMO that, although I knew how to play, and what to do in terms of mechanics and skills, it still drew me in just because of the setting, and the planets I could explore.

[Vankrys]

Also, reading text is bad for my immersion as well. In 2014, i want my RPG fully voice acted and story driven.

[Shockeye]

In my opinion, "total immersion" can be only experienced by a player who is completely new to MMO genre. The first MMO I played was WoW back in 2006, and I remember how scared I was to ride through Duskwood on my own. As a newbie, you don't have a target such as getting to max level fast and hop into end game. That's what creates "total immersion": You don't rush. You enjoy the game's world.

This is very true. When I started WoW I was utterly immersed in the world - in the environments, in the quest lines, in traveling to a new zone, to feeling nervous and scared of enemy zones. I remember my *first* character, a Dwarf questing in Loch Modan and a bunch of level 60 Hordes when running through and I was awed.

I came to WoW from playing NWN online on persistent world RP servers, so these immersive things were default operating parameters for me. Even when I later made a Horde character in TBC I was completely absorbed.

Now WoW, and by extension any MMO I play, are really just complex spreadsheets with a graphical interface. The sense of immersion is gone, regardless of MMO, because I know the routine, I know the end results, I know how it all works.

This is also explains why so many WoW players want vanilla WoW back because their brain still remembers the feeling of "total immersion", though they don't understand that they will never experience it again.

I agree, and I'd love to get the feeling of those early days back again. Immersion in a game is so rare for me now and that makes me sad as it used to be so important. I think the last game I really got immersed in was Dragon Age: Origins and Awakenings. But for an MMO to pull me into the world as much as WoW did back at the start, it'd have to be a pretty impressive and original design, one that makes me look at the world first and mechanics second and those mechanics would have to be very different from the standard model.

[melodramocracy]

When it comes to MMO's for me, immersion is found in things that are very out of fashion in the industry right now.

Low risk, low micromanagement gameplay (and thus low decision making), and high degrees of insulation from the behavior of other players both good and bad, are all things that ruin the gaming experience.

[Frunds]

When it comes to MMO's for me, immersion is found in things that are very out of fashion in the industry right now.

Low risk, low micromanagement gameplay (and thus low decision making), and high degrees of insulation from the behavior of other players both good and bad, are all things that ruin the gaming experience.

I agree with you 100%.

[Fencers]

Yes, if you combine all three of the above you will have a somewhat "ideal" MMO.

One actually wouldn't have an ideal MMO. Or an ideal video game. Even if we allow the vague qualifier of "ideal".

One might have a very good simulation or digital representation. But a video game, regardless of genre, is defined TOTALLY by game mechanics and interface. And only game mechanics and interface. As in a video game can not even be a video game without gameplay and the means to interface with those specific rules.

Though a video game can lack nearly everything else- visualization, GUI, graphics, sound, narrative, textures and even form to an extent. It is possible for a video game to be represented in a purely theoretical &/or transitional sense and be 100% functional to it's design in practice. It's called a DD/T.

The confusion of being able to "do stuff" in what is essentially a virtual world and playing a video game is extremely common. Mostly because they are so similar in interface- you run and jump around in Virtual World of Your Dreams and can do the same in New Mario Bros.

The difference and defining separation is in gameplay. As a matter of recognition and course to be a video game there must be a predetermined set of rules and criteria by which one interacts with the software to complete a specific set of goals as outlined by the gameplay.

If you had the capacity to render and operate (for example) Rift, Everquest 2, The Secret World or World of Warcraft with a device that offered; "ultra-HD graphics", "community" and every texture was distinct (you don't really mean unique) then one would have ideal MMOs in a highly immersive presentation.

Noting of course the difference being Rift, Everquest 2, TSW and WoW having highly rigorous game mechanisms and design. That is to say those games are excellently designed and executed before one applies any means of presentation to them.

The inverse can never be so. Meaning that creating a virtual representation or simulation could never be a video game in of itself regardless of the quality of presentation.

[jakeic]

When it comes to MMO's for me, immersion is found in things that are very out of fashion in the industry right now.

Low risk, low micromanagement gameplay (and thus low decision making), and high degrees of insulation from the behavior of other players both good and bad, are all things that ruin the gaming experience.

this just feels right.

[Strah]

The only games that gave me intense immersion are vanilla wow and TOR. Surprisingly enough, TOR gave me that feeling twice, and i hope wildstar will replicate that feeling.

[Valeron]

Personally I cannot have immersion in an mmo. What is required for an mmo, the community (and it's also the defining characteristic of an mmo). What is the number one immersion breaker for an mmo? Other people. So really the strength of an mmo also is the greatest weakness when it comes to immersion.

[Kulanae]

Immersion to me is when your brain is tricked into forgetting however briefly that you are playing a game. The quality of the graphics does not really play into it for me as long as nothing sticks out as obviously different from the rest of the surroundings. Music plays a HUGE role in the immersion experience for me.

I suffer form vertigo at heights. If a make me feel queasy when on a narrow cliff ledge.....or make me not want to get near the edge of a cliff and look over, it has done its job.