Rick van der Wal has shared some thoughts on how second life could be more immersive. Discussion there is going nice but it also provokes some (side-)thoughts on the questions of immersion and the experience of being in second life.
Rick states five interaction/interface related elements that, as been said, ruin the immersion:
- Teleporting (vs. traveling)
- Ability to fly
- Full control over display (weather) settings
- Opt-in physics
- Altcamming (manual camera controls)
No matter if those features are usefull or can be controlled by options on your land (so you can disable them as you wish or need to). I want to address something else here. Most of them are not something we see and experience in our first lives so they are accused as possible dangers to our immersion in virtual world.
But virtual worlds largely exist by the grace of immersion, the ability to tell our brain this is real, and how we would (re)act. It triggers real emotions just like a good Horror movie is able to trigger fear. This is the experience that adds added value and justifies the use of Virtual Worlds when compared to the 2D web.
Seeing a plywood box or somebody flying around should not ruin the immersion and second life experience. Anybody who say so should leave virtual worlds this very moment and grab a good book and watch some cartoons. Imagination and immersion skills are on alerting low level there!
Problem is that so many people are not aware that virtual worlds are not the copy of the meatspace. Just as web is not a copy of the books and newspapers. Have you ever heard that hyperlinks should be disabled because there is not such a possibility in printed media? No, you haven’t. Virtual worlds are inspired by so called real life, but there is no need to recreate "real life". And one’s immersion is not endangered by the things that are not a part of the world out of our monitors. Otherwise, you would never stand to see a sci-fi movie.
It is not the meatspace we are depicting here, it is our imagination.
Let’s face it. We are avatars, we do have wings, we fly, we teleport (even without asstachment issues – thanks Nicholaz!). That is the nature of the world we live in. We are neko’s and furries, and some of us are seeing fairies or marmaids every day. Our bodies can change on will and we look old only when we want to. Things do float in space and weed grows from the neon blue marble. Come see my place if you don’t trust me. Don’t let your immersion break because of the pleasures of our world.
And our humans are dealing just fine with all that issues that cannot be seen in their world. We are their avatars. It is them that are smiling while we are living here.
But wait, by those arguments, driving a car would be less real than walking because the car intermediates between the driver and the real world.
I’m sure that this was true when cars were a new thing. I’m sure it’s true for every new driver. But it’s not “true” that driving a car is “less real” than walking. It’s merely one step removed from our natural state.
Hi dandellion,
Your assumptions remind me very much of the way old media talks about Virtual Worlds – ‘they don’t know X’, ‘we experience like Y’, ‘many people are not aware of Z’, just form another perspective.
Your claim many people don’t understand this is not meatspace is bull – Either they want it to be, they choose it to be, or they like it to be a lot like their real life because it helps them understand the world. Its just their choice to play that way, just as it is yours to choose not to play it that way. The real ‘meatspace’ worlds are called Mirror worlds and the distinction between Google earth and Second Life is pretty clear to ‘most’.
You continue this route in the ‘lets face it, we…’ – who exactly is we? Is we the readers of this blog? I don’t wear wings? I know a few who do, a lot who don’t – walking around I see people just making avatars they feel comfortable with and to many, many this is an (attractive) human avatar.
You have to be open to the fact not everyone is here to experience escapism, Virtual Worlds are also a creative platform, a social platform, an educational platform, a business platform, a marketing platform, a gaming platform. All of these are as much a part of ‘imagination’ as the sci fi picture you posted. Imagination is not restricted to fiction, and imaginary isn’t mutually exclusive to becoming or being linked to realism – its a creative process experienced differently from person to person.
So on the topic – don’t dismiss the ideas of reality being a huge part in immersion just because you don’t experience it that way directly – affordances are at the very basis of immersion, some subtile, some obvious, some deliberately distorted to aid immersion OR usability. Its these very links to reality that make you sit on a virtual couch, or imagine the warmth of a virtual fire.
(For the record, its Rick, not Rik, and thank you for linking, appreciate you picking up on the discussion!)
I do immersive performance art in Second Life. My show does not feel like real life any more than Alice’s Wonderland resembles the mundane world. Yet my audience keeps coming back for more. They tell me they experience feelings watching my show which may include vertigo and high emotional peaking. They compare the sensation to a hallucinogenic “trip.” Over and over people claim it’s one of the most immersive experiences of their second life, sometimes of their first life.
