Game immersion : the experience of virtual environment habitation

Abstract

This chapter explores the concept of immersion from a variety of perspectives. It argues that the use of the term immersion within a variety of fields including game studies, media studies, presence theory, HCI, media psychology and others, has been highly problematic and has led to considerable confusion as to the precise meaning of the term, and, more problematically, the experience of embodiment, habitation and agential expression within a virtual environment that the term is often used to refer to. Aside from identifying the challenges to a clear understanding of the concept of immersion, I will argue for a replacement of the term immersion with that of incorporation; a term that more adequately captures the nuances of the nature of the experiential phenomenon in question.