A very rough definition of immersion in video games is where a player becomes deeply involved with the game - often to the point of subconsciously detaching themselves from the passing of time and events outside of the game's world. There are a number of different dimensions to immersion - some may become caught up in the game's story and narrative elements (like Bioshock), whereas others can find themselves more hooked on the strategy and skill necessary (like Portal). What I'm wondering is what it is that can break players out of an immersive experience in video games. Say, for example, you've spent hours playing a game without registering the time gone by, only for something to happen in the game that completely pulls you out of the experience. Suddenly, you're made aware of the hours you've spent at it and reminded that you are a mere mortal playing a video game - and not, disappointingly, a powerful Magi elf exploring the mythical world of Thedas. Or maybe in some cases you never even get to that point, and the game fails to immerse you at all. In summary, or TL;DR! In your own experience, what do you think breaks immersion in a video game?
Badly-coded gameplay is one thing that can break immersion. For example, the platforming in DMC4 breaks the immersion from the real action, which is the combat. Another example would be too much slogging to get to a destination. Slog a mile to fetch something, slog a mile back to deliver it. I also find it immersion-breaking to have to slog to exit an area once I've cleared it of enemy NPCs. Give me a keypress to exit.
First person view in video games. Such as every game from Bethesda, not that I'd bother with those terrible developers and their godawful games anyhoo, Mirror's Edge, Bioshock... I seriously cannot comprehend how people plough through that format and are able to enjoy the game. It's completely unintuitive.
I cannot immerse myself in the game because that close up angle takes me completely out of it. No, I don't imagine "I am the player on screen" and whatnot, I thought that was ****ing implied since I'm playing a damn video game. Sheesh.
Speaking of Bethesda, absolutely nothing kills my immersion faster than when the game locks up and I have to restart the console.
Really awful voice acting does it as well. Hearing somebody read a line like it's the first time they've ever seen the script, or thinking to myself that the writer had a certain type of character in mind when they wrote the dialogue, and the voice actor just missed that entirely and went for some generic "this is of epic importance" tone of voice lol.
It was the FMV era for me back in the 90's Thoese Full Motion Videos games was well immersive. It just now it cheaper to do Animation etc as the actors these days would want paying the same as hollywood stars so it easier and cheaper to do animation. Wincommander series come to mind as one of the most immersive as that was FMV and graphics together. Flying the spaceship and communicating to the other pilots and the communication it self was in FMV as well in the top left corner.
Putting things in that generally doesn't fit the theme of the game totally kills the immersion for me. The best instance I can think of was in Dragon Age: Origins, I remember running into this rather peculiar man who asked me for help, after hearing the full story I was quite eager to take the quest, only to get told in typical scumbag EA fashion, that I must first exit the game and buy it off the EA store before continuing.
Seeing characters do things they shouldn't be able to do breaks it big time for me. Like Ntahan drake the one man killing machine who gets into all sorts of dangers even as a kid and not a scratch on him. Or when he is delerious in a desert just to turn around and kill loads of guys.
Also technical stuff like freezes glitches etc. The usual
if characters act out of character, the game freezes, or i am doing a repetitive action...as for things that are my fault that break immersion, i would say dying definitely does it
skyrim has had me thinking about immersion lately. people often mention the sillier glitches (giants power clubbing the player or dragons shifting into reverse) when talking about immersion breaking in the elder scrolls but those oddities have been in the elder scrolls games so long that i sort of think of them as part of tamriel. i expect humanoids spawning fire out of their hands just as much as i expect mysteriously floating flagons.
what snaps me out of the game are the freezes and framerate chugs. getting up to restart the game or having these jarring slow downs reorient me in the real world. also, there are the controls. they are my link to the game and good controls should be manipulated thoughtlessly. when my dual wielding attacks dont register, im no longer thinking about the game. im thinking "why the hell isnt this working?"
if characters act out of character, the game freezes, or i am doing a repetitive action...as for things that are my fault that break immersion, i would say dying definitely does it
josephl64
dieing is an interesting one. i think dieing and then reloading a save file is immersion breaking because its not really justified in the game world and it is the game's fault due to how the death scenario is designed. if i die in demon's souls or limbo, the game has worked that death scenario into the game world and i dont feel like im doing anything out of context. even smaller steps like in prince of persia: the sands of time, the prince is narrating the game and correcting himself as the player dies ("no, no, no. thats not how it goes.") to at least keep that narrative from breaking.
I refuse to immerse myself in any game. I should be able to put it down any time I want without hurrying to go back and play it more. If that isn't the case, it either goes back or it doesn't get played fora few weeks.
Seeing characters do things they shouldn't be able to do breaks it big time for me. Like Ntahan drake the one man killing machine who gets into all sorts of dangers even as a kid and not a scratch on him. Or when he is delerious in a desert just to turn around and kill loads of guys.
Also technical stuff like freezes glitches etc. The usual
seanmcloughlin
Very true. For me, it's the opposite, though. Having a bad-ass character who gets stuck because the wooden door is locked, totally kills the immersion. Invisible walls are a killer, too!
You know what breaks the immersion for me? No matter how big your kingdom is, all guards will stop you on the street to tell you of when they took an arrow in the knee
I can get immersed by many games. But I'd say bugs, stalling, characters not reacting to the environment, loading screens, lack of animation, difficulty, all of those kill immersion for me.
The most immersive games I have played are probably the Uncharted series. Everything flows so well, everything blends together seemlessly.
False sense of opportunity. This occurs when the game illogically or specifically hinders you from accomplishing a task that should be doable. Examples being invisible walls, handicaping the gamer for specific sections, obstacles that can easily be walked over but you simply can't, inability to jump etc
a number of things can break the inversion. for example: -bugs/glitches -loading screens or having to manually reload a save file when you die -bad voice acting -annoying characters -unrealistic choices made by the protagonist (enslaved comes to mind) -slow moving plot/time between action sequences/failure to keep the gamers attention avoiding these is the first step to an immersive game. this is a big part of why the uncharted series seems so immersive
if characters act out of character, the game freezes, or i am doing a repetitive action...as for things that are my fault that break immersion, i would say dying definitely does it
LoG-Sacrament
dieing is an interesting one. i think dieing and then reloading a save file is immersion breaking because its not really justified in the game world and it is the game's fault due to how the death scenario is designed. if i die in demon's souls or limbo, the game has worked that death scenario into the game world and i dont feel like im doing anything out of context. even smaller steps like in prince of persia: the sands of time, the prince is narrating the game and correcting himself as the player dies ("no, no, no. thats not how it goes.") to at least keep that narrative from breaking. that's kind of interesting, i will look into Prince of Persia
Motion controls. When I move my arm and stuff I remember I am a living person in the physical world and then it all gets ruined and I remember I am playing and not experiencing. Kinda weird since motion controls try to immerse you more into the game.
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