what is "immersion"?

[idunnowatdo]

Id like some kind of clarification on this term and how it applies to wow. The term seems to get thrown around a bunch and it seems like there is varying opinions. My self I started playing back in BC pretty much been a end game raider through out every tier. Ive seen features come and go but when something comes along people throw the work "immersion" and lack of it or abundance of it. Ive never honestly felt immersed the game, dosent mean i didnt enjoy the game, I enjoy the game very much. I just dont understand this immersion deal with wow. Can I get a few thoughts on it?

[Terahertz]

Immersion is feeling as if you're part of the world/story of a game, which is what some people have had and might want back again. But primarily it's used in story intensive games.

[Darsithis]

Immersion is the feeling that you're actually in the game world. Games like Skyrim, for instance, are heavy on immersion, and indeed, have things like Frostfall: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11163/, which simulates the effects of hypothermia on your character. People who like immersion want to feel as if they're really in the game and not someone behind the screen.

It's a valid criticism in WoW. Night time is as bright as day time. Weather effects barely exist in-game. Flying mounts have perpetuated a generation of players who zip from objective to objective without having to muscle through the terrain.

[idunnowatdo]

see i under stand part of it with classes, having to get ammo, feeding your pet, buff food. That I get but when it starts to feel like work like "urgh its raid time and i have to re stock up......again......*sigh*" is it really immersion? Is there any correlation between immersion and tediousness?

or maybe my inner child is murdered and I dont have that kind of imagination. wow i made myself sad.....

[Lazy Gecko]

see i under stand part of it with classes, having to get ammo, feeding your pet, buff food. That I get but when it starts to feel like work like "urgh its raid time and i have to re stock up......again......*sigh*" is it really immersion? Is there any correlation between immersion and tediousness?

Those are moreso a gold sink mechanic rather than pure immersin. It has a purpose in fighting inflation on the server's economy.

[daytonbrown]

It's just a term people use when they can't give you a real reason to take away a quality of life feature (i.e. flying). So they give you that vague reason and hope you'll go away.

[Nazmina]

see i under stand part of it with classes, having to get ammo, feeding your pet, buff food. That I get but when it starts to feel like work like "urgh its raid time and i have to re stock up......again......*sigh*" is it really immersion? Is there any correlation between immersion and tediousness?

When aspects of immersion feel arbitrary and tedious it usually means they are trying to fit into a system that doesn't support it. As an Theme park type mmo, WoW doesn't really lend itself to a deep immersive experience, it only really flirts with the concept now and then and it heavily depends on the player to do the grunt work of getting into the feeling.

For me Amnesia the dark descent is an immersive game, one that makes it feel like you are right there. WoW on the otherhand, the majority of the time I am extremely aware I am in a game, too much meta. Different people will have different experiences of course.

[Revi]

To me: Feeling like I'm a part of a living, breathing world that is consistent and doesn't exist solely to cater to me. A world that draws me in.

[idunnowatdo]

this is depressing now.

Im trying to think of the missed opportunities I might have missed out on. I know immersion comes from stories but most are so short you cant really revisit them which is kinda sad

Of the top of my head I cant think of a game where Ive been "immersed" aside from GoW series

[Deleted]

to cover in a liquid.
Personally for me, immersion comes at the point where you forget the world around you and you are "in the zone"

[Soeroah]

Ever read a book and become unresponsive to things happening around you, like you're in a trance?

That's immersion. You are invested in and engulfed in the game, and when you get interrupted by something it feels like a disconnect.

[Detheavn]

That I get but when it starts to feel like work like "urgh its raid time and i have to re stock up......again......*sigh*" is it really immersion? Is there any correlation between immersion and tediousness?

Immersion is a double edged sword. Just because something feels like a chore, doesn't mean it's not part of the experience. If you were a hunter, and you went out to kill a madman, would you not bring bullets and arrows to the battlefield? I guess this is more of a role-player's point of view.

While I don't believe the definition of immersion is subjective, the threshold of when a person feels immersed can vary.

