Good question, but ultimately it makes for a deeper and richer experience. Imagine eating the best dinner plate you've ever had before but was only given a small portion of each dish.. Immersion would be the full meal that will fill you up and when its done you feel completely satisfied.

Gamers are getting older now and a mature audience requires a mature experience most of the time. Immersion brings out that maturity and makes the person put more thought into a setting.

It's a form of escapism, if you don't feel like you're escaping then it's not very good.

our tech today was sci fi at one point

Could be generational. .. When I was a little kid we had pinball.. Then arcade games came along, then atari, then computers. Over time games graphically started to look more and more real. With every generation of game I thought. "Wow, it'll never get better than this!" I was blown away by games like Tomb Raider II ...A game where, if you jump in the kitchen sink you become the same size as the sink.

People who grew up with the last few generations of video games might just have a harder time because of higher expectations. I mean, people can obviously accept and get immersed in games like Minecraft... But the more a game resembles the world around us the more they complain about the reality of the game. I still expect to jump in a sink and be the same size as a sink.. so when I don't, I'm impressed.

"Immersion" is an almost vestigial term now. (Almost as bad as "RPG".) People are using the word for very different things. Basically, I think people mean one of three things when they toss out "immersion".

1.) It occupies my time. I get so distracted by the game that I can while away minutes or hours without being bored. It's so immersive!

2.) It entertains a specific desire. I really enjoy, say, WWII, and this game deals with accurate historical battles and realistic characters. It's so immersive! (As opposed to that sci-fi game with laser guns and stuff, which isn't real and I have no desire for that. So, it's not that immersive.)

3.) It occupies imagination. I want the parts of the game to work together so well, that I can lose myself in the world without my suspension of disbelief being broken. It's so immersive!

Personally, I fall under the 3rd category, and it wasn't until I was a teenager that I came to understand there are people (a lot of them) that find imagination exhausting. They don't like it, enjoy it, or want to be surrounded by it. They prefer life cut-and-dry and familiar. I, on the other hand, can't shut my imagination off and get hideously bored very quickly with any sort of mundane task.

Looking at these extremes, it's impossible to understand what someone means by "immersion". But the industry caters to all 3, throwing the word around to lure in more buyers.

Twitch-based action games or simplistic management games with repetitive systems that result in illusory rewards of "unlocks" and "achievements" without changing the gameplay formula are for category 1 folks. They're a dime-a-dozen In my experience, most professional game developers (at least designers) are either category 2 or 3. They'll create games that target a niche audience, such as historical wargames games or realistic flight simulations (category 2), or they'll create very detailed, interactive worlds with strong narrative experiences (category 3).

The only important thing is to understand which general category you fall under and chase down that type of game. (Fallout 4 falls under category 3 to an extreme .)

It's like going to the cinema. While I'm watching the film, I want to be immersed in the film's narrative. As far as possible, you want to forget that you're sat in a cinema watching a film and get caught up in the story on the screen. And the last thing you want is something that jars you out of that state of being immersed in the story to remind you that you are in fact in a cinema.

That's immersion.

So similarly, when you're playing a game, the ideal is that you forget that you're sat at a computer with mouse and keyboard (or whatever) and lose yourself in the character, setting and events of the game. "Immersive" is anything that makes that process easier and ... "anti-immersive" let's call it, is anything that tends to jar you out and remind you that it's just a game you're playing.


From that perspective, "realism" only matters when something happens that is so at odds with your expectations for the gmae and setting that you can only understand it by stepping out of the game context and breaking the immersion. Most gamers when they say "realistic" don't mean "what would happen in real life", but rather "making the game better conform to the genre, or to my idea of how the genre should be". By way of evidence, look at all the vampire realism mods for various TES games. Almost all of them try to make the game more like something from Dracula, or Anne Rice, or Buffy, and almost none of them involve normal, mortal people with no special powers but who are saddled with a psychological compulsion to drink blood.

Of course, different gamers have different expectations to how closely the game should reflect how the real world works in different areas. And so we get the conflation of realism and immersion which we see today.

