I did the survey. I love immersive games because I love stories and the sense of being inside an interactive story or world. But I wanted to add the point that immersion as a virtue doesn't apply to all genres of game, If you were making, say, a solitaire card game, that whole genre is not immersive and not intended to be.

Thanks for participating and interesting comments!

Immersion is indeed something complicated and depends on many things but I think people can get immersed in any type of game to some extend.
You mention a card game genre is not immersive, would you say people who play poker online are never immerser (or can't get immersed)? Please explain

I believe that immersion requires placing the player in a simulation of a physical environment. The player has to feel that their 5 senses are being stimulated in more or less the same way they would be if the player were to go to an interesting location. A card game or board game really doesn't lend itself to that because irl they are played sitting still, probably in a boring location. At a real poker tournament or chess tournament the most immersive aspect would probably be watching other players' body language and facial expressions, but that's all but impossible to simulate in a game, unless you want to do it with no subtlety at all.

This has come up before, and I'll probably get filleted again for this, but I don't ever really get immersed in a game; as far as I never feel as though I'm there, or I'm the space marine killing the alien horde. Frankly I find the entire concept really creepy, and to be honest unhealthy. Sure, I'll get into a game as far as interest in a story, or a bit of tension up during a good FPS. But never, ever fantasizing about being there. Creepy.

This has come up before, and I'll probably get filleted again for this, but I don't ever really get immersed in a game; as far as I never feel as though I'm there, or I'm the space marine killing the alien horde. Frankly I find the entire concept really creepy, and to be honest unhealthy. Sure, I'll get into a game as far as interest in a story, or a bit of tension up during a good FPS. But never, ever fantasizing about being there. Creepy.

I voted for Left 4 Dead 2 on the survey. When played right, it really is as if you are going up against the horde, because they are controlled by other players.

You have to rely on 3 other people to work together, and just like in all the best zombie movies, their tiny mistakes will cost you dearly.
The other players are controlling the advanced zombies, and can see you at all times. They are planning a huge ambush to separate and kill all of you.
At any time a horde of 500 zombies can randomly spawn in, or even worse, a tank zombie.

Everything is randomized. Supplies are rare. Healing supplies even rarer. You never know what is about to spawn, where, or how many. The enemy players can be standing right behind you, waiting to spawn in and crash through a door to kill you. And you have all your team mates screaming in your ear.

One guy comes up and spits ooze at all the players, blinding them and attracting a huge horde of zombies to come swarm them so everyone is panicking trying to shoot the swarm, and not each other.
Another guy pounces and pins one of the players to the ground and starts cutting them up.
Another guy throws his tongue out from 100 feet away, and drags a player far away from team mates, choking him to death.

Everyone is legitimately excited. The enemy players are trying to get as much damage done as possible before the non-pinned players recover.
The players are about to have a heart attack and legitimately worried. They are trying to fight off the swarm and save their pinned team mates at the same time. But they are blind and severely disoriented.

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Uncharted 2 was very immersive because I don't like heights. They handle the perception of space, height, and gravity very well. Lots of the gaps have rough or very close landings. Sometimes you land and lose your grip or footing and it's heart stopping for me.

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Dead Rising 2 has lots of immersion for me because I always try to save all the survivors and get them back to the safe house. But they are extremely stupid ai wise (purposely), and they do nothing but cost you time and cause you no end of extra trouble. It has a good risk / reward balance. I've even gotten legitimately pissed at the less intelligent, or naggier ones.


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If the storyline or emotional content is done well enough, I can empathize with it the same as I would in a movie.

[color="#1c2837"]I believe that immersion requires placing the player in a simulation of a physical environment. The player has to feel that their 5 senses are being stimulated in more or less the same way they would be if the player were to go to an interesting location. A card game or board game really doesn't lend itself to that because irl they are played sitting still, probably in a boring location.

Interesting, so what about traditional paper-RPG games, what about text-based games like ZORG? Those are very basic, played sitting still and probably in a boring location too, yet they are a great example of immersive games imo.

I personally think I can get as immersed in an online poker game as in a real one, and to give another example of a card-game Ive been immersed in in the past: pokémon cardgames. I wasn't playing with cards, I was 'attacking' with real pokémon, I got immersed in the game! There's even been attempts to make immersion for cardgames even stronger with Augmented Reality: Eye of Judgment. Still in the end, they are just cards you are playing with.
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Well, different people do find different things immersive, as Telastyn was just pointing out. Personally, I've played lots of card games but they very immersive to me, nor are text-based games like MUDs. Yet somehow novels are, and I remember being quite immersed playing pretend with toys as a child, so who knows how that works. But mainly it's visuals in motion combined with a good soundtrack that are required to make me personally feel immersed. Consistency within the world like cih mentions is also helpful. I have a harder time feeling immersed with still, black and white visuals like in a manga/comic, but I can sometimes get immersed in those.