[MUD-Dev] Immersiveness - good or bad?

[Adam Martin]

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Buehler" <johnbue at msn.com>
To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 11:43 PM
Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Logical MUD Areas


> Adam Martin writes:

>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "John Buehler" <johnbue at msn.com>
>> To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
>> Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 8:12 AM
>> Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Logical MUD Areas

>>> Greg Munt writes:

>>>> You just don't leave your home that easily! I'd be interested in
>>>> portraying goblins in a realistic way, too. Instead of the
>>>> player-fodder token evil NPCs, they should be seen as simply
>>>> another race of sentient intelligence. They should bear children,
>>>> raise them, make demands on local resources, just as humans
>>>> do. There should be some empathy.

>> But that is the kind of thing that e.g. Lionhead are aiming for in
>> Black & White - because it goes a long way to fulfilling the
>> "immersive" promise made by many games in their marketing briefs,
>> by making players actually care about their actions instead of
>> "merely playing a game, which isn't real anyway".

> I'm trying to pursue a recipe where players are willing to suspend
> their disbelief, enjoy the entertainment that the game offers and
> then go on their way.  I believe that part of this is to remind them
> gently every now and again that they are playing a game.  A very
> complex, intricate and entertaining one.

> When players get seriously drawn into the game - that is, they
> become immersed - they lose track of time, they place more emphasis
> on their game actions than their real world actions, etc.  It's a
> recipe for disaster.  How many people are immersed in Soap Operas
> and reduce the time they actually spend living their own lives?
> Trying to live one's life can be difficult.  Having somebody else's
> life to live only reduces the impetus to try.

> I'll be truly thrilled if I'm proven wrong that immersion is a Bad
> Thing.

>From a personal view point, I get that immersed in everything I do;
looking at my peers at Oxford/Cambridge here in the UK, it seems to me
that many of the most prolific, most interesting people tend to be
that focussed on everything they do: it's a major part of how they
manage to be the best.  This may not generalize, but please don't
write off immersion that easily.  It does not seem to be considered a
bad thing in other fields, so why should it be bad in computer games?

Learning the ability to cope even when you "lose track of time" and
are so involved in something as to forget to eat, sleep etc, seems
here to be a skill learnt in the process of growing up. There is of
course also the stereotype of the academic who experiences such
immersion only in his field of study, and even if said field has no
profound effect on the world, other people generally seem to be of the
opinion that as long as they are happy in what they do, then that is
what matters most.

As a final example, most people I know get that absorbed in reading a
good book, and everyone seems to consider this a Good Thing. An
English literature teacher of mine once told how he was hospitalised
with sunstroke after starting reading a book in the height of summer,
and being so absorbed he didnt move all day, and didnt notice anything
wrong until he stood up, and promptly fainted.

Adam M

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