[MUD-Dev] Levels of immersion

[Travis Casey]

Tuesday, December 12, 2000, 3:01:22 PM, Richard A. Bartle
<richard at mud.co.uk> wrote:

> On 12 December 2000 Travis Casey wrote:

>> I definitely agree that roleplaying does not require you to feel
>> that you *are* the character.  As a recovering multiple
>> personality, if I start feeling that I *am* my character, it's time
>> for me to stop playing.

> Only if the character you feel you are isn't you.

> The point of immersion is that you have to feel that YOU are in the
> game world. Or maybe that should be, that you are IN the game world.
> Or that you are in the game WORLD.

> This comes about when the character you're playing in the game and
> the character that is you in the real world become one. This will
> usually involve some movement on both sides of the equation as
> people experiment with identities. Of course, if this movement is
> too much all in one go or involves some kind of a seismic shift
> rather than a gradual slide, well, yes I guess that could indeed be
> quite unhealthy.

I think maybe we're both having the same experience, but describing it
differently.  Let me try to explain in more detail:

To me, roleplaying is making decisions "in character" -- that is,
based on what your character would do in this situation if your
character were a real person in a real world, rather than based on
game mechanical or metagame considerations.  [1]

Immersion is a state of "roleplaying flow" -- a state where you don't
have to consciously think "what would my character do", but you just
have your character do that.  In other words, you are roleplaying on
an unconscious or automatic level.

This does not, however, mean that you think you *are* your character.
I can be in full immersion, and if someone walks up to me physically
and asks, "What's your name?" I'll say, "Travis Casey", not "Efindel
of Asperdi."  Thus, even though I am roleplaying at an unconscious
level, I am still conscious of the fact that I am *not* my character.

To me, to say that "you are your character" implies that you are no
longer conscious of the distinction between yourself and your
character.  I think that what you really mean is something more like
what I've said above, and "you are your character" is just a shorthand
way of expressing it.  Am I right?

--
       |\      _,,,---,,_    Travis S. Casey  <efindel at earthlink.net>
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   No one agrees with me.  Not even me.
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)   


_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev