The power of immersion

The American Medical Association's 2007 study show that 5 million kids (8-18) are video game addicts with 40% of them being female.

Such a level of addiction to something that is not a substance is unpreceeded in human history and shows how developed modern video games are. Janet Murray describes immersion as a metaphorical term derived from the physical experience of being submerged in water. With immersion it is the mind that is submerged in the visual and auditive impressions of a virtual reality.

First person shooters let the player see the digital world through the eyes of his or her avatar and visible hands as well as camera movement during walking contribute to that illusion. The genre has come a long way since Wolfenstein and Quake. Nowadays multi-million dollar productions like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 use detailed graphics, realistic sound effects and a dramatic storyline to create a dense atmosphere that drags the player into its parallel world.

It doesn't have to be the first person perspective though. The isometric view of Starcraft was effective enough to lure a South Korean into playing till his death in 2005. Blizzard's World of Warcraft generates an estimated yearly revenue of USD 1 billion, demonstrating the effectiveness of the third person view.

These games all use monitors and speakers to bridge the gap between player and virtual world. Other games take it one step farther and use haptic technology to provide feedback that the player can actually feel. An example would be a racing game controlled with a steering wheel that shakes when the player hits an obstacle with his digital vehicle.

What will be the next steps in creating more and more persuasive video games? Graphic effects are approaching photo-realism, yet they always need a device to be displayed on. The 2001 movie Avalon portraits a world where players enter a game by directly linking their brains with the virtual world, thus eliminating the need for monitors, speakers and controllers. Similar concepts, although not related to games, are displayed in 'Strange Days' (1995), 'The Thirteenth Floor' (1999), 'The Matrix' (1999) and most recently 'Inception'.

The question of whether that technology will ever exist aside, what consequences would such a level of immersion have? Would people happily say their worldly existence goodbye for a life among wizards and elves? What would it mean if there is no monitor that you can look away from to tell you are in the real world?