(07-27-2017, 09:49 AM)Niamh Wrote: Am I just misunderstanding the context and avatar / immersion are the same thing?
Depends on who you ask, but in general, as an 'immersion-focused' RPer myself, they aren't the same thing, but not mutually exclusive.
'Avatar' RP is pretty much the only standard that exists that 'defines' a 'good' RPer, as from what I understand, it just means that the RPer in question understands and practices the IC/OOC divide.
There's honestly absolutely nothing that stops an immersion-focused RPer from doing that, because a focus on immersion is just a different perspective on RP. It's not in the same family as Avatar RP vs Self-insert RP -- it's in the same family/comparison pool as 'Plot-focused' RP or 'Story-driven' or 'Erotic-focused'.
An immersion-focused RPer tends to go extremely into the nitty-gritty details of their characters, their mindset, and their actions. They also, but not always, try to consider what other characters and players see; so they tend to avoid including their character's thoughts in their emotes, or use subjective adjectives. This way, they put the onus on the reader to figure out their character's emotions/thoughts through their detailed actions.
These details, and the depth of which these players take them, can vary greatly; but they're always usually little things that most RPers and writers tend to gloss over. Things like their character's need to eat, their travel time, the amount of money they have on hand, what exactly they've brought with them, environmental conditions, etc.
The reason for this focus on such inane details is that most immersion-RPers like and see potential character development/exploration in these interactions. They like the extra perspective and little nuggets of personality that come from these.
This is why, as others in above posts have said, immersion-RPers tend to ignore or not communicate in OOC often -- the entire RP philosophy revolves around going with the flow and taking IC happenings and consequences as purely that -- roleplay.
They immerse themselves by paying attention to more than just the surface details, in order to give them their character's perspective, so that they may better understand the character and write them in a more consistent and believable manner.
EDIT: This type of RP is honestly very difficult to do in MMOs, which is why it's rare. Most people, upon seeing a fight or a conversation happen, tend to overlook the flow of time in the RP; so you have situations in MMOs where Patron 1 of the Quicksand starts a brawl with Patron 2. One punch is thrown, and then suddenly all 50 people in the bar have crowded around and moved into restrain the brawlers before Patron 2 can respond.
Some Immersion RPers will sit and wait for several emotes to pass before reacting, to bypass the RP-time-dilation effect, and staying in accordance to what they call 'timescale'.
