Level of Immersion

So the topic ‘immersion’ from today’s lecture really made me think. Probably the game that I found most immersive was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I think the soundtrack was the element that played an important role in this–not just the music but the ambient sound effects. Walking around on Taris, seeing the horizon and the sky and hearing the city sounds helped me imagine I was really there, and I guess I filled in the missing senses. Between the random bystanders on the street, full voice acting, and the 3D graphics the game had sufficiently complete sensory info for me. The story was strong and interesting, and it resonated with me and sucked me in. I do tend to become absorbed in games anyway, but I really got into role-playing my character and had this made-up background imagined for her. I was so into my character that when the big plot twist bomb dropped towards the end of the game, I totally freaked out. It was kind of traumatic.


Also, the old versions of the game Doom which used to be my favourite and one that always (used to) terrify me the most, was the reason why I decided to recollect my experience by trying the new Doom 3. In terms of immersion, for instance heights, is so immersive than you think. In one scene in the bowels of Mars, you climb a crane and dangle precariously from well- rendered heights. Those who are afraid of heights may find this liberating or terrifying, as the case may be. Also, it’s interesting how the atmosphere of the audio (the theme music and other parts of the audio composed by Chris Vrenna) can create so much affect in terms of immersion and gives almost a similar ‘cinematic’ effect as in the sci-fi thrillers. So when I was playing this game it somehow managed to make me think as if I were engaged in a really complicated sci-fi/horror movie. This might be particularly so since Doom3 relies more on the narrative whereas the original Doom story was hardly told, thus giving it a weak immersion. It was a totally new experience!