FarmVille...

Hey all,

Ok so this week after the lectures and tutorial I have been thinking more about the topic of immersion. I thought the idea about hands being an important aspect to FPS was intriguing so I asked some ‘gamer’ friends whether it affected them or not. All could see how the idea might work but in actual fact persuaded me that it gave no impression whatsoever on their gaming experience.

The other thought that was a result of the discussions of immersion led to the thought of casual/social/passive gaming or in other words... the inevitable FarmVille and many others like it. Although the concept of immersion often relates to making the game as real as possible to ensure the user is heavily involved in the game, FarmVille (though proudly I have never actually played it myself) is still able to draw the users into the nature of the game. As time continues on your farm whether playing/using it or not, this provides an addictive ‘hook’ to keep its users interested. The simplicity of the game and overall nature means that the user can come and go as they please, however, the longer they leave their crops to flourish, the more likely their crops and animals are to die. FarmVille is stated as the most popular game in the world due to the amount of Facebook users, so there must be some sort of immersion. A family friend went on holiday and came home and got straight on FarmVille to check that nothing had died as she forgot to prepare for her time away.... this clearly shows that a level of immersion is still created.

-Alice