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To What Extent Does the Design of Time Crisis and Runescape Offer Players Opportunities for Immersion?

By Joshua Gates

Have you ever played a game and lost your sense of existence? How does Time Crisis and Runescape allow this certain feeling of ecstasy to occur? What sort of conditions need to be met to reach this state? I plan on answering these questions using sources such as Ian Bogost’s (1) Talk on Fun, Csiksentmihalyi‘s (2) talk on ’Flow’, Salen K & Zimmerman (3) on ‘The Rules of Play’ and Chen. J (4) 'Flow in Games (and Everything Else)’. An important concept to understand before I go into further detail that I will mention a lot is Csiksentmihalyi’s (2) book about flow. This writing is heavily influenced around his term of flow, which has ‘7 states’ to enter. Concentration, A sense of ecstasy, greater inner clarity, knowing that the activity is doable, a sense of serenity, timelessness and Intrinsic Motivation. Intrinsic Motivation is where a person performs something to gain self-pleasure.  I plan on answering these points in the following order; The time invested to have opportunities to become immersed, the length of immersion, various ways of becoming immersed, the skill required to become immersed and the Intrinsic Motivation requirement to sustain immersion. I will combine Time Crisis and Runescape after answering these questions so we can get a look at the differences between the games.

Fig 1

Time Crisis is a first-person shooter where you fire a handheld remote-control gun to shoot the enemies on the screen as you make your way through the level. With Time Crisis the time you need to spend to become immersed varies from person to person, but because of how the game functions, the player will either become immersed within the first minute of gameplay or they will not become immersed at all. As Chen. J (4) covers in his article ‘The Rules of Play’, ‘A well-designed game transports its players to their personal Flow Zones, delivering genuine feelings of pleasure and happiness.’ So, within the first minute you’ve already experienced what the game must offer, and if you don’t like how it feels you will just put the controller down and leave it. However, if you enjoy the gameplay then you will stick to it and enjoy it. This is because it was a unique game of its time because of the controller you used and people enjoy unique experiences.

The amount of time you can be immersed is normally until you die or finish a level since the action and narrative never die down. As you play through the level you will find that you reach certain cinematic cutscenes that show you the next chain of events. This help keeps the player interested and makes them pay close attention to their character as they’ve got this far and they need to keep their attention up so they don’t get killed by surprise.

There are multiple ways Time Crisis helps achieve immersion. The first way is simply by using a unique controller and the player needs to keep their attention on the game always. Something that helps this is that since this game was played in the Arcade Era, the player had to insert money to play. This made it so that the player would have extrinsic motivation since they would want to get the value from their money. Also, the person that came down to the arcade to play the game is there because he wants to be there. Like Csiksentmihalyi (2) said, ‘That flow channel, that area there will be when you’re doing what you'd really like to do, play the piano, probably; Be with your best friend’. So, the player might be at the arcade to blow off some steam or to escape their real-life problems. They go down to the arcade and see some people gathering around Time Crisis and the first thing you’re going to think is ‘What’s happening over there’. With a crowd, the pressure on the active player is high so they are forced into immersion with the game to perform the best as possible.

The skill required to become immersed within Time Crisis doesn’t matter too much since you can get immersed in a game like that very easily. However, the better you are at the game the longer your immersion will last. This is because as you get on further throughout the level, it gets harder and that also means that there is more pressure on the player, therefore they must keep their focus up which means they cannot process other information and can only focus on the game for that period of time.

The Intrinsic Motivation required to become immersed in this game is only necessary depending on the type of player you are. The game has one story, so once you’ve played through it all the only other reason you would want to play the game over and over would be to either get high scores, speed run the game or compete with your friends. Other than competing with your friends, both the other options require Intrinsic Motivation (could also be Extrinsic) to keep the player going so they can achieve their goals of getting a fast time or high score, which means their immersion from now is different to the immersion they experienced the first time. However, if we add what Bogost (1) said about fun which is ‘Deliberately manipulating a familiar situation in a new way’, we can see that in a game like Time Crisis, you can play the game differently every time. You could shoot the guards in the foot instead of the chest, or maybe swap the controller between you and your friends each time you kill an enemy. Though the game is not specifically designed this way, the players are able to manipulate the design of the game to create their own rules and experience their own form of fun, in turn creating more opportunities for immersion.

