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OatsMalone

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#1 OatsMalone
Member since 2011 • 25 Posts

Role-playing games are the most immersive to me because when you are "role-playing," you become one with the character you are playing.

cprmauldin
I think that becoming "one" with the character is the goal of most role-playing games (though obviously pen and paper allows a little more freedom than video games do), but there are always interruptions in that union. For instance, take most BioWare games. You have some freedom to interact with the characters around your avatar, but you can only have conversations with them so far as the game will let you. Eventually, those characters eventually run out of things to say. If you, as a player, seek to learn even more about a character, to "build a relationship" with that NPC through your avatar character, you are bound for disappointment. There is only so much story programmed into the game. These minor interruptions are unavoidable (at least until we develop artificial intelligence). So immersion can only run so deep with the technology that we have. What's more, most role-playing games make no attempt to embed you into the reality of the character's body. Any third-person view is another step out from total mesh. It creates an unavoidable mental distance that proclaims "other" and creates greater distance between the self and the avatar character.
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OatsMalone

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#2 OatsMalone
Member since 2011 • 25 Posts
Actually, a blog that I just started following had an interesting post on that topic today, located here: http://ontologicalgeek.blogspot.com/2011/01/additional-pylons-introducing-distance.html Distance is a useful term for gauging the ability of a game to immerse, no? Ultimately, I think that immersion is an expression of empathy with a character. Different techniques will appeal to different people. For some, immersion can be found in more total control over a character's actions (Planescape: Torment is a fine example there, as are many Bioware games), though those games are also often short on physical immersion. FPS games tend to be more conducive to physical immersion. I think that Assassin's Creed is one of the most immersive games I have ever played, mostly because the typical "game" artifacts, such as skipping through periods of time that are short on action or the presence of a health bar, are explainable in-game. The story is fixed because it is "past," and your avatar in-game, Desmond, is re-experiencing the life of his ancestor. When in-Animus, the player and Desmond take on the EXACT same position: audience and actor. The reliance on the real-world setting and actual historical figures and events validate the tale being told, as well, especially in the Subject 16 sequences of AC2 and Brotherhood, which form into a sort of alternate-reality game that relies on the player's knowledge of real-world events. The series is an impressive endeavor, and the multiple tiers at which it seeks to immerse the player is worthy of respect. It forces the player to interact with the story in different ways simultaneously, comparing the experience of the game against reality. Worth studying, in my opinion. Hope this was helpful!