I''m proposing a new terminology for us game designers at heart If it catches, it catches if it don''t then oh well. Natuarally we''ll have to dispute its principle first, so here goes. Gamersion - The cohesive blend of game design structures and elements with the game theme to create user emmersion within the game world. The best explaination i can come up with is - If a game fits cohesivly enough with the a theme then you can produce as profound emmersion levels for a game that can be achieve by stories. I love Game Design and it loves me back. Our Goal is "Fun"!

Then why not have Storimmersion ?

I think that''s where the term "Suspension of Disbelief" comes in? I hope i didn''t offend.

I love Game Design and it loves me back.

Our Goal is "Fun"!

Oh, true
But then why create a word for a nice expression like "Suspension of Disbelief". Is it something against long words again ?

Umm, as i understand Suspension of Disbelief is like a virtual reality of the conciousness caused by a story. Gamersion is the same thing but its expressed with a specific purpose behind it.

My strongest argument atm is this:
Think of the way pen and paper rpg''s worked and how you could become entranced within the game even when there was the most pathetic story (if one at all) in the background.

This in my eyes is not really suspension of disbelief because i think that requires story so what i''m ranting on about is the need a word to decribe this different kind of SoD.
...and thats where gamersion fits.

I believe that a lot of the entrancment that comes from a lot of table top (rpgs) games is caused by the game systems not the story or should i say "less by the story". Also, think of an FPS like Doom, a lot of people got entranced by that game but it really had bugger all story behind it. This to me is what has made a lot of recent FPS''s so good, its becuase they are not only using Gamersion but SoD as well.

I love Game Design and it loves me back.

Our Goal is "Fun"!

Well, I have nothing against the concept but in general combinations of words like ''friendlyriffic'' and the like sort of annoy me. I also kind of dislike over-hyped phrases like ''interactive movie.'' For instance, I''ve seen games like Wing Commander II and Myst called interactive movies, and though great games they were, interactive movies they were not. I think you may be going too far with ''gamersion''. Why is that word preferable to the phrase ''immersive game'' or ''immersion in the game''? Because everyone understands the phrase ''immersive game'' but ''gamersion'' will become a jargon phrase that there really is no need for and nobody will understand. We in the computer science field use words that nobody else does, but we do it out of necessity rather than preference. (For example, bilinear filtering, antialiasing, etc.) We need these words because they describe unique concepts. Gamersion does not.
Nothing against you personally, but I don''t think the name will stick.

-FallingFrog

OK, at least now I understand why the need to create a new word, you want to differentiate "why" there is SoD.
But I''ll second FallingFrog in that Buzzwords are dangerous... buzzwords, buzzwords everywhere. Once a term get overused, it loses its meaning, it''s the chewing gum effect : it has lost its taste long ago, but you keep chewing...
It''s like "multimedia" or "interactive" or "AI" ... the shorter, the more it''s likely to become ambiguous, and more a commercial label than a meaningful word.
Then again, I can''t come up with something better

I think there is a difference between Suspension of Disbelief and Immersion.

SoD is what we apply to a magic system when it is "believable". It is suspending our concept of reality to a point that we can rationalize the unrealistic aspects of the activity we are participating in.

Immersion requires SoD. Without SoD we cannot immerse ourself in the game. Immersion occurs when we not only "believe" what we are seeing, but we relate to the situations. We become a part of the story (no, not psycho-style "I AM the space marine!"). Immersion is the next step up, where we are playing in a world, rather than on a computer. This is the goal of every character-based game.

For example, in pen & paper rpgs, immersion occurs when we stop saying "my character" and start saying "I".

But I have to agree that Gammersion is kind of cheesy. Lets just use immersion.


Pax

Sorry, don''t mean ta beat up on ya Paul but gamersion doesn''t work for me.

As Pax said, immersion is already known and in place. It describes the phenomenon of being *in* the game; of ducking and dodging when fireballs come at you in Doom; of spacing out to the real world while you try to drop your tanks on a ridge in Starcraft.

Unless "gamersion" describes a phenomenon not currently caught by another word, I''d recommend against inventing new jargon.


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Just waiting for the mothership...

Far enough, i can see when i''m beat Period

I love Game Design and it loves me back.

Our Goal is "Fun"!