Immersion in virtual worlds

Abstract

Virtual worlds are enabling experiences that were not previously available through other media. One such experience is the potential to have a sense of inhabiting the simulated spaces they offer, not just through the use of the player’s imaginative faculty, but also through the cybernetic circuit between player and machine. Th s phenomenon has been described by the terms “presence” and “immersion.” Although the two terms are used in various fields and have been discussed for three decades, there seems to be a lack of consensus as to what either of them actually refers to (Ermi and Mäyrä 2005; King and Krzywinska 2006; Tamborini and Skalski 2006; Brown and Cairns 2004; Jennett et al. 2008). The term “immersion” is particularly problematic because it is used so widely when discussing experiential facets of anything from digital games to painting (Grau 2003), literature (Nell 1988), and cinema (Bazin 1967). Nevertheless the phenomenon these two terms have been enlisted to describe is crucial to our understanding of the relationship between user and virtual world, as it represents one end of a continuum of intensity of involvement with virtual worlds and addresses the very notion of being in the context of such simulated environments. [Excerpt]