[Manhands]

It's a valid criticism in WoW. Night time is as bright as day time. Weather effects barely exist in-game. Flying mounts have perpetuated a generation of players who zip from objective to objective without having to muscle through the terrain.

This list of topics du jour doesn't even scratch the surface. I think the biggest feature that led to my personal loss of immersion was the LFD/LFR tool. You didn't gather a group of people and head out to the dungeon, you instead clicked a button on your interface. The decision was made then that convenience and streamlining was more important than immersion. And it's not that I think it was a bad decision, overall, but the 1's and 0's really popped out at me after that.

Nighttime being darker? Will help.
Weather more prominent? Will help.
Flying mounts? Not going to touch that topic.
LFG/LFR? Talk about being able to zip from objective to objective without noticing terrain!

[idunnowatdo]

This list of topics du jour doesn't even scratch the surface. I think the biggest feature that led to my personal loss of immersion was the LFD/LFR tool. You didn't gather a group of people and head out to the dungeon, you instead clicked a button on your interface. The decision was made then that convenience and streamlining was more important than immersion. And it's not that I think it was a bad decision, overall, but the 1's and 0's really popped out at me after that.

Nighttime being darker? Will help.
Weather more prominent? Will help.
Flying mounts? Not going to touch that topic.
LFG/LFR? Talk about being able to zip from objective to objective without noticing terrain!

is it worth it when you spend more time traveling that enjoying the content? terrain gets old imo. give me the meat and potatoes not the side meals

[Deleted]

is it worth it when you spend more time traveling that enjoying the content? terrain gets old imo. give me the meat and potatoes not the side meals

Honestly, content gets old as well. In fact with LFR I feel it gets older faster. I mean as much as I hated looking for groups back then, the effort it took meant that if I went in there and actually completed something, it wasn't something I took for granted. Now if you queue for LFG or LFR, most of the times you can be sure you'll clear the place. I miss the possibility of failure. As much as it sucked to fail to get a group together, or to get a group together and then fail to clear the place, to quit because of respawns, or something like that, it made it all so more special when I actually succeeded. I know I can go for heroic raiding, but heroic raiding isn't really for me because of the schedule and the amount of time I have to put into it, and I miss that potential of failure in all the small things. Even not getting a group together for Scarlet Monastery or being ganked there by the Horde had its upside when you finally managed to get in there and clear the place.

[Pickynerd]

Very rarely, do I try to physically look at the screen from a different angle, to look around a corner, when I'm about to walk through a doorway/blind spot, in a game... But it does happen, mostly when playing DS and skyrim.

You feel like an idiot after realizing WTF you had just done.

[idunnowatdo]

its when the potential for failure is out of your control "immersion" becomes a annoyance. Ok we all have to go to the stone to summon. A group of allies are there and we are out numbered, and they have decided to camp us. Its after 11 pm no one on. well we are shit outta luck, how much time do you invest before you give up? you wanted to be immersed well enjoy not being able to do stuff in game. Situations like that is why I like the lfg system. I would like that it pulled from your home server before it went to other servers but thats just my 2 cents

[ro9ue]

When you get sucked into a game and the real world around you disappears.

It has nothing to do with being realistic either. Sometimes I get immersed in Threes or Hearthstone. You can get immersed in a movie. It's when something draws you in deep.

Small things can be immersion breaking as well. Most common would be getting dc, where it snaps you out of it. Or an external force.

Some games are bad at immersion and this usually has to do with the UI or simply just a bland story.

Hell you could get immersed in a burrito. Any experience that puts you "in the zone" IMO has great immersion. But it also needs to be careful because it's a fragile thing.

[Archimand]

"immersion" is a word being used to destroy a well designed game.

[Asmekiel]

It's a valid criticism in WoW. Night time is as bright as day time. Weather effects barely exist in-game. Flying mounts have perpetuated a generation of players who zip from objective to objective without having to muscle through the terrain.

Flying mounts opened up the world, allowing more and different forms of interaction with the world. Increasing the amount of people who can feel immersed in the game.