The Zen of Immersion

Immersion… one of the most sought after things for a role-player. It’s also one of the hardest things to find in almost all of the MMORPGs you see.

What is immersion anyway?

I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen…

It’s that “seemless” feeling in a game world. Like being in the “zone” – no distractions and focusing on your character, the roleplay at hand, and having a good time (hopefully) in the progress.

Sometimes it’s easy… other times not so much.

…and all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball…
- Ty Webb

Of course, in MMORPGs we have game mechanics to deal with. This throws monkeywrenches at the whole immersion thing.

The optimum deal is to have as much clutter out of your way, so you can focus on role-playing. But until holodecks get invented we have to do the best we can. :)

Things that mess with immersion:

• Metagaming: Using out of character info in Character (IC). Knowing things your character would not know, like another player’s name that you haven’t met, knowing their profession without any clues, etc. This is also in regards to lore. What does your character really know?

• OOC chatter in RP channels, like /yell, /say. Sadly, that is hard to control but you can do something to minimize it. RPers sometimes use emotes and the /say for OOC using brackets (( )). While basically “okish”, it’s good not to overdo this as it just clutters up people’s chat windows. Keep it to a minimum – sometimes a ooc whisper works.

• Overuse/Clutter of the UI ( user interface). This can be easily fixed with Interface Options and addon choices.

• Other actions/objects that disturb the role-playing in progress. The all too overused example of a naked character dancing in the middle of a group come to mind. Sometimes on top of a campfire.

A tricky example:
So, there I was… selling some “junk” items at Camp Winterhoof after taking care of some much needed leather gathering. I was contemplating finding some RP and all I see next is a BLIZZ-CON flag-carrying murloc in my face.

(Points to Exhibit A at the top of this article)

The BlizzCon Polar Bear Mount. It was a special in-game mount for those attending BlizzCon 2008. I’ll admit it’s cute from a cool game goodie point of view, but it kinda kills the immersion…

…or does it?

What do you do?
There’s a couple of paths you could take:

• Get huffy, get rude and rip the player a new one.

• Shrug it off and move on.

Some may feel the first path is the right one, but let’s look at a couple things before we act:

• We all (RPers and Non-Rpers) play this game, and most always share a RP Realm. You cannot stop this, so moot point #1.

• The nifty mount is a special gift and the player has a perfectly good right to use it. Truth is, he’s doing nothing against policy. Moot point #2.

• The “ripping a new one” approach does this – it ever so wonderfully (and rudely) makes ALL RPers look like rude, elitist children in that player’s eyes. And everyone else he speaks to about it.

Seriously, has the player destroyed your RPing experience? No.

Basically, shrugging it off is the best option. Chances are that he or she a fellow RPer, just enjoying the cool mount.

That could easily be you. Treat as a normal mount, ignore the little murloc… or use it for rp, heck – why not?

More Than a Feeling…
Another example is the fore mentioned naked guy dancing in the middle of an role-playing event.

Most times we “get” that you don’t know what is going on. Or bored.

What we don’t “get” is why being annoying is the most creative response. :)

What to do: Again, shrugging it off is the best option. Go one with whatever and wait for him/her to get bored or leave. He wants the attention, so cut him off at the pass.

Politely try to diffuse the situation oocly first. If that doesn’t work, work around/through it and/or report.

Rudeness makes a mountain from a molehill.

Being that kind of Role-Player only strengthens a negative stereotype some people have about RPers.

Being that kind of Non-RPer only makes you a griefer and more often than not, a jerk.

For Non-RPers: Give us some understanding and be respectful. This is what role-playing servers are for. If you are curious – just ask. It works. Much better than “flash-dancing” on a campfire – and more mature.

Whisper someone and ask, it’s ok.

For Everyone: Pick your battles carefully if you decide to escalate or start something. Being rude or rude back only escalates the issue into absurdness.

So be cool, be calm and “be the ball”.

Nanananananana…
- Ty Webb

Sometimes OOC happens on RP realms. Sometimes RP too.

Related info:
http://rpmadesimple.org/steps-to-clutter-free-rp/
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/dtv/
http://blogatelle.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/the-matter-of-immersion/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodeck
http://rpmadesimple.org/what-to-expect/