Immersion

[Gibson.4036]

Or hundreds of players playing characters with joke names or referencing pop culture?

It’s just weird that this particular item was the straw that broke the camels back for the OP. Unlike so many things, this tea set fits right into the world.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Gibson.4036

[ugrakarma.9416]

i guess MightyTeapot will strongly disagree.

 

 

 

[Monarc.9726]

10 hours ago, Aulis Vaara.7083 said:

For a while now, ArenaNet has been adding items to the gemshop that are out of place in Tyria. This week a tea-set.

 

The more these items are added, the less I want to play GW2. My immersion is broken, I can no longer get lost in Tyria without being confronted with this game being very much a videogame, and that takes away my motivation to play this game.

 

This isn't a threat, this isn't a request for change. ArenaNet should make the game they want to make, but my desire to be a part of it is waning.

 

Thank you for all the good times, and much fun to those who do enjoy this kind of game.

They need to make money somehow. If players didn’t want to buy this stuff it wouldn’t exist in the first place. 
 

Anyway, I do sort of agree that some of the overly flashy items are annoying, but that’s nothing new and the show-off your fashion stuff in this game is limited to a few specific areas. I rarely see chair items being used in the open world. 

[Gibson.4036]

9 minutes ago, Monarc.9726 said:

 

Anyway, I do sort of agree that some of the overly flashy items are annoying, but that’s nothing new and the show-off your fashion stuff in this game is limited to a few specific areas. I rarely see chair items being used in the open world. 

You and I frequent entirely different parts of the game, apparently.

I see chairs in use before world bosses, while waiting for meta resets, and at the end of jumping puzzles and mini dungeons. People pop them whenever they have a reason to pause.

[Ototo.3214]

It's an MMO. To my knowledge, most MMOs have ridiculous immersion breaking outfits people can use. There's nothing stopping you from making your character look however they want. I'll agree they should probably have an option in the settings to allow you to disable flashy animations from other people's infusions and legendaries and such, since that can cause a lot of visual noise and would probably make the game a little smoother for lower end PCs, but other than that I don't really care if someone else wants to have a neon rainbow norn with a dumb moustache sitting there drinking tea. That's like a normal MMO experience, to me.

[Monarc.9726]

12 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

You and I frequent entirely different parts of the game, apparently.

I see chairs in use before world bosses, while waiting for meta resets, and at the end of jumping puzzles and mini dungeons. People pop them whenever they have a reason to pause.

Maybe it’s right in front of me and I have just learned to ignore it, but I honestly don’t notice it.

[Gibson.4036]

Just now, Monarc.9726 said:

Maybe it’s right in front of me and I have just learned to ignore it, but I honestly don’t notice it.

You should definitely look, purely for the comedy factor. Charr sit very awkwardly on some of the thrones.

One of my entertainments in game is running around checking out all the cosmetics up close when everyone’s waiting for something to start.

[Elricht Kaltwind.8796]

How does the tea set not belong in Tyria lmao? Pre-Searing Ascalon was literally the Cotswolds and that was what even got me into the series to begin with. Stuff like this is actually the most immersive kind of stuff they can add, in my eyes. Every time they add something like this and not something flashy and obnoxious, it's a step in the right direction re: returning immersion to the game world.

Edited November 25, 2021 by Elricht Kaltwind.8796

[Veprovina.4876]

10 hours ago, Maikimaik.1974 said:

This game had a rainbow unicorn shortbow since release.

And a disco mace, a joke gun that shoots confetti, then came "quaggan in a jar", literal model ship gun, comically oversized blowhorn and whatever Exordium is.

 

A dinner party is what we should be concerned about! 😁

[Lefar Thethales.8951]

Lol i mean if you ever played gw2 for immersion, you are playing the wrong game. Perhaps ESO will be more your alley.

[Embered.5089]

Most people enjoy immersion-breaking items. Or rather, flashy shiny items that they enjoy looking at and flaunting, even if the world of Tyria would never have such an item. These are the items that sell well, and thus are the items that keep the game afloat.

I don't mind it. I see most of it in Divinity's Reach. Once I go out into the world, player nameplates off, I really don't see other players or their shenanigans anymore. They're there, but my eyes glaze over it. So, it doesn't break immersion for me.

Since the shiny items that wouldn't normally exist in Tyria are also the items that sell the most, thus keeping the game alive and financed and buy to play and not pay to win, I'm all for it. I'd rather risk my immersion breaking than my wallet building spiderwebs.

And yes, I will happily take all of your gold and items and everything mailable if you're quitting. I must make more gold to prepare for the holiday sales.

[Sarm.5923]

I think you have to pick and choose visual elements to ignore when it comes to immersion, and that dividing line is going to change based on the player. Everyone is simultaneously both the commander and not, which can be any race or appearance.

The way I see it, dressing up as a clown is part of that experience, because you really do have people who like to look gaudy. And if you stuck them in a world where magic exists, they're absolutely going to find a way to incorporate it into their fashion. They're balanced out by people who prefer the down-to-earth look, and I think both help each other stand out. If everyone looks bizarre, nobody is. But if everyone is drab, then you're all forgettable.

