Alison McMahan discusses in her article, "Immersion Engagement and Presence", several analitical veiw points for determining what makes a game interesting to a user. When she defines "immersion", as in being submerged in something (like water), the first thing that came to my mind was the immersive quatilies of an MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game). Since I have yet to experience multiple MMORPGs, I will discuss the one I am most familiar with, Final Fantasy XI.To be immersed in something like a game, that game must have certain qualities that attract a user and keep them entertain throughout their entire experience. The idea of having a massive world to explore helps when immersing a user. More, and contantly changing content also factors into whether a user will find a particular virtual environment worthy of consuming mass quantities of their time. Some attachement to reality also helps (bathrooms, restraunts, souvenir shops) users feel confortable in their new "reality".
The idea around immersion doesn't nessecarily involve the graphical or audio aspects of a game. Even thought humans are attracted to visual and aural stimuli, such things are not a nesessity to immerse a user into a virtual relm. Take for instance the poplularity of the MUD (mutli user dimention) or the MOO (MUD object oriented). Though they are purely text base, the immersive qualities they have continue to attract users their simplistic worlds.
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I do have to agree. The more attachment the virtual world has to an ideal reality, the easier it is to return to that new, idealistic world.
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