Developers seem to think so. Game "worlds" are becoming more cardboard by the minute. No more day/night cycles. Stiff, tiny, lifeless zones to run through on rails. Looks at SWTOR, who literally use a flat picture of mountains painted on the sky to represent great distance...as if you can't tell they didn't render it graphically.
Again, developers may think immersion is overrated, but to me, it's #2...right after gameplay.
There definitely are reasons to create an immersive world but not at the expense of gameplay.
The best immersion is through game play. I've always felt that how things are done is important to immersion, that feeling of being placed "there".
For example,
interaction with the game world. Opening doors is the simplest example, while terrain deformation might be the most extreme example. I see even the simplest, opening/closing doors, as game play. Especially when it might affect more game play such as entering a dungeon room and facing an unknown, closing a door so that you aren't surprised or don't leave yourself open to being seen by patrolling MOBs. Then you have all the things in between. It can all add to game play, thus adding to immersion.
How you interact, the things you do on your comp. If you just get a pop-up list it's less immersive than "using" a tool on a resource to kick things off (of course lists are almost certainly going to be needed at points with choices). And using your cursor as if it's your hands, your senses, etc., to grab things, to look at items, etc. it all adds to immersion. And that's added game play.
"Realism" adds to immersion and game play. If you dismount your horse and it doesn't just disappear, you then have to protect your horse or lead it around. I see that as game play. I know some players don't want to bother with such things and would rather just get into the hack and slash, but it's still less immersion and less game play in the wider scope of things.
Immersion is a misunderstood term that also has different meanings to individuals. VO used with reason is immersive - VO as single system for immersion is lacking. World design, world interaction, day/night cylces, season, weather, NPC/MOB behavior, questing, fighting, looting etc. is a factor.
I.e. killing a little Bat that drops a 2 handed giant Blunt is not immersive. Killing an Alligator that has a rotten arm in its stomach with a golden magic ring on the finger is a possibility. Getting loot like in Skyrim when you get what the opponent wears is immersive - random loot is not.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
Immersion is a misunderstood term that also has different meanings to individuals. VO used with reason is immersive - VO as single system for immersion is lacking. World design, world interaction, day/night cylces, season, weather, NPC/MOB behavior, questing, fighting, looting etc. is a factor.
I.e. killing a little Bat that drops a 2 handed giant Blunt is not immersive. Killing an Alligator that has a rotten arm in its stomach with a golden magic ring on the finger is a possibility. Getting loot like in Skyrim when you get what the opponent wears is immersive - random loot is not.
True, and I agree with your assessment, along with other aspects such as I mentioned.
I prefer to keep terms loose like this, so that we can talk about various aspects, just as we are doing here.
Immersion isn't over rated, it's overused and too nebulous to be of any use to describe what one wants from an MMO.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Immersion is one of those things that means different things to different people. It's anything that brings you into the game, that makes you feel like you're in the gameworld. Different things do that for different people, but also, not everyone cares about being immersed in their games.
Seems like whenever people ask if an aspect of gaming is over-rated, it's really just something some people care about more than others. For some its extremely important, and totally under-rated. For others, yeah, definately over-rated.
For me, personally, it's extremely important. A game has to be really awesome in some other way, for me not to care about a lack of immersion.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Immersion is one of those things that means different things to different people. It's anything that brings you into the game, that makes you feel like you're in the gameworld. Different things do that for different people, but also, not everyone cares about being immersed in their games.
Seems like whenever people ask if an aspect of gaming is over-rated, it's really just something some people care about more than others. For some its extremely important, and totally under-rated. For others, yeah, definately over-rated.
For me, personally, it's extremely important. A game has to be really awesome in some other way, for me not to care about a lack of immersion.
That is a very clear reply Nhaln.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
Immersion means you have a positive emotional response which also indicates you are some how emotionally tied to the character and or world, you have an invested interest in the out come or desire to be in the world.
Games must continue to be immersive and build upon it or else gamers generally will experience either anxiety or boredom, the lack of emotional response or interest in the character.
