Why do people care about immersion so much?

It sounds less like you're trying understand and more like you're pronouncing judgement.

I don't fully understand the complaints about lack of immersion either. And that's ok. The validity or lack thereof doesn't depend on my understanding.

Immersion can make or break a game.

Rome 1 total war has immersion, Rome 2 does not. To give a good example of it.

As for TOR... I feel its too cartoony in many regards. A lot of armor designs are just silly, it often does not look like its from the same universe. Yes its a different time, but KOTOR had it right. The best kind of armors and weaponry for this game are the stuff that looks like it could have been in the movies even though it wasnt in there.
Same kind of art style, you know?

It goes for the story too. Most jedi are mary sues, most sith are cartoon villains and everyone but the player is extremely incompetent just to make the player feel extra special.. all common sense is thrown aside for this, often dramatic tension is created to get some light/dark decision even when its not logical.

Take the esseless flashpoint for example. WHat kind of idiot would design a ship in a way that when a reactor is reset, everything is blown into space? That doesnt make sense.. also, everyone is very relaxed and casual despite the dramatic situation. Taking their sweet time to talk about a plan. Ironfist isnt doing anything either once securing the bridge.. just waiting there for you to come fight him.
And now compare this with the opening of KOTOR. That's the kind of desperation there should be when a ship is under attack. The music, the dialogue.. it all fits.

And esseless is still one of the best flashpoints, most dont even much dialogue or choices.

Rather than multi-quote you here, I'm just going to use this quote to point out that the fact that you even thought of this shows that you had some level of immersion to notice the discrepancy. Immersion isn't limited to "I am my character, and am 'the mighty hero of old' ordeal. It can be something as simple as getting into a song, which I have been doing for the last couple of hours, although not just one, just music in general. Just because I'm singing along, or if the guitars are hooked up, playing along, doesn't mean I think I'm the musicians in question, but noticing my neighbors standing at the door is "immersion" breaking.

My favorite example of that is that we were having a cookout at a friend's house, and my little band I was trying to have set up our gear in the yard, and were jamming. Everyone else decided to hop on the porch for a beer, and I got "in the zone", and was just jamming to jam. I don't know how long I was lost in the frets, but I came to realize that everyone on the porch was trying to get my attention. I turned around, and there were two cops standing at the fence, watching me play. One of them handed me a card and told me "if you play anywhere local, call me, I want to come see the show, but we have to ask you to turn it down". I was totally immersed in the act of creating music, I couldn't tell you to this day what I was playing, and the cops totally broke it for me.

Lands Of Lore ? I played the first game, yes, and found it somewhat immersive.

I agree, but I personally believe that text-based games can create the most immersion - I'm talking of text adventurees here, because everything MUST be rendered in your brain ... graphical stuff is just like fast food, pre-defined so that the brain isn't that much bothered with work ...

And, besides, your definition of immersion is why I hate the action-RPG genre so much.

Still I do not think immersion should be written off so easily, it can be fun sometimes to live out a fantasy, as long as you do not get obsessed/crazy with it.

I think that that's what the issue in this thread is to be honest, the OP doesn't think you can be immersed w/out being obsessive about it.

Only people with a complete lack of attention span cannot be immersed in anything.

Using movies as an example, immersion can help a great deal, depending on the genre. You don't need to be immersed in most comedies, its simply stuff to laugh at most of the time.

However westerns and horror movies are some good examples of where immersion is everything.

Dawn of the Dead has rather simple special effects for example, but it somehow manages to capture the atmosphere so well.. the desperation, the struggle for survival. Thats some great immersion there.

The typical western takes its time to set the tone, slowly building up tension, making you wonder when it will come to a breaking point. Again, immersion. Hence why the western genre is dead now. These days everything must be fast, shallow and with non stop action.

Only overweight and lonely people get bent over immersion breaking.

Most people give bigger leeway.

Nope, i used common sense. i play SMITE simply for the thrill of competition, not for story or lore of the gods; i don't even take the role of the gods i play. i simply just mash skills and fire away/kill away/die away. ohh wait, there is another thing..the sexy goddess...umm...that is for another discussion. but on topic, as for why i thought about it like that was because someone was making a fuss about story and lore in smite and i had to describe it out for him; even though i gave him a even more detailed explanation with scenarios but that is not necessary here.
What we can agree on is that the term "immersion" is different for everyone and immersion is necessary for people to enjoy what they are doing.

The reason for immersion is different for each person but most people that care about immersion here could very well grew up with the Star Wars Universe (both movies and books) and when this game was announced they loved the idea of playing in a Star Wars Universe. The people that get upset is not solely because it is immersion breaking so much but that is going against a set of Lore that had been established for the Star Wars Universe, even though the Lore is somewhat changing.

You are judging this by your standards and not everyone has the same standards. As someone already pointed out we should never judge another person. I am a roleplayer and so is my boyfriend and my friends and we enjoy that aspect but we also respect other individuals that don't play like us. We accept their playstyle and all we ask is the same courtesy. You may have played a lot of games but for some of us we are quite particular on what games we play. The only other online I have played was SWG. I have tried Wow and STO but I just couldn't get interested in the game as the was nothing in the game that caught my attention so you have to step into someone else's shoes and learn to accept them, which most people are not willing to do.

Again you are judging them. Would you like for the tables to be turn and people to start judging you by the same standards you are applying here. I seriously doubt 99% of the people that care about immersion are trying to escape the real world. Most of us have jobs, families, school and responsibilities and we would never take those things lightly but we also enjoy playing and we may like immersion.

Maybe what everyone needs to do is stop judging someone. There is a verse that I live by regarding judging someone:

Romans 2:1-3: Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?

I would suggest to you that even if you don't understand why immersion is so important to others, that you just learn to accept it.


Have a great Weekend!