What prompted me to make a post like this? I saw a comment on a Youtube video about a person in a horror game who was using an Oculus Rift as well as an omni-directional treadmill for movement. I’m going to paraphrase the comment, but they essentially thought the concept of yelping, screaming, and being actually afraid to move forward in a game as something that would only happen to those uninitiated to the world of gaming.
I don’t know if they meant to imply it, but what I interpreted them saying is that the concept of immersion is really only temporary or only has an effect on people that aren’t hardcore gamers. They also continued to imply that it took a certain gullibility in order to allow yourself to be immersed and actually frightened by a horror “game.” This was followed by another comment that they quickly realize they’re dreaming and that although they have not yet tried the Oculus Rift, they assume that it would be
Now, I’m not here to try and dispute whether someone would actually get scared or not from an Oculus horror game, but to delve deeper into the real meaning of immersion and how it happens. In terms of the Oculus Rift, many people describe “presence” as a term related to immersion in which it’s the ability for a virtual reality experience to attempt to make you feel like you’re part of the game, not just from the environment, but from your own body and movements. In that case, it requires much more additiona