Using voice chats and other such features over all breaks the game immersion, but adds to the play state or challenge. You can be immersed in the outcome of a match with voice chat because you are actually talking to real people in what you percieve as a game, from the outside looking in, as opposed to being inside the gameworld itself.
Also MMO games generally have worse art assets and level immersion because the multiplayer aspect requires less intensive art to run smoothly.
I wouldnt call voice chat one of the more immersive things. I think the most immersive is first person view only.
See, I personally find first person view in a video game limiting and un immersive to the extreme. To each their own though. For me, SOUND is where immersion will factor in for me. From the music in a zone to the ambient noise to the sound effects. Only a few games get all of them right, some get one or the other and some don't get any right.
There's a difference between "Fluff" immersion and "game mechanic" immersion.
If the world is too easy which makes me feel I'm playing a "game" and those monsters would turn into XP+Gold pixels in my eyes in 2 hours then that kills immersion. If the same would happen but the game provides me enough mechanics which immerse me in the world which would result in situations that I would memorize and stories i would tell, then that's good immersion.
When the game mechanics makes you immerse in the world atmosphere that's important.
Fluff, isn't important but helps.
I personally wish to play a game with less "convenience" at least in the UI and World. Too many "highlights" (like Warhammer's pinkish/greenish border on selected characters/items and too much use of bright/neon colors to make it convenient for you to spot what's important) that thing pisses me off.
Immersion, to me, is the difference between getting lost in an MMORPG (or any game) and playing nintendos-asian-cash-shop-online.
Having to travel, feeling like I'm my character in the world, these things make me play MMO's... they make me care about my character and the world. I could drop 400 hours into an mmo and not notice it because I'm off adventuring.
When it feels like I'm just playing a stupid video game that's going to require me to do tedious video game tasks for 400 hours so I can fly around on my super celstial purple flying war elephant with my glamour pets and silly out of date mohawk and I can play tetris and chat with 500 friends playing other games... well then it just seems stupid.
Immersion is one of the most important things for all games when it comes ot my preferences, but for mmorpgs, it sets the standard.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
The very reason why I play MMORPGs is mostly for the virtual world aspect. I'm a bit of a roleplayer as well, so to me, immersion is just as important as gameplay. It's like reading a good book - sure, ultimately the plot is what matters, but losing yourself in the detail provided by the author is what separates a good book from an amazing one.
Immersion is one of the biggest requirements for a game being fun for me. This is one reason why I dislike ventrillo and similar programs so much -- it yanks me out of the game world and into the modern word of screaming babies, husky elves, and tinny barbarians. At the very least everyone should use a voice changer to make them a little closer to their characters.
Comments
There definitely are reasons to create an immersive world but not at the expense of gameplay.
I wouldnt call voice chat one of the more immersive things. I think the most immersive is first person view only.
Immersion isn't overrated... it's subjective...
So you can't take one person's word over another, making the entire conversation moot.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
Developers seem to think so. Game "worlds" are becoming more cardboard by the minute. No more day/night cycles. Stiff, tiny, lifeless zones to run through on rails. Looks at SWTOR, who literally use a flat picture of mountains painted on the sky to represent great distance...as if you can't tell they didn't render it graphically.
Again, developers may think immersion is overrated, but to me, it's #2...right after gameplay.
Joined - July 2004
Totally agree.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
The best immersion is through game play. I've always felt that how things are done is important to immersion, that feeling of being placed "there".
For example,
Once upon a time....
Immersion is a misunderstood term that also has different meanings to individuals.
VO used with reason is immersive - VO as single system for immersion is lacking.
World design, world interaction, day/night cylces, season, weather, NPC/MOB behavior, questing, fighting, looting etc. is a factor.
I.e. killing a little Bat that drops a 2 handed giant Blunt is not immersive.
Killing an Alligator that has a rotten arm in its stomach with a golden magic ring on the finger is a possibility.
Getting loot like in Skyrim when you get what the opponent wears is immersive - random loot is not.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
True, and I agree with your assessment, along with other aspects such as I mentioned.
I prefer to keep terms loose like this, so that we can talk about various aspects, just as we are doing here.
