Immersion in Videogames
So, to begin my discussion on immersion, I will first have to choose a game. Now, the overall impact of a game's immersion is very dependent on three main factors, as we learned in the notes, but one has to wonder if they are all equally important, or if one is slightly more important. I would also like to add that the graphics quality of a game can certainly be a factor in immersion as well, as well as player perspective. Overall I would find a game with complex graphics such as The Witcher 3 to be more immersive than say, Minecraft. Both games are fun of course, but you can maybe see my point. I also find games that allow for first-person perspective tend to be more immersive because you feel like you are seeing from your own eyes, rather than a character's, and the action seems more in your control psychologically.
For my discussion, I decided to pick Half-Life 2. It's an older game, but Valve's Source engine was the first (I believe) game engine that properly simulated the physics of our world. In fact, the gravity gun that they made for the game was primarily created just to show this off. This analysis falls under the Realism category, by the way. Objects were able to be lifted, proportionate to realistic human strength capabilities, and destroyed with objects such as a crowbar or a grenade. One could pick up fragile objects and throw them as well, watching them break when they hit the ground (depending on the speed at which they fell - glass and ceramic mugs are a perfect example). The physics of guns seemed solid as well, and enemies died after only being shot once or twice, depending on the vulnerability of the part of the body being hit (better than some games that take like eight million bullets to kill enemies). Falling from extreme heights is fatal, one could drown, get burned, get radiation damage, etc. With the extreme similarities to Deus Ex, a much earlier game, I was tempted to talk about that instead, but it just looks much older, and the physics aren't nearly as impressive as Source.
As for Agency, I would say that the controls for the game are quite easy to comprehend, and there is a decent amount of control that one has when operating Gordon Freeman, the main character. However, the story is very linear so the amount of choice that one feels is somewhat limited, unlike Deus Ex, which had a great deal of meaningful choices throughout the game. Since this category isn't as extensive as the first one, I'm going to move on.
The Urgency in Half-Life 2 is an interesting concept - I find it interesting in most games. Either one has an established character that speaks frequently, or they have a sort of tabula rasa individual, who doesn't speak or do much of anything beyond what is scripted in the story. I would argue that both of these types of characters are useful in making a player feel immersed. On the one hand, the lore of a talking character in a non-linear game gets built up over time, and the choices one makes eventually seem like your choices, especially if there are arguably serious consequences to that character's reputation, moral standing, etc. In RPG games that force you to create your own character, this is particularly effective. However, there are other games that have mute characters, which in a way adds to the immersion, as their lack of identity can be swallowed up by your presence instead. For example, in Half-Life 2, and in the rest of the series, Gordon Freeman never talks, and you rarely - if never - see his face beyond the game art. This leaves the rest of the character's personality to you. You sort of fill in your personality into the one that is so nonexistent. Therefore, when you choose to put a bullet in the head of a scientist for no reason whatsoever, it feels like you are making that decision rather than the character. Thus, one scenario is you relating to the main character, whereas the other is really relating to yourself. He does have an interesting backstory, however, which is another important method of identifying with a character. The strength of writing for the NPCs, on the other hand, is a different story, and one can always connect emotionally with them just like in a movie (unless the writing sucks). Half-Life 2 made us feel for the characters involved, and the deaths of any of said characters were certainly not a happy experience.
Overall, at this point in gaming history, Half-Life 2 was revolutionary in a lot of ways and became a stepping-stone to some of the more realistic games one sees today.
Another game I'd like to talk about is Payday 2, which is an FPS/heist simulator. This game is very immersive, I think, for the following reasons. The realism of the game mechanics is quite impressive, and every aspect of a heist is covered in the game. There are many different maps that your team (four total players) can perform heists in, with the tactics and final outcome all dependent on the players. For example, if one was to rob a bank, there would be two main ways to do so: loud or quiet. If you pick loud, you essentially go in guns blazing, tying up hostages, shooting cameras, and placing the thermal drill on the vault door. Usually, people don't care if the police are alerted in this mode (hence guns blazing), and believe me, there are many ways for that to happen. However, should you choose to go quiet, you case the building initially, avoid security and civilians (both of which can hit a panic button or call the police), avoid cameras, motion sensors, alarmed glass, etc., and then manage to pull off the heist without anyone noticing. Going quiet is generally harder, but there is a bonus for doing it this way. Objects like glass break, and the AI usually responds pretty realistically to gunfire and such.
