RE: [-empyre-] Syntax of desire

[marnoldm <marnoldm@du.edu>]

>===== Original Message From Patrick Lichty <voyd@voyd.com> 
=====
>> > and its stranger still that this level of immersion
>> > seems more prevalent when their is negative stimuli 
involved
>>
>> with risk comes excitement, and with excitement comes 
immersion.

I would say that a user/participant's perceived level of immersion 
has another tack to examine.  The wetness of an 
immersive experience is also greatly dependent upon the 
participant's personal desire/willingness to disengage from the 
environment that they are inhabiting.

To wax anecdotal, my own most compelling immersive 
experience occurred during the movie "Batman" which I saw 
while on a weekend pass during USAF basic training.

For me, the degree of immersion I experienced while watching 
this film was sponsored not so much by the quality of the 
experience (Batman is not what I would call stellar cinema), but 
by my desire to escape from the situation I was in.

Not to say that a more perceptually compelling experience will be 
unsuccessful in raising the participant's perceived level of 
immersion; just that much of the affect is dependent 
upon the baggage that a participant brings to the show.

Michael