Runescape has some similarities and differences from Time Crisis. Runescape is a bird’s eye view MMORPG where you can take the game at your own pace and progress towards the ‘end game’, the end game being whatever the player wants it to be.

Fig 2

Runescape is a game that takes a fair amount of time to become immersed into. The game has a lot of areas you can explore and there are many goals you can accomplish, whether that’s getting 99 Skill Points in fishing or completing all the quests in the game. As Bogost (1) says, ‘fun comes from the attention and care you bring to something that offers enough freedom of movement, enough play that such attention matters’. It takes a while to understand the game and that is the most important aspect when becoming immersed into it. To truly experience the immersion, you must take the time to explore and learn how to play the game your way, and the more time you invest, the more ways you will find that you can become immersed into the gameplay.  

Once you become Immersed into Runescape, the length that it lasts depends on the action being done, but typically won’t last long as Runescape has long travel times to destinations and there are a lot of times you could be doing other things with your time while you wait for your Runescape character to reach places.

There are a vast number of ways you can become immersed within Runescape. The game is an open world and there are plenty of opportunities to explore, whether that’s following the many different narratives of the quest lines, focusing on raising skill levels, exploring the world, trading with players and many other features that can happen in an open world.

You don’t have to be skilled to become immersed within Runescape, you just have to enjoy the game and the rest follows suit. Having more skill at the game doesn’t unlock many more possibilities of becoming immersed, but having more interest in the game does.

Runescape is a game that you either need to get hooked on to start with or you need some Intrinsic Motivation until you find that one thing that grabs your interest. There will also be times where nothing interesting happens, so to keep your interest in the game I feel that you heavily rely on Intrinsic Motivation at certain points.

If we compare the two games we find that while both games have some form of immersion, they are both similar and different. Time Crisis has the second to second moments where you need to react in time to both hide from bullets and shoot your enemy before they kill you. While Runescape has some of this immersion, It’s of a different structure. Runescape is more about time investment whereas Time Crisis is more about quick interaction. This most likely is because of the Arcade Era being a place where games were supposed to be played through quickly.

Time Crisis also controls your movement, your just there to shoot. This can help add to the immersion or subtract from it. If you’ve played the games multiple times and know the cutscenes, you could look away for a second and not worry about it one bit. However, if it’s your first time your most likely going to pay attention the whole way through and not break immersion. Runescape doesn’t have that sort of control over the player. The player can move at their own pace and progress however they like. You could argue that this also adds and subtracts from the immersion since the player can do what they like and get absorbed into the content, or maybe they don’t know what they’re doing since there’s so much possibility that it has the opposite effect and pushes the player out of immersion.

While Runescape doesn’t have the same sort of flow as Time Crisis, it still has some elements. For example, the second to second gameplay in Time Crisis can be applied to Runescape combat. Although the combat is not as fast as Time Crisis, it’s more intense since the items your character has on them will be dropped on death, and it can take a long time to get certain items. This helps create the feeling of immersion because when the player is carrying valuable items on them, they will think further ahead about the possibilities of losing their gear which in turn creates deep focus which at that point they are immersed.

An important point to consider about these two games is that it’s the gameplay that creates the immersion, not the aesthetics. As Gorfinkel in Salen & Zimmerman say, ‘As immersion is an experience that happens between a game and its player, and is not something intrinsic to the aesthetics of a game’. This further backs up the point that these two games are special since they can create such a feeling of immersion through gameplay and not aesthetic.

To conclude, Runescape has many ways to offer players opportunities for immersion since it’s a massive open world and there are tons of possibilities that can grab the players attention and get them immersed. Time Crisis does not offer the same possibility of Immersion as there is not enough content involved in the game so the average player will just run out of things to do or become too good that they don’t need to think much about the game anymore. At the same time, Time Crisis is quicker to get immersed into as you learn the game within the first thirty seconds of gameplay, making it a great quick time immersive experience. Ultimately, both games have different designs which help create different extents of opportunity for the player to become immersed within the gameplay.