Immersion is not about realism, it’s about forgetting to worry about the “real.” Immersion happens with people reading and watching fantasy with unworldly creatures, while real-life drama often falls short of immersion. Watch a little child — or better still a fully grown man — enchanted by Peter Pan. They stop thinking they are watching a story and for two hours, they believe a boy can fly. They may even feel a visceral yearning, or imagine that it is them flying.
The first thing we learn to do in SL is to fly. For many this is the a profoundly immersive moment. Many experiences that mimic real life in second life fail to be immersive because they don’t go far enough in drawing the participant in. The same is true of much of the fantasy content in SL. Either way, the creator of immersion needs to go the extra mile to create a multidimensional experience.
My most immersive Second Life moments include dying and floating up to Toran Cult’s afterlife or being shrunken down by aliens (Rezzable -Greenies home) and exploring a kitchen from a mouse’s perspective till the aliens transport me to other dimensions.
Flying through space and going to the pearly gates or the many faces of hell is nothing like a real life experience I ever had on this plane. Being stared down by giant cats as a mouse sized me tries to escape a kitchen the size of an island is not any life I have known, I hope no one in SL has had that happen to them. It is also sited as SL immersion at it’s best.
Dreams are immersive. Hallucinations are immersive. Second Life, at its best, is a dream we share.
Immersion is not about realism, it’s about forgetting to worry about the “real.”
No I’m sorry, that’s called ‘Escapism’ – huge difference. The reason why vertigo is considered to be such a good immersive experience has nothing to do with forgetting your troubles, it has to do with the real life feeling of impending danger, and tricking your mind into believing the images you are seeing are real – the very idea of height is a real life affordance. Again, escapism is not the only way or reason to immerse.
Hmmm… I find myself wondering what your problem with escapism — entertainment — is exactly? It isn’t contradictory to immersion. In fact, immersion is pretty basic to most forms of entertainment, whether online or not. Disneyland. Movies. Storytelling around a campfire. Magic.
Perhaps you’ve missed out on the many definitions of “immersion” as it relates to virtual reality? For example I rather like this definition:
SL creates immersion as a vehicle to a sense of presence.
Escapism may not be the only reason to seek immersion, but it’s an important one — especially if you are in the gaming industry (which, apologies to folks who don’t like to think of SL as a “game,” but Linden Lab is in the gaming industry).
The ability to induce a thrill of vertigo in a person sitting in a desk chair is something of a miraculous cognitive trick — not to mention, a marketable skill. Without resorting to Space Mountain, an immersive experience can give the same excitement, with a lot less fuss and bother.
I sense a lot of antagonism in your response. What exactly do you want immersion to induce, if not entertainment? Yes, it can also create a great environment for learning, socializing, simulation of complex processes too costly to reproduce individually in real life. I don’t think that there’s any contradiction between any of that and also providing entertainment.
Afterthought — Escapism? Your friend who you describe in your blog article is a gamer. So am I. For recreation (vs. work) I spend more time in LOTRO than in SL. It’s not because it’s more immersive, it’s because I feel like I’ve left the workplace! :)
Your friend (and you) might find loping to Ogrimmar to Thunder Bluff in the body of a Tauren more immersive for some reason. More power to you — good on you for knowing your gaming style. But saying that “My way is best” seem a bit like cognitive imperialism.
This is a little like arguing that repairing an engine is more immersive — and *right* — than racing a car. I know folks who find both completely entraining.
But the physics in a game like WOW are pretty rudimentary. You fly on griffins instead of teleport. You have camera control and POV options (maybe your friend doesn’t use them? You don’t need to use them in SL either). Weather is nearly irrelevant — it doesn’t effect physics, and generally one region is sunny, and another is cloudy and there’s not much too it (unless there’s more immersive weather with a high end graphics board?).
Really, the more I think of this as comparing WOW and SL, the less sense it makes.
If you compare SL to, say, a military flight simulator, you might have a better comparison.
Nope. sorry – TPing about SL doesn’t break my feeling of immersion. A loss of wifi connection does. Altcamming does not snap me out of SL. My son pawing the laptop screen for attention does. Flying does not make me wonder just what the hell I’m doing in SL. Terrible ag and severe crashes do.
For me, it’s not what I can do in there that causes me to lose immersion, it’s what I can’t. I can’t sleep, dream, eat, touch, smell. All my actions have to be clever scripted beforehand – I don’t swim or flaot without an aid.
But until they come, moving the sun and surviving a 40000m fall only serve to deepen my immersion.
