Re: Immersion: is it possible in an audio game?
Unless the player's environment could be sealed off from all outside influence, from a safety perspective, the player would want some level of awareness of their surroundings. At least I know I would.
From my own experience playing video games, I've found that total immersion isn't even necessary. As I played a games, I would slowly tune out the world around me to the point that the game world was all that existed, and this was with just a standard wide screen monitor and a pair of stereo speakers.
Granted, things like multiple monitors, each showing a different view, surround sound audio, force or haptic feedback, etc. would have made the game playing more immersive, but only from the beginning of the session. If you become focused on the game, your mind will provide all the immersion you'll need or want.
Blindside was the first truely audio game I played, and I can tell you, it was a very immersive experience. For me, the only thing that mig ht have made it more immersive would have been surround sound, but I'm not sure that Blindside supports it, though I wouldn't be surprized if it does.
I don't know what it's like today as it's been at least 15 years since I had my last force feedback gaming control, but back then, to me, it was more of a gimmick than a real attempt to simulate the feel of a real steering wheel or flight stick, and it felt like it, I usually ended up turning it off because I found it more of a distraction than anything else.
Is it possible for a game to be completely immersive? Probably. Is it necessary? Probably not.
_______________________________________________ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