­Bibliography:

(1)    Ian Bogost, (2014) ‘Wired by Design’ Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78rPt0RsosQ (Accessed 10/05/2018)

(2)    Csiksentmihalyi, M. (2002) Flow the Classic Work on how to achieve happiness Revised edition. London: Ryder (Accessed 10/05/2018)

(3)    Salen K. & Zimmerman, E. (2004) The Rules of Play. Cambridge: Mass. MIT Press (Accessed 10/05/2018)

(4)    Chen. J, (2007) ‘Flow in Games (and Everything Else)’, Communications of the ACM, Volume 50 (4), Available at: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/lieber/courses/csu670/f08/materials/p31-chen-flow-in-games.pdf (Accessed 09/05/2018)

 Figure Source List:

Figure 1: https://www.homeleisuredirect.com/Assets/HLD/User/9001-airport_facility01.jpg

Figure 2:https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/8/88/Increase-Your-Combat-Level-in-RuneScape-Step-3.jpg/aid562947-v4-728px-Increase-Your-Combat-Level-in-RuneScape-Step-3.jpg

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Essay Planning: Breif Notes

Persuasion:

·         Interesting topics to cover

·         Can twist viewpoints on different games

·         Procedural Rhetoric being used to convince players the game is morally correct

·         Procedural Rhetoric being used to tell the truth or hide the lies

Immersion:

·         Immersion can create a feeling of ecstasy for the player

·         The Immersive Fallacy

·         The state of Flow

·         Players having different flow zones

·         Good flow and Bad flow

·         Mimesis

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Gameplay Experience: Flow

Csikzentmihalyi’s talk was a great informer of how Flow functions. It made me understand exactly how it works as I have experienced the same ‘loss of reality’ like feel when being completely immersed into something.

A game experience I have of this would-be League of Legends. I have played this game for the last 7 years on and off, but I got to a point where I was pretty good at the game and every couple of games I find myself in the state of flow.

Since League of Legends games are long and there are lots of actions happening on a second to second basis, it requires a lot of concentration, so that’s the first point checked. As I keep playing, I experience ecstasy as all my focus is directed towards the game. The best way to describe it would be that I am thinking of nothing other than what I need to do to get an advantage in this game, nothing else matters.

Since I have racked up loads of experience on the game, looked at guides and analysed my gameplay to help myself improve, I know what needs to be done to win the game and I know what’s good and bad, so my greater inner clarity is there. I also know my limits in League of Legends so I’m capable of changing the outcome. The other points just flow in naturally from there, you get a sense of serenity, I’ve already lost track of time and I have a natural motivation to win the game.

The best way I can describe this feeling is that you get so immersed that you just lose yourself and the only focus you have is on the second to second gameplay, and it is an absolutely great feeling that everyone should experience at least once.

Sources used:

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002) Flow : the classic work on how to achieve happiness. Rev. edn. London: Rider.

http://www.nosararealestatereport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1000px-Challenge_vs_skill.svg_.jpg?x77683

http://s1.dmcdn.net/LN6An/1280x720-3-O.jpg

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Play a Serious Game: Vermentide 2

This game is brutal, but it makes you feel like you’re doing the right thing since hordes of evil looking enemies run at you and try to kill you, so you have no choice but to retaliate and cut your way through them. The funny thing is, through animation and sound it makes the experience of cutting multiple enemies down in one swing feel good.

Because of these main features, it convinces the player that they are doing the right thing, when in reality they are slaughtering millions of enemies just because it feels good. From my experience, I don’t really know anything about the story and just played the game for the gameplay, however, after playing through 2 to 3 levels, it successfully persuaded me that killing loads of enemies to get through a level was the right thing to do.

The game has some procedural rhetoric to it as when you play through a level for the first time it persuades you into thinking what your doing is right through multiple features. Things like your teammates running on ahead and slaughtering a massive pack of enemies, the sounds of combat and the flow of the game help set you on the path to slaughter.

