The issue of suspension of disbelief. Discuss.Which (game) worlds have given you the most convincing sense that you were there, or that they are real worlds? The kind of things to start thinking about are: Which have given you the most convincing illusion that they are complete worlds which exist independent of "the player" =ie. they don''t make it seem as if every character or situation is there to provide a challenge (to) or to entertain the player? What methods can be used to easily immerse the player? etc.

Fallout 1 & 2

AWESOME GAMES!!

Deus Ex also comes to mind.. and tetris.. hmm no that was wrong :D

"Only dead fish follow the stream"
"An eye for an eye would leave the whole world blind"
- Taken from my friend Zephir (Don''''t know where she got them from though

Fallout 1+2, DSA2:Startrail,

and to a lesser extent: Baldurs Gate 1+2, Elite (yes, i´m certain), X, Wing Commander 1,

Funny enough, as much as I loved Fallout, the world was too small to feel as if it were real.

Have to go with the old school Ultima''s for this. People had schedules and lives, and there were tons of past events that made the world come alive.

System Shock 2, even though it was limited to two relatively small starships, felt (up until the end) as if they very much was a real worlds. I think this was because of the attention to detail, and logical layout of the levels.

Then again, it could have been the sheer panic of running around with 7 health and 2 bullets while evading zombies that burned the game world into my brain.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

Yup, system shock definitely felt real (mostly because you had to be afraid most of the time).. and because of Shodans great personality.
and i´d like to add ultima underworld

Outcast

DeusEx, never saw such an immersive world that reacted and worked so believeable. Other Warren Spector games had similar impact on me...

Tim

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Omikron: The nomad soul

Sorry, I''m about to get kicked off my library''s computer, so I''ve got to make this one brief.

Details are of critical importance. Make sure that the seasons, wildlife, characters, villages, environments, etc., are as detailed and as structured as possible!

Gotta go. Bye!

~Jonathon

Ultima Underworld.

One thing which can be seen in UU is:

When creatures die, they leave a little mound of flesh & blood.. and their objects lying around. Showing this allows you to believe that any other piles of flesh in the game are recently deceased creatures.. weapons, objects & bones lying strewn around allow you to believe that there was a battle there and the bodies have rotted away.

To aid suspension of disbelief show processes in the game (it DOESN''T have to be photo realistic to achieve this goal): then when players find what is the result.. their minds will be able to ponder what brought about these circumstances.