[MUD-Dev] Levels of immersion

[Tess Snider]

On Tue, 12 Dec 2000, Travis Casey wrote:

> 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?

It seems to me like he means what he's saying.  There's a level of
deep-roleplaying that can happen, when your characters are so
intensely well developed that they sometimes do things that even *you*
didn't expect.  However, there's still a very clear distinction
between that and the "persona" immersion which he's describing.  You
can achieve the most brilliant roleplaying anyone has ever seen, and
never fall to the persona level of immersion; if you read my other
mail on this subject, you'll see why I think this can be a *good*
thing.

Think about it this way: When you relate events that happened to your
character to people outside the game, do you describe those events in
first person or third person?  First person exists at the highest and
lowest ends of immersion.  Third person exists in the middle, at the
"character" level of immersion.

My first instinct, upon reading Bartle's mini-article was to be in
denial of the persona-level of immersion.  I think that I wanted to
deny it because, coming from the background that I do, I find the very
idea of immersing past the "character" level graceless, irresponsible,
and distasteful.  However, upon careful reflection, I realised that
this level does truly exist, and I recalled some rather disturbing
anecdotes about people who *did* cross the line.

For example, I recall a player who made an attempt to have another
player assaulted in the real world, because his character killed a
character of hers with whom her psyche had become far too intertwined.
No player who was immersed at strictly the "character" level would
even dream of doing something like that.  No matter how much a
"character" immersed player might love his characters -- no matter how
much passion and fervour he may have invested in their stories --
there is a certain healthy distance he maintains.  At the "persona"
level, that distance is lost, and a great deal of one's perspective
can be lost in the bargain.

(Boy, I'm starting to sound like a bad Chick Tract.  "NO, NOT BLACK
LEAF! NO, NO!  I'M GOING TO DIE!")

Tess Snider

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