TL;DR; Immersion != Realism

To immerse oneself into a world that only exists in the creator's imagination. For me, immersion means to fully invest and also lose myself in a world where reality ceases to exist (at least for a few hours). I know full well that I entered an imaginary world, yet in my mind, I am there, I accept the altered reality and follow the set rules of that new world. I am emotionally invested in the story. For me, that is the best part. If a story can elicit an emotional response, than it is truly a very well written one.

I come from a time when movies and books took me to new places and strange worlds. Everything happened in my mind and so, imagination is still a huge part of really getting into a game.

Now, I've also dabbled in writing and I know that every world you create comes with its own set of rules, but the key is that you MUST create rules and consistently follow them. Inconsistency is not only immersion breaking, it will also destroy your story and turn the reader off.

Well, yea, the Vertibirds are very immersion breaking! I see one and just wait for the crash. When it happens, I say to myself... there goes another one! LOL

Well said. Sometimes I wonder though, do we "older" gamer just appreciate the shiny new worlds more, since we know what games looked before (on floppy disks lol) and is the new generation of gamer more jaded, because they have never known anything but the cool next gen graphics? Things that make you go hmmm...

LOL exactly! I totally know where you are coming from! Donkey Kong, Space Invaders... those were my first games! And then Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Unreal Tournament, Half Life...

Imagination! For me, that is the key word! I want a game that provides a world where my imagination can run wild! And Fallout 4 does that for me. I am emotionally invested, it sparks my creativity and my imagination knows no boundaries. I just love the whole post apoc setting and the 'what if' scenario.

As others have no doubt said, immersion does not necessarily mean realism. I can watch Lord of the Rings or Alien, which have nothing to do with Earth reality, yet I'm completely immersed in whatever goes on in these movies.

It's the ability of an art form (movies, vid games, whatever) to capture and captivate, and make me forget all about bills and school work and everything else going on in my life.

A distinction that goes over many heads.


People get so caught up in what they think is realistic that their demands themselves begin to lose ground in reality. Becoming nothing more than petty details that interupt gameplay for no other reasonthan it occurs in real life.


My favorite example is from right before skyrim came out there was a popular discussion about how before entering an npc's home there should be a knocking animation that waits for and shows the npc answering it. On top of the already existing load screens

Main reason I'm generally dismissive of "immersion" is that the primary way I keep seeing the word is in complaints. "_________ ruined my immersion!" And these complaints run a wide spectrum, from Skyrim daring to have a UI on the screen or (horrors!) briefly shifting to third person when sitting in a chair, to the lunatic on the Wasteland 2 pre-release forums who declared that having a graphics post-processing option to change the "tone" of the visuals ruined his immersion! (and disrespected the dev's vision. Even though they were the ones pondering the option).

So yeah, in general, all I see is that "immersion" ruins gaming experiences for people. Which is why I 1) don't think it's real/meaningful/important, and 2) am glad I don't suffer from it.

Yeah, I don't do that. I set out to play a computer game, and I remain well aware that I'm playing one, at a desk, using a keyboard/mouse/etc. So I care more about, for ex, the menus & interface being well designed & functional, as opposed to complaining that they "reminded me I'm playing a game"

Probably because a good number of threads keep popping up from people going "Such-and-such isn't realistic/They could make X more realistic! It'd be so more immersive!" /eyeroll

So other people trying to figure out this immersion thing see those, and figure immersion = realism. (Similar to how all the immersion comments I've seen have taught me that immersion = something that ruins games experiences for people, as it's continually broken. )

Immersion doesn't work for me. I'm playing a game I'm not living it. I really don't need the immersion aspect to have fun!

What you mean everyone doesn't enter a hypnotic fugue state where they blot out the entire world completely and only become aware of their surroundings in the event of gross physical discomfort? Who knew?


Seriously, I don't anyone ever loses complete awareness of the setting. You just put it out of your mind and focus as much as you can on the game. Or hey, maybe you don't. I don't know.

I think you're conflating "ease of use" with "immersion". I mean no one ever complained that a spreadsheet application was insufficiently immersive, for example, even though that relies as much or more on having "well designed and functional" menus and interface.

Lord of the Rings is very "realistic". Realism doesn't mean non-fantastical; it's simply the way in which factual or fantastical elements are portrayed.

Take Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbor, side-by-side. Ryan is almost completely realistic in its portrayal of every aspect, except for color. Pearl Harbor is almost silly in parts, especially with the over-exaggerated dogfighting scenes. In the same vein, the LotR is a very "down-to-earth" look at fantasy. It's heavily vested in self-qualifying fiction (there are sensible answers to everything within the clearly established laws of the fantasy world). Much more realistic than, say, Harry Potter, in which there are wizards and pixies and goblins "just 'cause...it's magical things and stuff!"

Immersion is something completely different. For myself, I lean towards realism, but I also love stylized work, and I don't mind a little "sound in space", so to speak, if it adds to the aesthetic of the piece and feels good.

If it helps, you can also think of immersion like your train of thought. When you are speaking to someone to convey an idea, and they interrupt you and you lose your train of though and can't get it back, you could say your immersion has been broken.

Or being "in the groove" and getting distracted and having to "find your groove again".

These are similar examples, but not perfect. It bothers people in varying degrees and some not at all.

Ever read a book, watch tv, listen to music or play a game at home alone. Then a Knock at the door or slam of a neighbors' car door that makes you jump out of your skin for a moment?

that is my definition of Immersive!

and FO4, along with a lot of other media, does that for me in spades!

My all-time, most immersive game ever is...

I can't choose.

I would say it's a toss-up between:

Morrowind

Thief II: The Metal Age

Ultima VII

Jagged Alliance 2

This is exactly how I feel.

Immersion varies from person to person, and it really depends on a persons suspension of disbelief.

Often I find people misuse the term, and you often find it used as a buzzword for anything that people don't like in a game.

By definition, Immersion is the act of getting svcked in personally by a piece of media, be it a game, a book, a movie...etc. Anything immersive is anything that makes you feel more of a part of what is going on. This can be little things, like hearing your characters voice over the Settlement Recruitment broadcasts, or sitting at a counter at Power Noodles, and having the cook ask you what you want.

Things that are "Immersion Breaking" are things that suddenly break the illusion, often rudely, and reminding you that you're playing a game and are back to being at your couch/at your computer.

This is of course my own opinion on Immersion.

Some have a higher tolerance of suspension of disbelief, as things that may seem too out there or too illogical can pull you out of it. Maybe you read something on a terminal or heard a thing an NPC said or a quest went a certain way that kind made you go "Wait a minute...", as it contradicted some bit of lore you always kinda held onto, and now you have to deal with what this is telling you.

This right here is the definition of immersion.

You have to have suspension of disbelief. You have to be invested in the world. So much so that you forget your playing a video game

Its a really simple idea with a very complex way of getting to the idea. The person enjoying the experience has to buy what the game is selling and I think this is the most important part of discussing immersion so much so I used all the fancy font formats on it. To say this I really mean that a person has to accept the world the game offers, not actually physically buying something.

I think this is where most people get confused because some people accept and buy the setting more than others. Some people are just naturally harder to convince.

Here in lies all the problems bring up when talking about immersion because they think its a word with different meaning, but what they actually want to talk about is what the game needs to provide them to be immersed.

the thing is the human mind has no built in concept about reality.

a "blank" mind will accept anything for real that's consistent in itself.

so for a game, basically being about having a person interact with a fictitious reality and involving them into it as much as possible, "immersive" (lit. "dunking in" (in viennese slang, the word for "dunk" actually has the second meaning of "betray", "cheat")) just means presenting a game world that's consistent enough so the player won't drop into plausibility holes (that's the marketing speech free term for "non-immersive" ,-) all the time (or not at all, in a perfect game world)

and if you ask me, it's specifically beth's games that gave the term real meaning for pretty much the first time in gaming history (except for some flight sims and stuff maybe, but that's some rather narrow "reality"), the concept of "if you can see it, you can go there", or "if it's there, you can do stuff with it", up to like "npc's will actually do stuff even if you're _not_ there", etc, you didn't get that anywhere else, and you still hardly ever do - and i sure hope they'll never go off of that.

y'know, skyrim... spent a lot of time there, playing and modding, and it turned from a roll playing game into a stroll playing game for me long ago.

i can start it up, "wake up" on my front porch, mount my donkey and go for a long ride with my foxes and the AutoMate, with no dragons to kill, no daggers to deliver or folk to rescue, pick a couple herbs, bathe in the river, climb a mountain for a better view on the northern lights, stuff like that. and totally have a good time with it, without the slightest thought of if it's "real" or not bothering me for even a second.

that's immersion.

