Immersion in narrative games

• Main Author: Suely Fragoso
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pontíficia Universidade Católica de São Paulo 2014-12-01
• Series: Galáxia
• Subjects: games; immersion; suspension of disbelief; agency; interactivity; interfaces; performance of belief
• Online Access: http://revistas.pucsp.br/index.php/galaxia/article/view/16692/15740

This paper discusses the expressions used to refer to the experience of immersive in narrative games. The starting point is a review of the meanings associated with the suspension of disbelief in literature, cinema and television, challenging the myth of the naïve audience that cannot distinguish between representation and reality. Two characteristics of interactive media narratives – the possibility of agency and the disparities between hardware and software interfaces – reveal the active nature of the audience’s involvement with media representations. It is proposed that, in the case of games, this ability, which allows for simultaneous actions in the world of games and in the real world, is better described as a performance of belief.