So in that sense, not even flashy wings or glowy armor stand out as immersion-breaking to me. I think it's part of the charm of a fantasy game, because it lets you play around with stereotypes or tropes and explore ways to break them.

Edited November 25, 2021 by Sarm.5923

[lezbefriends.7516]

On 11/24/2021 at 7:12 AM, Aulis Vaara.7083 said:

For a while now, ArenaNet has been adding items to the gemshop that are out of place in Tyria. This week a tea-set.

 

The more these items are added, the less I want to play GW2. My immersion is broken, I can no longer get lost in Tyria without being confronted with this game being very much a videogame, and that takes away my motivation to play this game.

 

This isn't a threat, this isn't a request for change. ArenaNet should make the game they want to make, but my desire to be a part of it is waning.

 

Thank you for all the good times, and much fun to those who do enjoy this kind of game.

Sorry, but immersion in MMOs died years ago.

[Gegege.9056]

Bro, I'm confused. Why is a set of tea pots not immersive? 

 

I think you should go outside touch some grass if you want to immerse with the game that much. It just a video game at the end of the day...

[sorudo.9054]

well, since we all agree GW2 has no immersion....

when do we get an elite spec for engineer with a Gatling gun and a rocket launcher?

[Doctor Hide.6345]

59 minutes ago, sorudo.9054 said:

well, since we all agree GW2 has no immersion....

when do we get an elite spec for engineer with a Gatling gun and a rocket launcher?

 

You joke, but I would be for that since I love playing gun characters in every MMO.

[Gibson.4036]

3 hours ago, sorudo.9054 said:

well, since we all agree GW2 has no immersion....

when do we get an elite spec for engineer with a Gatling gun and a rocket launcher?

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Photon_Blitz
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Prime_Light_Beam

[Ashen.2907]

6 hours ago, sorudo.9054 said:

well, since we all agree GW2 has no immersion....

when do we get an elite spec for engineer with a Gatling gun and a rocket launcher?

There is a gatling gun skin for pistol and engineer already has a rocket launcher.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

With regard to multi-player video games, you have two options:

 

1) Shine on choices by the developer or other players which will not fit your personal definition of immersion.  You may think this option is "impossible," or difficult.  However, choosing what to pay attention to and what to ignore is something we do every day.  Players might expect a single-player RPG to present a coherent, consistent milieu.  However, the minute you add other players, there is an inherent risk that they will either not give a kitten about "immersion," or will have different ideas of what constitutes immersion than you do.  Finally, if the game has a cash shop (and what MMO doesn't these days), you have to expect things to appear in the shop which will appeal to a variety of players, including those who will spend for eye-catching items, no matter whether they "fit" your idea of immersion or not.

 

2) Not play multi-player games.  This seems to be your choice.   Looks like you've been on the forums for about a year and a half.  Why now?  Have you been able to ignore the myriad of other things which are (potentially) immersion-breaking which have been introduced both before and during that time?  Are you sure you don't have the willpower and imagination to continue to selectively choose what to pay attention to and what not?

 

 

Edited November 29, 2021 by IndigoSundown.5419

[firedragon.8953]

Is a tea set more immersion breaking than a bear dropping a couple sliver coins? Or how about mini's that are NPC characters?
Tyria is a weird place, and I agree there are definitely some "out of place" items. The tea set is hardly one of them. What do you think Queen Jenna does all day long? Tea set with Logan of course.

[Tanith.5264]

We've also got a charr who writes bodice rippers, an "Elder Dragon" who looks like an ice sculpture of Jimmy Durante, and an apocalyptic confrontation between said Elder Dragon and his twin that leads off with Jimmy Durante shouting "Primor--dusss!" in the tones of a scolding nursemaid.

I'm pretty sure immersion went out the window a long time ago.  😉

[Sarm.5923]

51 minutes ago, Tanith.5264 said:

We've also got a charr who writes bodice rippers

I think this one actually makes perfect sense of you stop to think about it. It's just funny because I don't think it's something you'd expect out of a beast race, but take any fantasy race that's both literate and hooks up, and the two would be bound to cross over at some point. 😛

[Mik.3401]

Of course the skins are dumb but that’s the way they make money. Nothing that can be done about it. I think they shifted into more cartoony aesthetic to dodge the aging effect of the game’s graphics. It is actually quite smart

[Aulis Vaara.7083]

On 11/24/2021 at 11:30 PM, Gibson.4036 said:

Or hundreds of players playing characters with joke names or referencing pop culture?

I turned those off.

[Gibson.4036]

I may have an unusually strong willing suspension of disbelief, but I still get immersed in this game quite a bit.

This discussion is making me think of Bertholt Brecht. He wrote plays using every device he could come up with to break audience's immersion, because he felt it cause audiences not to think about what he was trying to say.. Even trying as hard as he could, it's my experience as a creator of theatre that audiences still get immersed in his plays and identify emotionally with his characters.

Some people may be less inclined to immersion than others, but most of us will identify a human form in the most abstract of vertical images and read personality into anything remotely like a face. We're built for immersion in spite of tea tables and flaming, spikey, out-sized shoulder-pads.

YMMV

Edited November 29, 2021 by Gibson.4036