As for Agency, there are many procedures that the players must use to achieve their goal, such as collecting security cards, avoiding detection, detaining hostages if they do get caught, fighting off the police, and then bagging up money and other valuables in bags that eventually need to be stored in the escape vehicle. There are many different ways that one can achieve their goal, and each character has an incredible amount of freedom to achieve that goal. The game mechanics and controls are simple as well, so that doesn't detract from the experience either.
Finally, for Urgency, there are extensive backstories on each character, and they have to voice in-game commands as well, which makes you associate them more with their character than yourself. I feel that when a character talks, it feels more like someone else than if the character is completely silent. Now, one might say that one shouldn't relate with murderers and bank robbers, but they have a certain appeal for those who have ever wanted to engage in a heist fantasy or something equally exciting like that. It's all in good fun. Anyway, the camaraderie that one feels with the other players is akin to playing on a sports team, and so you end up caring for the other characters like you would a dysfunctional family. Overall I think it is a very immersive game, and I play it pretty frequently.
As for MMOs, I have an interesting history with them. I started playing Anarchy Online when I was a kid, although I wasn't very good because I was like 10 years old - I wasn't terrible, however. Later on, in college, my friend got me into World of Warcraft, which was a fun experience. I mostly tanked for people, but I had a few DPS and healer characters too. However, as soon as Star Wars: The Old Republic came out, I instantly quit WoW and decided to play that instead, since I love Star Wars so much. I have played SWTOR since beta and I still play to this day. I have like 4 max level characters and 16 characters total, which is how invested (one might say addicted) I am in it, lol.
I think that the appeal of these games is the leveling-up system, in which gain power by gaining experience, therefore improving yourself with every quest you do or enemy you defeat. It's like its own society in which you can escape, or achieve #1 status, even if that is not necessarily reflected in real life. People enjoy fantasy, and being able to tune out from reality on occasion. The greater the immersion of the game, the greater the appeal to do so. I myself play MMOs, as I told you, and have somewhat of an emotional investment in SWTOR because I spent a lot of time and money (there's a subscription) on the game.
For my discussion, I decided to pick Half-Life 2. It's an older game, but Valve's Source engine was the first (I believe) game engine that properly simulated the physics of our world. In fact, the gravity gun that they made for the game was primarily created just to show this off. This analysis falls under the Realism category, by the way. Objects were able to be lifted, proportionate to realistic human strength capabilities, and destroyed with objects such as a crowbar or a grenade. One could pick up fragile objects and throw them as well, watching them break when they hit the ground (depending on the speed at which they fell - glass and ceramic mugs are a perfect example). The physics of guns seemed solid as well, and enemies died after only being shot once or twice, depending on the vulnerability of the part of the body being hit (better than some games that take like eight million bullets to kill enemies). Falling from extreme heights is fatal, one could drown, get burned, get radiation damage, etc. With the extreme similarities to Deus Ex, a much earlier game, I was tempted to talk about that instead, but it just looks much older, and the physics aren't nearly as impressive as Source.
As for Agency, I would say that the controls for the game are quite easy to comprehend, and there is a decent amount of control that one has when operating Gordon Freeman, the main character. However, the story is very linear so the amount of choice that one feels is somewhat limited, unlike Deus Ex, which had a great deal of meaningful choices throughout the game. Since this category isn't as extensive as the first one, I'm going to move on.
