Why do people care about immersion so much?

On the flip side, I've always been curious as to what kind of person joins in a ROLE PLAYING GAME then complains because people were concerned with the game's role playing aspect.

But then it dawned on me that even the most strident anti-immersionist is role playing to some extent. For instance, the very moment you create a character or strap on a sword they are engaging in some measure of immersion. Immersion is not an either - or, on - off, black - white circumstance; rather, it's a continuum along which every MMORPG player finds him/herself.

Judging others' rationale for participating in online gaming is a slippery slope and lends itself to a recitation of Matthew 7:1, which reads Judge not lest you be judged. To the OP, I suspect the people who shoved you in wall lockers, gave you wedgies, or put your head in a high school toilet would judge your enjoyment of video games in a suspect manner.

As for myself, I do seek a measure of immersiveness in the games I play; I have advanced MS, my vision is questionable, and I am mostly bedridden. Besides helping to conserve the little hand-eye coordination remaining, MMORPGs allow me to temporarily escape this broken shell and do things my physical limitations no longer allow. Is that sad; perhaps to you it is; to me it's vastly freeing.

But, hay, I'll make you a deal, I will refrain from judging you if you will extend me the same courtesy.

Immersion is important to those of us that need more than a simple "press buttons in this order" experience. If immersion weren't important then we would still be playing text-based RPGs - EVERYONE, whether or not they realize it needs immersion. Without immersion a computer game is nothing but a green light that illuminates when you less the right sequence of buttons. Immersion gives the actions of the player meaning. Those that worry about immersion more are simply those that crave the fantasy and meaning behind what is fundamentally a series of repetitive actions.

Very well said!

To me its simple.

Immersion is everywhere
Every hear the saying "Lost himself in the book" or "That movie got my imagination going"?

That's immersion

When a story is so well written, preformed, developed that you lose yourself in its setting, if only for a brief moment in time, that's immersion.

Personally Rather then OP asking why people care about immersion so much.
I think he should be asking "Whats wrong with people who are so unimaginative that they can't allow themselves to get immersed in something they enjoy".
Pull the stick out of your behind and relax and enjoy the setting and story already.

I love reading well written books as they take me to distant worlds and places in different times and even different realities, if only for a short visit while I read. Why wouldn't I want that same escape and enjoyment when I play a
Massively
Multiplayer
Online
ROLE
PLAYING
GAME

As was said, with out immersion this game is simply a game of sequences asking you to press the button at the right time in the right sequence.

You dont need to spend 200 million to make that game
It was made decades ago and called Merlin http://youtu.be/AY8K9s8tRpE

I have played WoW since before Burning Crusades came out. When I first started I was reading every quest loving the whole aspect of the game. As time went on I didn't care what the quest said. I knew what I had to do. Then when expansions came out. I didn't care about that storyline. I just did the quests and kept on moving. With this game, I am able to interact with the quest giver. I place myself in my characters shoes. If I am playing a bounty hunter then guess what. Your going to pay me for my time. If I am a Jedi knight. I will donate my time to you if it's for a just cause. If I am wanting to be a Sith inquisitor but I don't like the way the imperials or the emperor is running things. I base my choices off of my feelings with that character. I have come up with back stories for each of my toons. It makes me love this game so much more then just a game. I am writing my own story. I have the options and I get to choose my destiny.

But this is my personal feelings and thoughts

I somewhat care about immersion creating my own characters and thats why I buy expensive pretty clothes for them, and try to dress jedi to robes, smuggler to casual sets etc.
However I don't RP and that Ultimatekiller and Lightninglord running around do not bother me at all, and neither do bikini sets. Others cannot break my immersion and if someone does nevermind. I enjoy clothing my toons and collecting sets. That is what creates immersion for me.

The problem with discussions like this is that a word like immersion actually means different things to different people. I am more like the poster above me, but in the end there are things that are immersion breaking for me as well. What that means to me is that there is too high a level of pop culture into the game's culture. Sure, games are for fun but at the same time, if it's too much like my actual life, why would I need to play a game that mimics what I already have? It's about variety.

I used to play Aion years ago but one of the things that really turned me off was the introduction of contemporary clothing in this fantasy setting. At that point I feel immersion is broken for me. I see normal clothing around me all the time. For a Sci Fi style game there is more you can get away with in that sense, but there are things that just cross a border for people and for different people that border is at a different place.

What you don't understand is that people have different thresholds for different things. The reason why people care about immersion and you don't is because your borders haven't been crossed and theirs have. There is no right or wrong there, just people who are different from yourself.

Because I don't play games for the pure enjoyment of pressing buttons/keys. I'd like to get lost in the world that I invested money in. I don't do it to avoid the real world but it does serve as an escape for people who have had a ****** day. Why this deserved it's own thread is amazing, or even warranted being asked at all. But hey who am I to judge?

I guess you never went to fancy dress parties as a kid.

And thats your opinion that the health of a game is more important than immersion. That's just how you prefer to see the game.

This game flopped badly and development was slowed down but i still play it because i like star wars

So you will be perfectly fine if EAWare Introduce a paladin class that use holy magic and stomp the jedi/sith and yells "GOD OF LIGHT give me strength!!"? or an elf druid class that turn into bear or wolf or tiger and yells "Nature is restless!! Nature gives me power!!!"?

Something like this?