Once upon a time....
Fun is more important.
However, if the game is fun, there is no harm to be immersive. Just don't make it too much like the real world.
Take away the immersion and all your left with is a souless game.
Immersion isn't over rated, it's overused and too nebulous to be of any use to describe what one wants from an MMO.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Heh.....reading about the immersion, I think of EQ. It was pretty immersive, although those damn snakes liked to kick folks.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
Immersion is one of those things that means different things to different people. It's anything that brings you into the game, that makes you feel like you're in the gameworld. Different things do that for different people, but also, not everyone cares about being immersed in their games.
Seems like whenever people ask if an aspect of gaming is over-rated, it's really just something some people care about more than others. For some its extremely important, and totally under-rated. For others, yeah, definately over-rated.
For me, personally, it's extremely important. A game has to be really awesome in some other way, for me not to care about a lack of immersion.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
That is a very clear reply Nhaln.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
Immersion means you have a positive emotional response which also indicates you are some how emotionally tied to the character and or world, you have an invested interest in the out come or desire to be in the world.
Games must continue to be immersive and build upon it or else gamers generally will experience either anxiety or boredom, the lack of emotional response or interest in the character.
Using voice chats and other such features over all breaks the game immersion, but adds to the play state or challenge. You can be immersed in the outcome of a match with voice chat because you are actually talking to real people in what you percieve as a game, from the outside looking in, as opposed to being inside the gameworld itself.
Also MMO games generally have worse art assets and level immersion because the multiplayer aspect requires less intensive art to run smoothly.
immersion : state of being deeply engaged or involved; absorption.
A game would not be a game if you were not engaged or involved with it.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
See, I personally find first person view in a video game limiting and un immersive to the extreme. To each their own though. For me, SOUND is where immersion will factor in for me. From the music in a zone to the ambient noise to the sound effects. Only a few games get all of them right, some get one or the other and some don't get any right.
There's a difference between "Fluff" immersion and "game mechanic" immersion.
If the world is too easy which makes me feel I'm playing a "game" and those monsters would turn into XP+Gold pixels in my eyes in 2 hours then that kills immersion. If the same would happen but the game provides me enough mechanics which immerse me in the world which would result in situations that I would memorize and stories i would tell, then that's good immersion.
When the game mechanics makes you immerse in the world atmosphere that's important.
Fluff, isn't important but helps.
I personally wish to play a game with less "convenience" at least in the UI and World. Too many "highlights" (like Warhammer's pinkish/greenish border on selected characters/items and too much use of bright/neon colors to make it convenient for you to spot what's important) that thing pisses me off.
Immersion, to me, is the difference between getting lost in an MMORPG (or any game) and playing nintendos-asian-cash-shop-online.
Having to travel, feeling like I'm my character in the world, these things make me play MMO's... they make me care about my character and the world. I could drop 400 hours into an mmo and not notice it because I'm off adventuring.
When it feels like I'm just playing a stupid video game that's going to require me to do tedious video game tasks for 400 hours so I can fly around on my super celstial purple flying war elephant with my glamour pets and silly out of date mohawk and I can play tetris and chat with 500 friends playing other games... well then it just seems stupid.
Immersion is one of the most important things for all games when it comes ot my preferences, but for mmorpgs, it sets the standard.
Plus people use immersion as an excuse for game play they don't like.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
More like, they fail to understand the definition of the word itself.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
That is another valid way to see it.
In any case, where we are now with games is not what I hoped it would be ten years ago.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
The very reason why I play MMORPGs is mostly for the virtual world aspect. I'm a bit of a roleplayer as well, so to me, immersion is just as important as gameplay. It's like reading a good book - sure, ultimately the plot is what matters, but losing yourself in the detail provided by the author is what separates a good book from an amazing one.
Immersion is one of the biggest requirements for a game being fun for me. This is one reason why I dislike ventrillo and similar programs so much -- it yanks me out of the game world and into the modern word of screaming babies, husky elves, and tinny barbarians. At the very least everyone should use a voice changer to make them a little closer to their characters.
Immersion, advancement, growth, and content.