Against "immersion" (Destiny)

by electricpirate , Thursday, April 03, 2014, 20:48 (3895 days ago) @ INSANEdrive

Part of me wants to give the benefit of the doubt and presume that you weren't being careful with your words and the absolute nature of your post is not what you intended.

I am ignoring that part of me.

While you may be speaking of just the terms of video games, your subject is essentially an attack on all forms of media, by basically saying that immersion should not be the goal, when in reality its all it really is. The immersion is part of the understanding of..."whatever", be it the character, the location/world, the atmosphere, the interface... The story. That's part the fun.

In-fact such a thing goes beyond consuming the media, its true in creating it as well. Weather its method acting for films, world building for books, and all the facets games absorb to become created - it all has to do with immersion.

Obviously I wasn't totally clear enough, because I was trying to bring across that immersion as an act of understanding is a totally valid way to use the term, but in videogames we use it another way. One that is closer to how a method actor would use it.

In videogames we pursue immersion in an unnecessary and backwards way. We are erecting ever more complex realities, and investing hugely into things that sit over our faces in the attempt to actually believe we are there. Actually though, all of that is unnecessary, as this sense we seek is found simply through good design. When it comes to games, good design has the same effect of immersion in other media.

It's part of the compact we create with ourselves when we play. It's Huizinga's Magic Circle, the space we enter and agree to suspend the natural order. Play has this natural advantage in that we naturally immerse ourselves, yet we are investing hugely in boondoggles that don't actually further this stated goal.