Despite the game being so brutal, I still have fun playing it since the systems of the game feel engaging and playing with friends adds more emotion and impact to the game. I could just be protecting the front of our group from a horde and my friend could get grabbed from behind by a hookrat! That’s going to set off the voice chat.

Image Sources:

http://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/V2-1.jpeg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AGwusudOK4Q/maxresdefault.jpg

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Historical Era: Console & Contemporary - 7 Days to Die

7 Days to Die is based off the modern-day world but there is only you (and your friends if they join) in a survival zombie apocalypse. Every 7th day you get attacked by a massive horde of zombies and you need to survive as long as possible.

The thing is with 7 Days to Die, its potential is decided by how many people play. The more people that play the more depth there is to the game. You can either team up with people and help each other survive or go lone wolf and steal from other players homes. By doing this you can end up having multiple groups doing different things, competing over resources and it creates a lot of interactive and fun gameplay.

An important thing to consider about this game is that it couldn’t reach its full potential back in the Arcade Era, since it would be harder to find enough players to play for long enough. It is a game that can only reach its full potential now, meaning that the developers used the current technology of our era to their advantage.

There can be a lot of social interaction within this game, but at the same time there could be none. There is a lot of unspoken communication within this game. A good example of this is that if you hear a vehicle nearby and you’re playing solo you know that other players are nearby and that impacts your decisions the next appropriate action. It could also mean that if you shoot that zombie that’s coming towards you, they might hear the shot and check it out.

I feel that 7 Days to Die is a good example of a game that uses today’s technology to their advantage to create unique situations with other players.

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Historical Era: Arcade Era - Q*Bert

Q*bert was created in 1982. I wouldn’t say that Q*bert took influence from the time it was a part of, however I do feel like the game was heavily inspired from other games in the same genre. For example, the rules of Q*Bert are identical to Pacman which is to collect stuff without getting caught. The big difference between the two games are the dimensions and the different features. Q*bert is an expanded version of Pacman but has some different powerups, enemies and ‘collectables’.

Q*bert helped shape the future of games since it evolved a game like Pacman and showed that you can expand on games that already exist and make new, unique and interesting games from them to the point that it’s hard to tell that it’s a copy.

The charm with a game like Q*Bert is that it was part of the arcade era, where a variety of people would come in at any time of the day and play games. This meant that there were loads of people around that shared the same interest. Since Q*Berts goal is to complete levels and ultimately survive as long as possible. Once you started to hit high levels, people would gather around since getting a high score was an achievement and normally meant you were good. This allowed the game to shine since when it started getting difficult you have to be good to keep up, and if you could keep up you would get an audience. Watching someone complete hard levels is really entertaining and it helped Q*Bert become a good game.

Q*Bert is a great example of a good game that helped shape the Arcade Era and the evolution of games.

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Historical Era: Pre-Digital - Risk

Risk is a game that was invented in 1957. I would say the game took influence from its historical context since it was invented shortly after WW2 where the Cold War and Vietnam War were ongoing. If you think about how risk plays, it makes a lot of sense that it was influenced from the wars.

I would say that Risk is a game that has influenced the design of the Strategy genre of games we have today. This is because it has the same sort of rules as a game like Starcraft where the goal is to destroy your opponent’s base, and to do that you need to take out their troops first. The only difference is that instead of taking out bases, you’re controlling countries.

I think the great thing about the game Risk is that it creates tension in person which can be fun. What I mean by this is that since you will most likely be playing a game of Risk with 3-5 people, you have multiple enemies. The choice is yours who you decide to put pressure on, whether you want to get back at your friend for something or attack with a strategy to win, but at the same time, your actions influence how the game plays out and who will help you or fight against you.

I feel that playing in person is what truly makes Risk shine. It adds to the immersion of the game and allows you to get the full user experience first-hand.

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Computer Game Studies, Year One

I think it’s interesting that computer game studies were not around until 2001 since computer games are such a huge part of todays society and they have existed for a long time. Comparing this to now, computer game studies are such a massive part of the industry.

