In our section, we played the VR game Superhot. I was shocked with how immersive it was that one of our team member was so into dodging bullets that she just ran into the wall. However, despite several mechanics of the game facilitate immersion, its lack of narrative poses a critical question: does narrative and character identity contribute or inhibit immersion for players?
Several aspects of the game contribute to its immersion. One is the mechanics of the game---specifically the fact that the more the player moves the faster time passes. If the player moves a lot, he is prone to be hit by bullets whereas if the player does not move at all, times stops and he is safe and sound. This mechanics physically restrains the player to the gameplay. Since most games start with the player in a very dangerous situation, for example, with a bunch of enemies about to shoot or stab the player, the player is required to immediately be on the spot, come up with strategies, and perform actions. That means the player cannot chat with his friends, scratch his head or move around arbitrarily when the game has started. Once the game starts, it is intense and every action the player makes is crucial to winning the game.
However, one prominent fact about the game is that it does not give a single clue who the player's character is. First, there is no narrative. The game starts in an abstract, empty space, where the player click on glass pyramids to choose the levels. In the levels, there is no story explaining why everybody is trying to kill you, how you get there, and who you are. The player does not even know if his character is good or bad. For example, in a level, the player seems to be hijacking an airplane. Also, the goal is also simple enough----to survive at all costs.
Besides, not only the player's character lacks identity, other characters in the game do as well. Since the graphic design of this game is highly-stylized and surreal---everything seems to be made of white, black, gray and red glass, the other characters do not have faces. They just look like humanoid glass robots. Moreover, the player's character does not even have a body or feet, but only hands that the player can control.
In a word, the game is not realist. It is not designed to look like our reality. However, this modern, stylized graphics does not seem to disturb the player's immersive experience in this game. Neither does the lack of narrative or identity. Perhaps, in this way, the game is more adaptive. If the game has a specific story, the character a specific face and identity, the players might not feel as immersive if they do not identify with those elements. With a blank page, the players can more easily and freely impose themselves on the game. Or perhaps, the players do not simply care who they are and where they are from and where they are going, because they come to player this game to escape from all of those questions.
Adding to the discussion of immersion in first person shooter games, one should also consider the ethical decision of giving characters whom we are supposed to shoot and kill identities. Going all the way back to the discussion in week 1 of why Mario violence is fine but other forms may not be, giving identities, even just as little as a face or some clothing, to humanlike glass robots brings them far closer to human beings. Therefore the game must somehow invest more resources into setting up a story to make it absolutely clear that those you are shooting are the enemy and necessitate being killed, or run into the risk of seeming to be totally okay with arbitrary gun…
I think you pose an interesting question regarding if narrative or character identity contribute or inhibit immersion for gamers. At least when watching others play Superhot, I found myself to be more immersed in the game, as I was constantly questioning why the goal was to kill the glass humanoids, as well as how the character was limited in his movements. Ultimately, I believe the discontinuous narrative timeline and the hidden character's identity forced me to come up with my own rationalization for the events that were taking place on the VR screen, and thus allowed it to be a more interactive experience.
I like how you point out the idea that in Superhot, there is no sense of identity and perhaps this makes it easier for us to feel "immersed" into the game. I wonder, though, if you can think of of examples of VR games in which the character has more of a sense of identity and how you think this affects the feeling of "immersion." Does it, in fact, feel less "immersive" to be given a different game identity? How can this also be applied to the idea of "immersion" in FPS games, and how does knowing the identity of your character change the way in which you experience the game?