@Shava Suntzu: My problem with escapism? Nothing? Where do you read that – my ‘problem’ is escapism is not the same as immersion, as even your definition points out, I really don’t see anything that contradicts my statements if you read them properly instead of throwing out assumptions like that.
Speaking of assumptions, here is another one:
“Your friend (and you) might find loping to Ogrimmar to Thunder Bluff in the body of a Tauren more immersive for some reason. More power to you — good on you for knowing your gaming style. But saying that “My way is best” seem a bit like cognitive imperialism.”
I have no idea what you are talking about and where do you get the idea I am passing any judgement on what’s right and wrong? Seriously, stop making assumptions like this. You are really only arguing with yourself if you keep making up things I never said only to contradict them in the very same post. To answer your question I’ll just quote you, perhaps you read your own words better, or maybe not, and you an continue the debate with yourself.
Q: “What exactly do you want immersion to induce, if not entertainment?”
A: “…it can also create a great environment for learning, socializing, simulation of complex processes too costly to reproduce individually in real life” & “workplace!”
The part about entertainment I really didn’t understood, perhaps you could point out to me where I mentioned immersion could or could not be used (exclusively?) for immersion? (you really lost me on this…)
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@HeadBurro Antfarm – Even though your statements are justified, I never said there is no immersion with these things still in place (unlike the way dandellion ‘quoted’ me suggests), nor am I unaware of other factors that both interrupt or create an immersive experience – my original point was whether (notice I put this out as a question, just as the original post Shava? Not as a statement. I just felt like clarifying this especially for you) the immersive experience would benefit from replacing these interface related things and at what cost – I guess your answer to this would be ‘no it would not’.
This post in specific is whether reality causes better immersion or not Seems like you are mixed on this, as you miss real life (content based) ‘limitations’ in a virtual environment that doesn’t /need/ them. Interesting.
Hi Digado,
My answer would indeed be no :) I enjoy the fantasy elements of SL and from the off, flying was one of the things that pulled me in. But yes, I do miss certain things from my real life – and ideally I’d like to blend the two – have a real life where I can fly, teleport, build with my mind. But I can’t see that happening anytime soon :)
Still, when the human / machine interface comes about, I for one will embrace it.
Thank you all for your thoughts, it is a pleasure to read this discussion.
Rick (sorry for the misspelling)…
Yes! That is exactly why we have options in the land and parcel properties tabs. So we can choose and make our (parts) of the world as we want it to be. That directly opposes what you are proposing, i.e. banning the possibilities of flying, TPing, altcaming.
When I said “we” I meant “we avatars” because that is what we are while we are on the grid. My level of immersion enables me to speak as avatar in the first person. Just to be clear, my level of immersion and speaking “from” avatar doesn’t mean I am not aware of the human whose that avatar is and the connection of the avatar and the human. I do feel avatar as an extension of the human, which makes me quite augmentative.
I cannot agree more that second life is a platform that can be (and is) used for many purposes. It was you who started this story only from gamer’s perspective. Different uses and approaches to the plarform asks for different functions and options.
Still, I strongly disagree with what you are stating about escapism. Escapism is running away from reality. And, while I did (ab)used SL lately for that very purpose that is not to be connected with somebody’s approach to TP’ing, flying and all the other “non-real” phenomena. It is not escapism but adaptation to the possibilities of the new environment. But Tuna and Shava already told you that.
On your question to HeadBurro, would immersion benefit from cutting on possibilities, your guess answer is right: No, it wouldn’t. On contrary.
I am not sure about this
and I would not risk to read it badly, so would you please explain it a bit?
Tuna, can I have LM and timing of your shows? I would love to see it.
Yes! That is exactly why we have options in the land and parcel properties tabs. So we can choose and make our (parts) of the world as we want it to be. That directly opposes what you are proposing, i.e. banning the possibilities of flying, TPing, altcaming.
Stop saying I proposed anything… it’s really not helping the discussion to say I proposed these things in any way – I am laying out the choices, and am wondering about the consequences of sacrificing usability for a better RL connection, and wondering if that would help the immersion. Its why opt in/opt out won’t be an option if you’d (hypothetically!) want strict translation of RL interaction, which is what the interface ‘experiment’ is about. I am well aware of the sim options already, trust me on this one ;)
Secondly, we are talking 2 different things:
When I said “we” I meant “we avatars” because that is what we are while we are on the grid. My level of immersion enables me to speak as avatar in the first person. Just to be clear, my level of immersion and speaking “from” avatar doesn’t mean I am not aware of the human whose that avatar is and the connection of the avatar and the human. I do feel avatar as an extension of the human, which makes me quite augmentative.