The Urgency in Half-Life 2 is an interesting concept - I find it interesting in most games. Either one has an established character that speaks frequently, or they have a sort of tabula rasa individual, who doesn't speak or do much of anything beyond what is scripted in the story. I would argue that both of these types of characters are useful in making a player feel immersed. On the one hand, the lore of a talking character in a non-linear game gets built up over time, and the choices one makes eventually seem like your choices, especially if there are arguably serious consequences to that character's reputation, moral standing, etc. In RPG games that force you to create your own character, this is particularly effective. However, there are other games that have mute characters, which in a way adds to the immersion, as their lack of identity can be swallowed up by your presence instead. For example, in Half-Life 2, and in the rest of the series, Gordon Freeman never talks, and you rarely - if never - see his face beyond the game art. This leaves the rest of the character's personality to you. You sort of fill in your personality into the one that is so nonexistent. Therefore, when you choose to put a bullet in the head of a scientist for no reason whatsoever, it feels like you are making that decision rather than the character. Thus, one scenario is you relating to the main character, whereas the other is really relating to yourself. He does have an interesting backstory, however, which is another important method of identifying with a character. The strength of writing for the NPCs, on the other hand, is a different story, and one can always connect emotionally with them just like in a movie (unless the writing sucks). Half-Life 2 made us feel for the characters involved, and the deaths of any of said characters were certainly not a happy experience.
Overall, at this point in gaming history, Half-Life 2 was revolutionary in a lot of ways and became a stepping-stone to some of the more realistic games one sees today.
Another game I'd like to talk about is Payday 2, which is an FPS/heist simulator. This game is very immersive, I think, for the following reasons. The realism of the game mechanics is quite impressive, and every aspect of a heist is covered in the game. There are many different maps that your team (four total players) can perform heists in, with the tactics and final outcome all dependent on the players. For example, if one was to rob a bank, there would be two main ways to do so: loud or quiet. If you pick loud, you essentially go in guns blazing, tying up hostages, shooting cameras, and placing the thermal drill on the vault door. Usually, people don't care if the police are alerted in this mode (hence guns blazing), and believe me, there are many ways for that to happen. However, should you choose to go quiet, you case the building initially, avoid security and civilians (both of which can hit a panic button or call the police), avoid cameras, motion sensors, alarmed glass, etc., and then manage to pull off the heist without anyone noticing. Going quiet is generally harder, but there is a bonus for doing it this way. Objects like glass break, and the AI usually responds pretty realistically to gunfire and such.
As for Agency, there are many procedures that the players must use to achieve their goal, such as collecting security cards, avoiding detection, detaining hostages if they do get caught, fighting off the police, and then bagging up money and other valuables in bags that eventually need to be stored in the escape vehicle. There are many different ways that one can achieve their goal, and each character has an incredible amount of freedom to achieve that goal. The game mechanics and controls are simple as well, so that doesn't detract from the experience either.
Finally, for Urgency, there are extensive backstories on each character, and they have to voice in-game commands as well, which makes you associate them more with their character than yourself. I feel that when a character talks, it feels more like someone else than if the character is completely silent. Now, one might say that one shouldn't relate with murderers and bank robbers, but they have a certain appeal for those who have ever wanted to engage in a heist fantasy or something equally exciting like that. It's all in good fun. Anyway, the camaraderie that one feels with the other players is akin to playing on a sports team, and so you end up caring for the other characters like you would a dysfunctional family. Overall I think it is a very immersive game, and I play it pretty frequently.
As for MMOs, I have an interesting history with them. I started playing Anarchy Online when I was a kid, although I wasn't very good because I was like 10 years old - I wasn't terrible, however. Later on, in college, my friend got me into World of Warcraft, which was a fun experience. I mostly tanked for people, but I had a few DPS and healer characters too. However, as soon as Star Wars: The Old Republic came out, I instantly quit WoW and decided to play that instead, since I love Star Wars so much. I have played SWTOR since beta and I still play to this day. I have like 4 max level characters and 16 characters total, which is how invested (one might say addicted) I am in it, lol.
I think that the appeal of these games is the leveling-up system, in which gain power by gaining experience, therefore improving yourself with every quest you do or enemy you defeat. It's like its own society in which you can escape, or achieve #1 status, even if that is not necessarily reflected in real life. People enjoy fantasy, and being able to tune out from reality on occasion. The greater the immersion of the game, the greater the appeal to do so. I myself play MMOs, as I told you, and have somewhat of an emotional investment in SWTOR because I spent a lot of time and money (there's a subscription) on the game.
Comments
Post a Comment