Immersed in immersion

I find diegetic immersion, as defined, impossible to maintain when playing a game. What is consistently more possible is that of situated immersion which might perhaps explain why the distinction was postulated. Again, this is a fairly subjective reading of situations/ circumstances particular to myself, so in no way definitive, instead rather moot. To elaborate, a movie experience which one sits passively through, at the movies or at home, offers far greater scope for immersion with the ‘diegesis’ because it is a medium attuned to narrative, plot developments and empathetic emotional responses, both between the characters on screen and yourself. This means that for the duration of the two hours- give or take, games taking a far greater length of time conversely- I am more often than not far more invested in the overall substance of the movie than a game per se. That is not to say that one can’t be situationally immersed either- for walking out of a movie/ switching it off must be motivated by the inadequacies in editing, acting, camera work on some level.

Simply put, being reduced to a blubbering mess is far more likely watching Into the Wild, than it is watching a pair of married Sims ‘connect’. A vivid imagination, filling in the gaps might suffice some might say. The implication is that diegetic immersion entails affective engagement when this may not always be the case- that is, beyond the base ‘emotion’ of frustration engendered, at least for this arguments sake. Take Mario 3 which I played on the pc using the znes emulator the other day. I can honestly say it kicked off as an utterly (diegetic) immersive experience; the rediscovery of the themed worlds from memory vaults, power up items including the fantastic frog suit for underwater missions and array of obstacles all factors in a single day hunger strike. However I soon came upon the f2 auto-save button when the 4^th world seemed to get that much harder. As Arielle alluded to earlier in ‘Immersion and reloading’ it became a repetitive process of save, take a few steps, muck up, reload or a variation of. Now it was a case of meticulous, methodical, considered gaming, a development into situational immersion. Upon finishing I realized two things; whatever devolution had occurred (considering my love for story based rpg’s) my affective response was unchanged throughout. Secondly, bringing it round full circle, maintaining diegetic immersion by no conscious volition- understanding that neither are mutually exclusive- seemed impossible in light of other games played, both old and new. So is immersion not guaranteed, driven or at least effected by the affective responses to a game? Or maybe there is a need for further division of diegetic/situated immersion in respect of differing mediums?

One thing I do know is that these theoretical posers are beginning to do my head in, so perhaps I should just address them at the relevant cognoscenti.