Well that doesn’t answer my point about assumptions on behalf of everyone because of your particular experience. I don’t mind you making those but you fail to back them up with argumentation but your own way of playing the game.
“I cannot agree more that second life is a platform that can be (and is) used for many purposes. It was you who started this story only from gamer’s perspective. Different uses and approaches to the plarform asks for different functions and options.”
No, I compared it to an environment that demands a deep level of immersion. I never talked about gaming features, I talked about interface features in a comparable environment. And if you disagree
Still, I strongly disagree with what you are stating about escapism. Escapism is running away from reality. And, while I did (ab)used SL lately for that very purpose that is not to be connected with somebody’s approach to TP’ing, flying and all the other “non-real” phenomena. It is not escapism but adaptation to the possibilities of the new environment. But Tuna and Shava already told you that.”
…Thats exactly what I’ve been saying. Please notice how I refer to Tunas quote and tell him THAT is escapism. All I said about escapism was that its not the same as immersion and this hasn’t been contradicted by anyone, I never related escapism to any of the things you mention (in fact, as I pointed out it was Tuna who brought it up out of context) and completely fail to recognize anything I said in this statement.
I read this post like you are disputing the idea ‘more real equals better immersion’, and you’d be right in doing so up to a point, as indicated in earlier comments. You need the RL affordances to be able to immerse at all, and imagination is not the impossible or the things you find in fantasy novels, it goes back to the Real world as well.
Aside all the points, what I really don’t understand is why are you keep saying that hard limits are better than opt-outs.
Sure that each of us have a genuine (and somewhat different) experience of being an avatar. But from the first rezzing we are all able to fly and we can freely teleport since we leave the orientation island. No matter which are somebody’s experiences in virtual environment of second life, we live in a world where flying and teleporting is natural. It is the very nature of the world. If somebody won’t to accept that, that is his/her own decision, but that cannot change the state of the facts about the environment we are in.
Yes, you have talked about gaming experience. It was you who said
But this discussion went far from just gaming so we’ll forget about that.
Escapism is not the same as immersion. Immersion is needed for a efficient escapism, but not vice versa.
This opst is written as “more real doesn’t equal more immersive”. And to which point it’s been said in Pavig’s and mine comments on your blog.
Opt outs client side is not consistent, or as Pavig put it:
“Immersion can only be created by consensus”
Pavig’s nuance is she uses this for simwide community (gor), or a gatherings of sims such a Caledon, but how about a grid wide consensus on the suggested alternatives? Thats not opt in or out.
If some people can, and other wont, its still not part of the complete immersion as would be created by the alternative client/interface :) Its the feeling of a place, distance and time in a Virtual Environment. However, what I’ve already concluded is you, and some others with you, can experience this very well within the current setting of SL – Even though I never suggested there was no possibility you couldn’t possible feel full immersion with teleporting in place – again, my point is whether the immersion would be stronger in a ‘Neil Stephenson Metaverse’ if you will.
Furthermore, The quote does nothing to contradict my point about not mentioning gaming features, but comparing 2 immersive environments and the way they’ve approached it and there is really no reason to ‘forget about it’, in fact I think its a rather important one to remember.
Unless I am reading it wrong… Throughout the entire debate, I said exactly what you end your last reply with on both the content of this post and escapism, so if you actually mean you agree on this lets not mention it again to prevent further confusion?
…Thats exactly what I’ve been saying. Please notice how I refer to Tunas quote and tell him THAT is escapism. All I said about escapism was that its not the same as immersion and this hasn’t been contradicted by anyone, I never related escapism to any of the things you mention (in fact, as I pointed out it was Tuna who brought it up out of context) and completely fail to recognize anything I said in this statement.
Escapism is a reason people *seek* immersion. It’s like you are saying, “that’s a short story, it’s not literature.” Immersion is an effect that people seek for different purposes, and one of them is escapism.
Tuna’s shows are certainly escapism, as are a lot of activities in SL (or WOW), but they can be immersive to one degree or another. You speak of them as though they are *contradictory* which is why I found the comment weird.
No, escapism is not the same as immersion, any more than desire is the same as sex. One is a motivation, and the other is an experience.
