Our Immersive Life
- allazarr
- Nov 27, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 2, 2021
Each day we are immersed in our activities without realizing it. To better understand the concept of immersion we need to identify what is and what isn't immersive.
For starters, "immersion" comes from Latin "immersio" in early 15c "to plunge into (a fluid), (implied in immersed), from Latin immersus, past participle of immergere "to plunge in, dip into, sink, submerge" (etymonline.com, 2019). We use it nowadays to refer to the captivation of an art piece or a situation.
There are two types of immersive experiences, one being when you are actually in a physical environment and the other where you are shown around a real or imagined environment via desktop, tablet, mobile, or via VR headset. In the last few years, media started researching different methods of creating the illusion of immersion. The sensation of immersion is hard to be achieved and easy to be destroyed. How do immersion works? What do you need to think of when you're building an immersive world? How to avoid breaking the magic?
Details. It's always about paying attention to small details. Immersion means nothing without a purpose – the story you want to tell. If there is no story, there is nothing to be immersed in, and all the technology you use is nothing more than a gimmick. In books, the reader needs to be familiarised with the environment in order to understand and to imagine the actual world. Little descriptions as "how warm and familiar the sun’s radiation felt on my skin" can place the reader in the middle of the world that the writer is creating.
Fluidity. In the digital industry is always a fight between the creators and the tools that they're using. Making sure that their project runs smoothly is the number one priority. If the image is unclear or lagging, then the immersion is destroyed.
Introducing the audience into the story. The world that we are living in is the most advanced piece of immersive art. Day by day we have a target that we are fighting for and there are many obstacles in our way. However, we are interacting with everything around us: people, objects, the environment itself. A way of interacting with the actual piece of media is mandatory in order to create immersion.
The medium of immersion, whether through VR, AR, or MR, is new and constantly developing. However, these key principles are not the features of the technology that make immersion possible. There are psychological studies about the way we think and experience things that need to be applied. No matter how technology changes and develops, developers will keep coming back to the basic principles of narrative and storytelling, using the technology only to enhance the experience.
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