Immersion in games

I have started this new thread from "Perfect Dark Zero...." I thought it
would be taking that thread slightly off topic if I continued the discussion
there.

I'm talking about immersion in games. More specifically the fact that the
new graphics from the latest round of consoles supposedly increase you
immersion in the game. I want to know how someone having their nails painted
is supposed to increase my immersion? Or how having the grass sway in the
wind or crowds of people cheering increases my immersion.

For me none of that makes the slightest bit of difference, games today get
me no more or less immersed than they did 10 years ago. What gets me into a
game is the story and/or gameplay, I see past the graphics.. after all
beauty is only skin deep! I don't feel that a game today grips me or
involves me any more than they did on the SNES or Spectrum. When I'm playing
the game my imagination fills in whatever might be missing particularly back
in the days of text adventures. So even though the cheering crowd may not be
there on the screen, I don't have to see it to appreciate what it would be
like. In fact I could almost go so far as to say the old games immersed me
more than they do now, because my imagination doesn't have to work so hard
with new titles so I don't get so engaged in the game.

What do other people think, am I the only one who uses my imagination when I
play games? Do we really need all this fine detail in the graphics?

--
regards, James Luff
remove 'nospam' to e-mail
"There are 10 types of people in the world:
Those that understand binary, and those that don't."


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Relevant Pages

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