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The Three Pillars of Immersion

Published: Thu 19 Nov, 2009 | 11 Comments
Tags: philosophy, uncharted, ninja gaiden, tnzk, design

 

Hey guys. In my first blog, I mentioned that I loved discussing the philosophy of video games. In all honesty, I don't play games on a regular basis at all, but I constantly think about games from a design standpoint. Anyway, here is an excerpt about immersion from one of the 'chapters' in imaginary game philosophy book, the chapter called "The Faceless Hero". Consider this ish Copyright 2009 SE Entertainment. Boo yah can't steal it baby =).

 

The Three Pillars of Immersion:

 

Action: In doing an Action, the player intends to make a conscious choice. He has assumed knowledge of the rules of the game, and makes the intention of participating according to these rules. A most basic example would be pushing a button or stick in order for your character to move in a particular direction, if the game requires the player to move in order to complete the objective.

 

Reaction: In a Reaction, the system responds to the player's actions and creates a corresponding output. The system processes the Action, and translates his real-world action into a logic-based reaction. The greater the relativity and immediacy of the Reaction to the Action, the greater the immersion.

 

Articulation: In Articulation, the system attempts to represent the player's actions in the most expressive, informative, and appropriate manner. Where Reaction is simply the system response to input, Articulation is the sensory feedback. A player should be able to identify the Reaction through Articulation, though he should not necessarily be notified of it.

 

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What does my pretentious junk mean? A couple of real world examples:

 

Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. The first Tomb Raider got away with many things as it was revolutionary at the time. When the last Core designed game came out in 2004, it was clear she was stuck in her platforming past. Whereas Sucker Punch's Sly Cooper was comparable to Naughty Dog's Jak, Core's Lara Croft was comparable to a Battlefield 1942 tank. Gamers expected immediacy and immersion; the action/reaction. When bugs and glitches entered the fray, it was clear that Angel of Darkness wasn't cutting it.

 

Ninja Gaiden is a prime example of action/reaction at work. The rules are simple: kill anything that moves. The moves are simple: attack, jump, and run around like a ninja. Creator Tomonobu Itagaki was adamant in his games that when you press a button, you should get an immediate response. When you attack in Ninja Gaiden, you attack immediately; where you want Ryu to go, he will go; when you want Ryu to move, he will move at the precise second. That's immersion. But why is Ninja Gaiden not the most immersive game ever made? Several reasons, but the biggest of all is the camera. As the camera is also part of 'the system', it should be intuitive as opposed to obtrusive. And your spatial awareness is so incredibly vital in the game, that in theoretical terms the Reaction is not responding to the Action; you want to neutralize the immediate enemy, but the camera decides to focus its attention elsewhere.

 

The final example is Uncharted 2. Now, Uncharted 2 is not the most original game ever made. In fact, pretty much nothing in its design is original. It is however, critically acclaimed, and for damn good reason. No one needs to spell out that it succeeds in all three pillars of immersion, yet it completely excels in all of it. When you want Nate to move forward, he will. Take cover, he almost always hugs up where you want him to go. Aim and shoot, and he'll nail that guy for you. It's as responsive as Ninja Gaiden, and the camera actually works this time around, but I really wanted to talk about 'Articulation' here. Uncharted 2 is amazingly articulated. Almost everything you do is done in context, and increases immersion. Nate's on the verge of death, so how does he move? Like a man on the verge of death. He's near a blazing fire, so what does he do? He puts his hands over his eyes to cover them. He's running across open field under enemy fire, head down. What does he do? He trips up. And with his quotable quips, you're pulled into his world which consists of essentially running, gunning, and a bit of jumping. It shouldn't be this involving, it shouldn't look bigger than it actually is, but it does. Uncharted 2 is a game that nails down the three pillars, and look where it's ended up.

 

Game of the Year '09, Alan Bell says.

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