Immersion

When it comes to Spore, immersion can be a touchy subject. I've found a lot of mixed reviews on the subject, some positive, others negative. At times, I've felt immersed within the gameplay, while at other times I haven't. I had to step back from the game in order to take a thoughtful look at this situation, and I came to a couple of conclusions.

First of all, it can be difficult for Spore to completely immerse the player within the game because of the way the gameplay is set up. In Spore, you're constantly going back and forth between the various Creator windows and the game itself, which causes you to break slightly from the illusion that you are in the virtual world. However, at times I realized that these breaks from the game actually made me realize how immersed I was in the game. For instance, the other day I was playing in the space stage and after I had been playing for about 30 minutes I read a mission brief where a SETI tool was mentioned. As soon as I read this, my mind jolted out of the game and back into the real world where something like SETI is a reality. It was a little bizarre to realize how much I was actually focusing and getting into the game. However, after playing a game like The Sims 2 a while back, I didn't think I was being immersed into Spore on nearly the same level as The Sims. Thinking about it now, I know that I'm not experiencing the same immersion because it's not as believable to play a game simulating the evolution of an alien creature as it is to play through the eyes of a very human-like Sim. I would be able to play The Sims 2 for hours without even noticing anything happening in my real-world surroundings. I was part of the virtual world. There is that element of Spore that hooks you and draws you in, but just not on the same level as other simulation games. Still, I did get a kick out of noticing the little subtleties like SETI, the Drake Equation, and the notion of parsecs, all of which showed me that I was definitely experiencing some immersion.

The AI in Spore, although basic, helps to create an environment that immerses the player. In the blog I wrote in October about AI, I mentioned some of the ways in which Wright incorporated AI within the game. It's the little details that show the game reacting to the player style which help immerse the player a little further into the gameplay. This is one of those areas where I've read some criticism about the level of AI and the game's immersion. While the AI is basic, it's come a long way from when it started in the 1950s and it has a long way to go yet.

I think a big factor that plays into how immersed you become in a game depends on whether or not the game fits your particular style. For example, someone who despises strategy games might not become immersed in the civilization or space phases because this is where the game becomes focused on strategy. However, the cell and creature phases may be better for immersion because the game is more focused on simulation and the player is playing more directly through the eyes of the creature. I found myself being immersed in the cell and creature phases in a somewhat similar way that I experienced in The Sims 2 and I was immersed in the other three phases mainly because I was immersed in concentrating on attacking, defending and exploring. I was happy to see some basic principles of AI in the game because they did help, but I think it will be even more interesting to see the games of the future where AI and immersion will be all the more complete and responsive.

On a side note, I came across a video on the New York Times website about kids getting immersed into video games. It's pretty amazing to see how focused some of these kids get while playing and it made me think about the crazy facial expressions I probably make when I'm playing an intense video game. Here's the link:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/11/21/magazine/1194833565213/immersion.html