What makes a game "immersive"?

The term immersive is frequently thrown around when describing video games--especially by individuals not professionally engaged in scholarly study of games. From a genre standpoint, the term "immersive game" can be used interchangeably with alternate reality game (see Dave Szulborski's site/book) to refer to those cross media, collective intelligence performance/puzzle games. I do not, however, intend to delve into this form of gaming. I instead refer to the more informal adjectival form of the word, used to denote how "into" the game a player gets, or better yet, the degree to which the player's consciousness of interacting with a machine slips below his/her consciousness of being engaged in a game/story/world.

If we take this form of 'immersion' to mean the ease with which a player slips into the make believe of the video game--that events on the screen are just as real as events in the physical world (i.e., the actions of the player), then a few possibilities arise to help understand what makes a game immersive.

First, there are the obvious issues of human interface with the game--the heads up display, the load screens, and the analog to digital conversion of human action into virtual display. These issues offer very minor breaks or dampers to the immersiveness of a game--many players simply look past the interface displays and meters, while others remain fully aware of them, using them to succeed in the gameplay itself. Load screens and breaks in action can be forgotten or used as pacing mechanisms to give the game structure. Certain games which strip away these structures (in some cases as instances of cinema envy) can create a more immersive in game experience--not having to pause for a load screen or see gauges and meters enables the players to hone in on the action on screen, to more fully commit to the make believe of the game. In general, however, the immersiveness of a game seems to lie beyond the simple issue of human interface display--in fact, most gamers are completely used to the display as a given in video games, and still find themselves giving in to the imagined reality of the game.

"Immersive" is also a word frequently used to describe games with strong sensory appeal--the creation of realistic, or at least skillfully crafted sensory feedback. Well integrated visuals, music, sound effects, and haptic feedback all help to break down the "fourth wall" of the videoscreen and blend occurrences in the virtual and physical worlds. Users become surrounded (almost literally, in the case of Virtual Reality games) by sensory replications of the game world.

Further, games can be immersive in the imaginative (fictional?) worlds or universes that they create--for example, World Of Warcraft's systems of elves, dwarves, mages, skills, powers, abilities, quests, items, and magical beasts. Players devote themselves to the make believe of these worlds; fully aware that the locations and their rules are imagined, players accept them as an alternate virtual reality with which they are engaged. Players become immersed in the legend, lore, tips and tricks of the game not simply embedded in the software but as they flow out into the game's paratextual universe--the discussion boards, chat rooms, and devoted websites filled with player-created fictional and game-related content. Furthermore, fan fiction and designer-created fiction expands the boundaries of the fictional world of the game. Immersed players delve deeply not just into the storylines of the game, but into the full potential of the fictional gameworld.

But what about a rhythm game like Guitar Hero? The game lacks a storyline and has a limited fictional world--simply the creatively decorated stages unlocked by successfully playing increasingly difficult songs. Furthermore, the game has a very prominent visual interface; a guitar neck dominates the lower half of the screen, as colored circles representing notes to be played by pressing the corresponding guitar controller button descend to the bottom. But despite the interface and the very limited "game world," Guitar Hero is also a strongly immersive game experience. The controller, which is housed in a replica 3/4ths size guitar, consists of 5 fret buttons which must be held while pressing the strum bar, is a haptic simulation of playing a real electric guitar. When combined with the sensory experience of hearing music which corresponds with player action (including mistakes), the game becomes an immersive musical experience. The use of the whammy bar, which allows the player to add their own tremolo and note bends, simulates the feeling of producing a unique piece of music. Guitar Hero is immersive in the same way that using the Wiimote, light guns, steering wheels or flight joysticks imitates the haptic sensation of the real physical motion.