Another cool thing that I didn’t think about before was there is such a massive difference between computer games and other media. The fact the computer games are to be played and ‘combine the aesthetic and the social’ is an incredible difference compared to other media such as TV and film since there is lot of social interaction within multiplayer video games.

I think an important point to take away from this text is that games are ‘often simulations’ and simulations are based on ‘logical rules’. This sets them apart from hypertexts or literary fictions since they are a complex system of rules.

Also, it’s interesting that when ‘making room for a new field’, it ‘usually means reducing the resources of existing ones’. It makes a lot of sense since scholars from other fields will come over to help define computer game studies.

I agree with and think it’s interesting that games should still be studied within ‘existing fields and departments’, but at the same time, ‘games are too important to be left to these fields’. There is so much depth to computer game studies and limiting games to those specific fields wouldn’t do it justice.

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Shayleen Hulbert - How to Build a Profile and go Freelance as a 3D Game Artist

Shayleen Hulbert gave an interesting lecture that gave a good outline of what a free artist is, and what they need to do to succeed. I personally found this lecture very insightful and it gave me a good idea of what to expect as a freelancer.

When comparing this lecture to other lectures, some key points align such as not being ‘a dick’. It just shows how connected the games industry is and if you are unpleasant work with, word spreads fast and you will struggle to find work; as a freelancer this is like a death sentence.

It’s also important to understand that freelancing is a risky practice to get into and you should take steps to make sure you have a high chance of succeeding. Having industry experience, friendships with other artists and a versatile portfolio heighten your online presence and helps you get noticed. I feel that this is something that I should work towards now just in case I decide freelancing is for me.

Another informative explanation Shayleen gave was on presenting your work. I feel that the points she covered in this section were vital to understanding how people would see my work and what sort of things they would want to see other than ‘beauty’ pictures. Wireframe pictures, Animated gifs of a turntable and technical shots (textures etc) are all things that people want to see so they can understand how you approach the creation of an asset.

To summarise, Shayleen gave a lot of important and experienced advice that I should consider when building my profile and apply to all presentations of my work. Shayleen also gave out good locations to display your work to help gain a larger online presence, which I will start looking into straight away.

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Robin Milton - How to Graduate Like a Boss 2018

A few points that Robin touched across I had already discovered in college when it came to portfolios, business cards and presenting yourself. Even though I already knew a few things, I feel it was necessary to relearn the importance and the different sources you can use to set them up on. Combining the knowledge Robin gave us with my previous knowledge will help me get better results when it comes to my presence within the Games Industry.

I felt that the section on events is something I’ve never though much into before, and hearing of all the different events and experiences you can gain from these events piqued my interest. I feel that I’m not an outgoing person so forcing myself to go to events such as EGX and Game Anglia would be a good experience. I feel that becoming friends with Independent Developers would be a good way to spend the time there and learn more about the Industry.

I enjoyed the section on self-development where Robin told us about putting ourselves out there, tricks to help development and the quote ‘What separates the superstars from the average is they seek criticism, and actually listen to it’. This is something that I don’t currently do and need to start doing as soon as possible so I can get feedback now while I’m in the early stages of development, since it will help me grow as an Artist and Designer.

I gained valuable knowledge from Robin’s lecture and it’s all stuff I must take in and add to my current thought process when developing work and thinking about the future. Learning about the big and small details employers look at within portfolios, small tips, directions for building contacts and everything above helps me progress with much more potential.

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Nick Carver – Leveling up Through Your Own Projects

The lecture that Nick Carver gave was inspirational for me and gave me a good idea of what I need to do to have the highest chance of success within the creative games industry.

He made sure that we knew simply doing work your given by itself is not enough. It made me understand that if I stay the way I am, I won’t enjoy or be successful in the future. The fact that he told us most of his personal projects and showed such passion for them made me think that I could be like that too.  

Nick Carver told us all the things he though necessary for us to grow as artists. One of the main points that really hit me is “All work is part of your education”. It made so much sense once I heard it, that all the additional work I do is adding so much knowledge and many various skills to my arsenal. It also will help expand my diversity so If I decide I want to work in other places within the games industry, I have the experience to get started.

