Sports Immersion

I remember the lecturer telling us about that story of a gamer who felt something personally with the character in the game, and many years after creating this character in the game the name of the character randomly came to his mind and it took him a few minutes to realise who's name it was. This 'personal relationship' with the characters is what makes me so immersed in games, mainly sporting games because i'm a sporting nut. I don't feel any type of immersion when I'm playing grand theft auto, silent hill, call of duty because I can't relate to any of it. But when I pull out that 'Rugby Challenge' the second greatest game of all time to 'Jonah Lomu Rugby' I really feel something special is going to happen. I enter the world cup tournament mode on the game and all of a sudden the only world is on the screen, nothing else is happening around me, I am completely immersed in the game. All of a sudden I feel like I am Graham Henry selecting the All Blacks Team on behalf of New Zealand, and than when I play I am Daniel Carter and Sonny Bill Williams carving up the French reliving that glorious world cup final victory, I feel that the weight of the country is on my shoulders as the minutes count down to the end of the game. I feel awesome when my players are playing great, and bad when they don't, like I failed them because of my bad decision making. So i'm guessing this is 'Affect' because I have been playing and watching rugby since I could walk and see. Heck the only reason why I bought a PS3 was to play Rugby Challenge. I've only played two games on my PS3. As AmyT was saying in her blog audio factors are very important to get the full effect of immersion. When you play the game the sound of the roar of the audience, the heavy breathing of players sprinting, the authetic sound of you kicking the ball, the whistle of the referee, the commentry all puts me in the illusion that I am literally playing rugby for the All Blacks against the best players around the world. Put the TV on the mute button and I am back at home sitting on the couch no longer on running on the field at Eden Park.