Types of Immersion
According to Ernest W. Adams, author of “Postmodernism and the Three Types of Immersion”, immersion can be separated into three main categories. Staffan Bjork and Jussi Holopainen authors of “Patterns in Game Design” use a similar classification only giving different titles to the categories and adding a fourth. Dr. Thomas M McLaughlin, motion capture pioneer and patent holder, has added yet another category to this rubric: 1.Tactical (or Sensory-motoric) Immersion is experienced when performing tactile or physical operations that involve skill. Players feel “in the zone” while perfecting actions that result in success. 2.Strategic (or Cognitive) Immersion is more cerebral, and is associated with mental challenge and decision making. Chess players experience strategic immersion when choosing a correct solution among a broad array of possibilities, without a corresponding physical set of reactions to effect that decision. 3.Narrative (Emotional) Immersion is realized when the immersant becomes emotionally invested in a story or experience. 4.Spatial Immersion occurs when the immersant feels the simulated world is perceptually convincing and feels he or she is really “there” and the simulated world looks and feels “real”. 5.Total Immersion occurs when all four types of immersion previously described are realized in a single experience.
However, Dr. McLaughlin points out that recent research identifies three elements required to achieve Presence:
Factor 1: Unrestricted Natural Movement in the Virtual Environment. Factor 2: Full-Body Representation of the Immersant as a Virtual Avatar. Factor 3: Accuracy of Motion by the Immersant’s Avatar.The literature reviewed indicates that the realism of the virtual world is less important than the other three factors in achieving Presence.
Read more about this topic: Immersion (virtual Reality)
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