I would be delighted to see you at my show! Thank you for your interest in my show, Dandellion.
My show is called Tuna Oddfellow’s Odd Ball. It’s at 9pm SL time every Monday. Occasionally I do a special show for UK audiences and often do shows for other sims as well. you can find out about them by joining the Tunaverse in groups.
I recommend people wear their wildest avatars and craziest costumes.
The SLRL is http://slurl.com/secondlife/Gannet%20Island/47/219/651
Shava strikes again. I really lost count of your assumptions and the numer of times you place words in my mouth only to say ‘hey – thats not true!’
My quotes on escapism:
Immersion is not about realism, it’s about forgetting to worry about the “real.” ~Tuna
“No I’m sorry, that’s called ‘Escapism’ – huge difference.”
“My problem with escapism? Nothing? Where do you read that – my ‘problem’ is escapism is not the same as immersion”
“It is not escapism but adaptation to the possibilities of the new environment.” ~dandellion
“…Thats exactly what I’ve been saying.”
Saying escapism is immersion is saying exactly that, they are not the same thing. No shady things about literature or other assumptions of anything I certainly didn’t say. I really don’t mind you having an opinion or speaking out what’s on your mind but it would be nice if you at least read my comments before you disagree with them?
So once again:
Escapism – An “escape” from the perceived (unpleasant) aspects of daily stress (or reality in this context).
Immersion – Immersion is a measure of the degree to which information surrounds and includes us through sensory means; in a sense, the extent to which our external sensory inputs are occupied with a given task vs. any distractions.
I can not make it any clearer than this. One a desire – the other a ‘technique’ in lack of a better word. Big difference though not mutually exclusive at all, I’d say even pretty closely linked and complementary. Just like ‘thirst’ and ‘drinking a glass of water’ are completely different, yet closely linked.
Typo: “Saying escapism is immersion” should be “Saying escapism isn’t immersion” obviously
Immersion is not about realism, it’s about forgetting to worry about the “real.” ~Tuna
“No I’m sorry, that’s called ‘Escapism’ – huge difference.” – Digado
OK, I think I at least understand the basis for our disagreement on interpretation.
Digado:
When Tuna says “Immersion is not about realism, it’s about forgetting to worry about the “real.” (I asked him…:) he means “Immersion is not about realism. It’s about letting go of the awareness or concern with what is real and what is not.”
*Your* assumption is that he means escapism, as escape from stress. Nope. He means (as I said earlier): “the extent to which our external sensory inputs are occupied with a given task vs. any distractions.” This is to say, we stop worrying about what is real and what is not.
Does that clarify anything?
It does but this should have been clear about 10 posts back when I explained for the second (and later a third) time how to use the term escapism and immersion. If tuna means it as you say he does he choose a poor way to word it but that’s no problem – just glad to see we are on the same page again.
Rick, what you are insisting the whole way is some kind of grid-wide consensus. Not only that that is not necessary it is impossible. How are you going to make a consensus of gamers, teachers, developers, blingtards, roleplayers and mermaids? And why? And why not letting each live on their own sims with common areas (like shops) with a set of the rules that makes all of them feel nice and comfortable?
I don’t get what do you thing when you ask if Stephenson’s metaverse would have stronger immersion. That metaverse is defined by the code and is not much of “copy of the reality” that you were testing at the start of this conversation.
Immersion and escapism are not like thirst and a glass of water, not are they linked or complimentary. One can be a teacher doing the class in second life(that means that his escapism level is zero) and still to be very immersed.
I am no longer going to respond to anything you say as if I insist or implement anything. Not only is it not true, it dilutes the topic from where it should be and I’ve pointed this out to you about 6 times now. Think a little outside the SL box.
SL has 1.5 mil active users, and its growth has been steadily decreasing. I am not saying the end is near (at all!), but open yourself up to the fact the LL formula might not be the holy grail of the metaverse. What would happen if a system did use the implementations, instead of focussing on a possible ‘SL outrage amongst mermaids’ :) I think thats where the interesting discussion is. Not why what or who would be upset within the limited community of SL i you ‘nerfed’ the LL and would very much be interested in debating this (again, as the original intention of the post).
However, keep in mind I never talked about a copy of reality (A mirrorworld, I make a clear distinction between this and a Virtual World). I’ve talked about affordances, the link between the virtual and the real, and how to strengthen that link. I used the stephenson example because its a metaverse that uses a lot of human limitations to create the strong affordance of place, time and persons. Stephenson knew of teleporting, it was a fictional model long before he wrote snowcrash – why not use it?
