Falelorn
Shared on Sun, 02/26/2006 - 01:14
For sure, the reason we play games will differ from person to person, but I am also sure that we can all agree we play games to be someone else, from Sam Fisher to Kratos to a powerful character in the latest Role Playing Game.
But I have wondered, is the immersion I feel playing these games important to everyone? Do some people play games just solely for entertainment purposes? Or do we sometimes wish we could drive a race car at 200 mph and shoot rockets at other cars or snap someone’s neck while we go to disarm a bomb?
I fail to believe that anyone plays games anymore simply to be entertained. If this was the case we wouldn’t have favorite genres of games. Sports, Racing, First Person Shooters, RPG, MMORPG, Stealth Action, and insert any genre here you wish.
The games we grew up with, well some of us grew up with were entertaining. Dig Dug and Mrs. Pac Man did not immerse us in their environments. Text based games had a deeper immersion level then any of the very first graphic arcade games. But as time has progressed and technology has moved forward in huge leaps and bounds, we see games with more realistic graphics, rich full sounds, interactive environments and believable Non-Playable Characters to deal with.
So again I ask, how important is immersion today? I will say it is almost everything we cherish about playing games. Since we cannot go off and lead a team of Spec Ops, or win the Super Bowl if we do not feel part of the experience, where our actions are dictating every event, where we care about others in the game, even if they are just a few thousand polygon characters.
Immersion gives us permission to lose our selves in the games. People play thousands of hours in MMORPG’s because they are by far the most immersive worlds. Living breathing ever changing, with new people, friends, family and guild-mates, all banding together to be part of a world, to change it, to make it better or worse.
Soon we will see Elder Scrolls 4 – Oblivion for our beloved white box (note to Microsoft if anyone sees this… Xbox 3.. make it black).. where all Non-Playable Characters will have spoken dialogue. Realistic trees, world physics, intelligent actions, and many more immersive features to draw us into this world like no other games have before.
Fale
But I have wondered, is the immersion I feel playing these games important to everyone? Do some people play games just solely for entertainment purposes? Or do we sometimes wish we could drive a race car at 200 mph and shoot rockets at other cars or snap someone’s neck while we go to disarm a bomb?
I fail to believe that anyone plays games anymore simply to be entertained. If this was the case we wouldn’t have favorite genres of games. Sports, Racing, First Person Shooters, RPG, MMORPG, Stealth Action, and insert any genre here you wish.
The games we grew up with, well some of us grew up with were entertaining. Dig Dug and Mrs. Pac Man did not immerse us in their environments. Text based games had a deeper immersion level then any of the very first graphic arcade games. But as time has progressed and technology has moved forward in huge leaps and bounds, we see games with more realistic graphics, rich full sounds, interactive environments and believable Non-Playable Characters to deal with.
So again I ask, how important is immersion today? I will say it is almost everything we cherish about playing games. Since we cannot go off and lead a team of Spec Ops, or win the Super Bowl if we do not feel part of the experience, where our actions are dictating every event, where we care about others in the game, even if they are just a few thousand polygon characters.
Immersion gives us permission to lose our selves in the games. People play thousands of hours in MMORPG’s because they are by far the most immersive worlds. Living breathing ever changing, with new people, friends, family and guild-mates, all banding together to be part of a world, to change it, to make it better or worse.
Soon we will see Elder Scrolls 4 – Oblivion for our beloved white box (note to Microsoft if anyone sees this… Xbox 3.. make it black).. where all Non-Playable Characters will have spoken dialogue. Realistic trees, world physics, intelligent actions, and many more immersive features to draw us into this world like no other games have before.
Fale
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