Immersion is that great state you enter when you are playing the game and nothing in the game itself is interrupting that enjoyment.

Breaking immersion happens when something goes wrong in the game (or you find something you don't like), and instead of continuing to blissfully play you notice it and think about the technical aspects of the problem. So, for example, you try to click on Dogmeat but he keeps walking away preventing you from talking to him. If you don't notice that happening and just follow him around until you succeed your immersion isn't broken. If when he keeps walking away you think, "omg, why didn't Beth make it so he stands still once you click on him?" then your immersion is broken.

Different people find different things immersion breaking so there cannot be one, true definition of what is and isn't immersive in any given circumstance or game. Unfortunately, this isn't well understood so the word is frequently misused to the point that it's become fairly meaningless.

As found on Dictionary.com, immersion is (in this context) the "state of being deeply engaged or involved; absorption." I tend to view "immersion" in this light by default, and agree with people's comments here that immersion =/= realism.

The LotR reference, I 100% agree with as an example. Those movies (not The Hobbit trilogy) are my best means of escape from the day-to-day. The world is believable and has its own established rules and lore, so that only aids in the immersion effect. I'd say the same for the novel(s), too.

But, to be on topic, I would say that FO4 is "immersive" for me, even if I don't get to play it often. It is engaging and believable within its own means.

Immersion is important to me so I can except that I'm in a plausible situation and environment. Some elements are predictable and should be life like. (as in how a gun reloads or if the characters mouth syncs with the dialogue ... ) I play Fallout because of its plausibitly , the idea that our character come from a relatively familiar world and are thrown into absolute chaos and survival of the fittest, now has to adapt. RPG's need to follow the basic idea set forth for the game. For instance-Fallout 4. A nuclear powered society demolished by nuclear war, set back hundreds of year's of evolutionary progress and what we consider civilized behavior. Now as I adopt my character I'm no longer confined to liberty and justice for all. I can per say solve challenges any way I like and reap reward or consequence. I can keep my compassion or I could just shoot somebody in the face and leave the body where it lies . My best comparison is like watching a movie, either I'm intrigued by the characters,props,environment,realism and how the story plays out or I observe that [censored] doesn't make sense and is headed for a lame turn of events and stop watching. If my mind can't except the immersion there's no way I could waste hundreds of hours of my life making a life for my character. Have you ever tried watching a Bruce Lee movie or original Godzilla - utterly ridiculous. Honestly I don.t think I've ever finished watching either. Anyway Right now I'm at level 83 with roughly 300+ hours or so. and have had my fill for what's available. Love it. it my favorite series. Now I play FO4 maybe 5 hours a week just to make sure all my settlers have a bed to sleep in... lol. I'm very excited for the DLC and the Mods that come from the minds of it's players. Aspire-ring to be a Modder my self. Oh, a big shout out to all the modders your awesome. As long as I have this rare opportunity to say Bethsada's marketing strategy on this one (FO4) was a bit extreme on keeping it's patrons in suspense. Just sayin. Thank you Bethsada for all your titles, great job.

Is anyone claiming that iRO4 is not immersive?

I mean it's by no means my favourite Bethesda game, but aside from a few jarring mismatches between the VA and my own feelings about what my char is doing, I can't think of anything particularly immersion breaking.

I agree with Agrona. For me, a good game is a game that can immerse me in it as he explained.


Example - I was playing Witcher 3: HoS yesterday and lost track of time. Four hours went by and I almost missed my Philosophy class. Dragon Age: Origins, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout 3 have all had this same effect on me too.


Interesting discussion!