Immersion (virtual reality)

All you want to know about Immersion (virtual reality)

Immersion is the state of consciousness where an immersant's awareness of physical self is diminished or lost by being surrounded in an engrossing total environment; often artificial.^[1] This state is frequently accompanied by spatial excess, intense focus, a distorted sense of time, and effortless action.^[2] The term is widely used to describe immersive virtual reality, installation art and video games, but it is not clear if people are using the same word consistently. The term is also cited as a frequently-used buzzword, in which case its meaning is intentionally vague, but carries the connotation of being particularly engrossing.

The sensation of total immersion in virtual reality (VR) can be so described: "You lose your critical distance to the experience and get emotionally involved. It could be not only a game you are a part of, but any kind of experience. ... You feel as if it is very real but know it is not." Interactive computer art first became a compositional art medium when Myron Krueger made videoplace (1970). Visitors could enter a computer-generated graphic world, interact with other participants of both human and creature form. This full-body, telecommunication computer experience was the first of its kind. Krueger also coined the term artificial reality. ^[3]

1 Types of immersion
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

Types of immersion

Classic Virtual reality HMD

According to Ernest Adams, author and consulter on game design, immersion can be separated into three main categories:

Tactical immersion: Tactical immersion is experienced when performing tactile operations that involve skill. Players feel "in the zone" while perfecting actions that result in success.

Strategic immersion: Strategic immersion is more cerebral, and is associated with mental challenge. Chess players experience strategic immersion when choosing a correct solution among a broad array of possibilities.

Narrative immersion: Narrative immersion occurs when players become invested in a story, and is similar to what is experienced while reading a book or watching a movie.

Staffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen, in Patterns In Game Design, divide immersion into similar categories, but call them sensory-motoric immersion, cognitive immersion and emotional immersion, respectively. In addition, they add two new categories:

Spatial immersion: Spatial immersion occurs when a player feels the simulated world is perceptually convincing. The player feels that he or she is really "there" and that a simulated world looks and feels "real".

Psychological immersion: Psychological immersion occurs when a player confuses the game with real life.

Sensory immersion: The experience of entering into the three-dimensional environment, and being intellectually stimulated by it. The player experiences a unity of time and space as the player fuses with the image medium, which affects impression and awareness.

References

^ "Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances", Joseph Nechvatal 1999 Planetary Collegium
^ Varney, Allen (August 8, 2006). "Immersion Unexplained" (HTML). The Escapist. Retrieved on 2007-04-06.
^ Popper, Frank. From Technological to Virtual Art. The MIT Press. ISBN 026216230X.

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