Carver also mentioned that “Any subject can be interesting if you approach it with the right attitude.” This also made me realise that If I don’t work my hardest and try to find interesting things within work that I might not enjoy, I won’t get very far. You gain a lot of experience from working on a variety of things.

Ultimately, this lecture was a very important experience to me and I managed to get a lot of notes from it so I can apply the lessons I have learnt to my own personal project. I plan on starting my own personal project with the theme: World at War.

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Megan Rice – Being an Artist in the Games Industry

I found that Megan gave out some great pieces of important information when it comes to the skills you need to land a job within the Games Industry. Learning about the skills behind what’s usually advertised gives a great insight on the minimum number of skills needed to stand out among the rest. I learned things I didn’t think needed before when it comes to all the job roles and I feel it was important to learn this now so I can work on these skills years in advance.

Megan also went over other important points such as ‘Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance’. I feel that this point is very important for every artist to consider since you need to be prepared for all sort of scenarios, and having versatility can help you land a horizon of jobs. Also, getting social media set up so you can discuss and converse with other artists while getting feedback on your work helps grow your online presence, which in turn helps people notice you and will give you a vast amount of opportunities.

Even though Megan gave us all this information, she said that even this might not be enough right now. It made me realise that this industry is hard to get into, and unless you work hard in a variety of areas, you won’t get noticed. It also made me realise how important the social media aspect of the Games Industry is.

To conclude what I’ve learned from this informative lecture, I need to get my social media set up and start posting my work, I need to start making connections, be friendly with everyone and I need to start developing a variety of skills so that I understand as much as possible which will increase my value as an individual.

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Christian Heimbach - A Big Picture of the Games Industry & Where to Find the Artist's Place

Heimbach’s lecture gave me a new point of view to the games industry. Before his lecture I didn’t even start to think about the different teams within the production of a game. It really opened my eyes and gave me a broader view of how things work.

I think an important note I took away from this lecture is that the publishing team and the creative team must work well together for the success chances of a game to be high, but just because you put two good teams together, doesn’t mean they will work well together. It was interesting to hear him say this as it made so much sense when he started to explain how they do the exact opposites of each other. The creative teams need to be effective (do the right thing) and the publishing/distribution teams need to be efficient (do the thing right).

Heimbach also mentioned that when it comes to making games, its very important to consider the intellectual property. This piece of information he gave us was very important to take away and apply to future creations, as you can turn a successful game into something much greater if the intellectual property is popular among the players. What I took away from this is that when I make anything game related in the future, I will apply my own intellectual property to it so if people take an interest in it, I can take the time I invested into creation much further.

As a summary, Christian Heimbach gave an insightful lecture that I took away important information from. It gave me a greater understanding of how the games industry works and it gave me a greater insight into the different roles everyone needs to fulfil for a game to be successful.

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Chris Green - The Role Of A Game Artist

Chris Green’s lecture gave a great overview of becoming a 3D artist and how 3D creation applies to many art roles outside of 3D such as concept art.

An important part of this lecture that I feel was crucial to take away was about working on a brief. Ultimately, you need to give the client what they want, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create additional work with your own twist that you could show the client. It only adds positive scenarios if you do this as if your twist gets accepted, it could push the project into a positive direction, and if it doesn’t get accepted, you have work you can add to your portfolio and you would also gain skill through learning how to add variations. Of course, making sure your giving the client what they want comes first, but there’s no reason you can’t talk to them about it to try and create something that will only benefit production.

Another part of the lecture that was beneficial to hear about was the realities of the game industry and ways to help keep you relevant. Strong points such as “A bad name travels further and lasts longer than a good one” and “85% of all jobs are filled via networking” opened my eyes to the fact that you need to keep relevant with the software and make sure you are keeping as many contacts as possible, otherwise you will have a very hard time in the future. I also feel that the points about not fearing failure and learning from mistakes was a very important thing to understand going into the games industry.

Ultimately Chris Green’s lecture was a very important wake up call and gave me great insight into what I need to change moving forward.