Blog Banter 29: Immersion

Blog Banter 29: Immersion

"EVE Online is renowned for its depth. Its backstory, gameplay and social aspects are all qualities that draw players in. What does immersion in EVE Online mean to you?"

Losing myself in the moment, losing track of time.

For me this has not happened much in Eve Online, the only times I recall have been during PVP, once when I was trying to evacuate a battleship from null sec (it survived) and the other time flying a cruiser and we ambushed an enemy battlecruiser gang (they died).

Just flying around space doing "stuff", for me, doesn't provide the total immersion experience.  Don't get me wrong I quite like doing those things but on the whole the outside distractions of life, the universe and everything just prove too strong.

I must say that comparing the immersion experience to past games I've played Eve Online is by far the leader.

However...

Incarna, in particular the single Captains Quarters we now have, is a massive immersion breaker, before I switched it off every time I entered that room the glaring oddity of my surroundings and the general uselessness of the current concept just screamed WRONG WRONG WRONG!

So for that and performance reasons it is now off.

Last night I quickly explained to a corp member why the various NPC corps exists in the areas they do, and while doing that also had to explain some of the back story, which in Eve Online is pretty deep and varied.

Sometime I wonder what it must be like for the new player who is seeing New Eden for the first time, learning how to navigate the dangerous and murky waters of the known universe, Jita and general discussion on the forums.

Does Eve Online have immersion?  Yes it does, but your experience may vary.