Games & Immersion

Ebert's claims sparked hatred for the critic among video game fans. He was the target of many angry e-mails thanks to his contentious statement. If you're a gamer, Ebert's statement may have hit home in your heart. For many of us, games are more than just entertainment, they are most definitely art.

Good games, the really good ones, draw you into their world and immerse you into their surrounding. Other mediums of art accomplish this same goal.



The most successful movie to date, Avatar, also accomplishes the feat of immersion through groundbreaking motion capture, animation, and 3D effects. Some people who had seen the film became depressed because they wanted to live on Pandora with the Na'vi; this communicates the level of immersion the film provided for many viewers.



Fine art, such as works by van Ghogh, Monet, Picasso, Dali--all these artists transport you into another place and often baptize your brain into their world. The artists' brush strokes are an attempt to convey meaning through colors and shape, just as a video game designer hopes to do with pixels and programming.

My personal favorite video games are ones that are so expertly designed, that at moments you forget you are playing a game. You feel as if you are the character you are playing and you must accomplish your objective in the game. Bioshock is one of the best examples to date of a game that accomplishes this. The game uses sound (specifically ambiance), art design, world interaction, music, and narrative to immerse the player in the environment. In the video below, you can get a taste of the game's art design (Art Deco themed) as well as the game's immersive ambiance.