The term “total immersion” is familiar to viewers from device commercials as well as to users from descriptions of multimedia products.
The effect of total immersion is a suggestible state of human self-perception, in which the real position in space and sense of time are distorted, and self-consciousness is blurred or lost altogether. At the same time, feelings aimed at interacting with reality and processing information (volitional concentration, conscious actions on the physical level, body positioning) become confused in relation to the usual system of coordinates.
In practice, there are several basic varieties and directions of using the effect of total immersion:
general – performed at the intellectual level, when solving mental problems, by finding a way out of given conditions (scientists, chess players);
local – occurs during short-term actions, feelings of lift, being “in the blow” (operations at work, game tasks);
cognitive – it arises when there is a deepening in reading, a film’s plot;
emotional – occurs when there is a need to recreate in the user those emotions that are experienced by the viewed character of a movie, book or game.
Regarding the levels of perception there are the following types of the effect of total immersion:
spatial – the emergence of a sense of reality of the simulated world around him (the main criterion – the impossibility of knowing at first glance or touch whether the objects around him are real);
sensual – when some parts of the brain are stimulated, a sense of reality of the imagined environment emerges, against the background of the working senses;
psychological – appears when the player’s self-consciousness transitions to the character of the game.
What is it for
The main purpose of the full immersion effect is to transfer the user’s consciousness and sensations in a fictional environment that is not real to him, while experiencing the real feelings arising from being in previously unknown terrains, in hard-to-reach, simulated circumstances.
As a consequence, the person enjoys being in a virtual environment or other desired effect.
Creation techniques
The effect of total immersion is a complex influence on all of the senses: tactile perception, vision, sense of smell and taste, hearing, vestibular system, as well as thinking. The simultaneous influence of stimuli on all the senses creates a sense of real atmosphere and even personal presence in a fictional place and any time.
A well-established combination of technologies to recreate realistic sounds and appropriate music, the creation of high-quality graphics and lighting effects, an elaborate storyline (gameplay) and an authentic historical plot, as well as the human capacity for imagination and decision-making transport the user into a new reality.