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Just to clear up one loose end:
“Immersion and escapism are not like thirst and a glass of water, not are they linked or complimentary. One can be a teacher doing the class in second life(that means that his escapism level is zero) and still to be very immersed.”
Complementary means they both strengthen each other when brought together.They are not mutually dependant (though 1 side is) nor mutually exclusive. The way the link works is those who seek escapism need immersion, but the reversed OBVIOUSLY doesn’t have to be true as pointed out in some posts above already.
I can drink while thirsty (immerse motivated by escapism)
The water tastes better when ‘clenching a thirst’ (Immersion works better when driven by escapism)
I could drink without thirst (immerse NOT motivated by escapism)
Whenever I am thirsty the only solution is to drink (Whenever I want escapism, I need to immerse)
The thirst analogy doesn’t hold up all the way (that’s usually the case with analogies), but pretty far, it clarified my point and it’s certainly better then letting subjective topics such as the definition of literature be put in my mouth :)
Because he’s a freak about vehicles. He loves to create car chases. It’s foreshadowed from page one, literally. Even his free software analysis uses the metaphor of sports cars, tanks, station wagons and the Batmobile to describe the differences between operating systems.
In the afterword to Snow Crash, Neil notes that his original plan was to create a graphic novel, but a computer generated graphic novel was a bit beyond his available tech at the time. Teleporting isn’t a great plot element for an action movie — in that context, it is too much “deus ex machina” — “he got into trouble so he just TP’d.”
But for convenience in a medium that is trying to extend socialization rather than to make you spend more time online (as most MMOs do), TPing reduces frustrating downtime between social encounters.
I very much doubt if lack of TP in Snow Crash was for the sake of the theoretical immersion of the folks on the Avenue. It was because he, as the proxy Deliverator, wanted his fun.
Not that this invalidates your argument — but I love Snow Crash, and yes, I’ve even read NS’s nonfiction, so I wanted to geek in on it…:)
“Not that this invalidates your argument — but I love Snow Crash, and yes, I’ve even read NS’s nonfiction, so I wanted to geek in on it…:)”
I think it actually makes a case for my argument Shava ;) Who’s afraid of heights if you can just fly out, who’s afraid of anyone/anything if you can just TP out. Arguably it limits immersion and emotion. A software solution to a ‘content problem’.
Also, because of the fluent mix between the ‘real’ world and the metaverse’ Neil uses, he could have just stuck with the ‘real-world’ car chases (which he does throughout the book). Hiro is not the Deliverator in the Metaverse, he is the swordswinging protagonist hacker celebrity, and very little ‘car on car’ action in the digital world – just the notion it took time to get from A to B (walks even between mainstreet, his workplace and the Black Sun.) so not sure his love for car chases is all there is to it (though thank you for pointing this out, it did put some things about the ‘car fetish’ throughout the book in place ;) )
Am I seeking fear for immersion in SL? Personally, I am not. If I wanted to be playing with risk and adrenaline in that way, I’d go play LOTRO and do orange quests…:)
Mostly I am seeking social engagement and wonder, aesthetic pleasure. YMMV.
But I seem to remember that the climax of Snow Crash involved a *virtual* motorcycle chase that ends in the hacker stadium. The bikes defy real-world physics in several aspects, only partly including speed and collision (game physics and RL analogue) issues.
I was referring to Neil Stephenson being the proxy deliverator, actually, not Hiro.
Shava, thanks for that link.
Rick, after all the posts and comments, I am not sure I understand your point. You are proposing (go back to your post and see the list of six “quick and dirty ’solutions’ as the result of a brainstorm on the topic”. I don’t say you were insisting on these, but that is called proposing.
Analogy (though it is a metaphore) of thirst and drink doesn’t stand from the day one. Thirst is a perceived need. Immersion is a state of mind, usually supported by skill to achieve it.
I am not talking about rage of the mermaids (though I like the idea), I am talking about what makes a good platform and that is flexibility, possibility of customization and openness to different uses and users.
About fright… well, I did found my self feeling frightened in some games. But, only first time something happened. When they kill you three times you lose your fear and just go for the technique (or logic, depending on the game) to pass the dangerous spots. You cannot be frightened over and over again, no matter how immersive is environment. And that is not the case about SL, it is about all the games. What prevernts you from escaping via X in the top right corner?