(07-27-2017, 09:49 AM)Niamh Wrote: I mostly read RPC to pickup information to help learn RP in the FFXIV environment, and get ideas on how to develop a character in said environment. Â I keep seeing the word "immersion" pop up in threads. Â My exposure to RP in the past always treated the character as being a separate entity/avatar.Ideally immersion should be mean to put yourself into such a way that you understand and feel what you see as if it was you. Like when people play dark souls or an open world shooter and they want to feel immersed being in a world of demons or zombies. They typically feel like they are the ones aiming the gun or hacking away with the crisp sounds of wind blowing at their backs and story given reason to progress. For me, I immerse myself into my character by having no OOC distractions and trying to keep to IC alone(not too many OOC mentions or breaks in between).
Am I just misunderstanding the context and avatar / immersion are the same thing?
If they are separate:
How do you create the line between IC and OOC if you are truly "immersed"?
Do you play in 1st person view to maintain your immersion?
Do you declare that you are "immersed" to others during RP interactions, or is it something participants should just pick up on?
Is the etiquette for interacting with an "immersed" player/character different than the etiquette for interacting with an avatar?
Immersion isn't so much that you become your character or vice versa as it is just putting your perspective on the same level as your character. It helps to have headphones(noise cancellation) and a wide enough screen (to feel like the world is around your perspective of sight) as well. To answer more directly though...
How do you create the line between IC and OOC if you are truly "immersed"?
Depends on the setting and who you RP with. If I'm in a spot on the map that has people talking about memes while I'm IC, I'm not really going to feel truly immersed. However if I'm with a group of people I'm RP'ing with and we're in a deep discussion or plot related issue, I get immersed into it as if I'm listening for my character. The line is just drawn between OOC and IC interaction really, if you need to do something IRL or something's going on that needs your attention OOCly, you go handle it. When you're free and nothing's distracting you and you're in the middle of RP, then remain in character with the setting and people that you're with. I often also apply some reasoning for things like when I need to leave, I'll tell the group I'm with I need to go OOCly but then ICly talk on a linkshell or pretend my character forgot something and have to teleport away. Helps let the RP flow for the group and allows me to leave if I need to. It's also helpful in making sure the time you spend RP'ing is IC, so you know next time you turn the tag on or go into the RP mode to turn on your immersion senses, you can just pick up from there instead of having it flicker on and off so to speak. Helps to stay concentrated and believe in the actions at hand to "create immersion", as you'll better understand and feel your character's reactions, replies, and etc to how you wrote them.
Do you play in 1st person view to maintain your immersion?
Not at all, though like someone said, sometimes I'll zoom in just to better see faces, items held or attire. It's too small of a zoom in and can often clip people's faces... Immersion isn't based on the 1st or 3rd person perspective for me. Mostly because my attention is on the world around me and other people than my own character(hence why I get irritated when people make fem chars and say "I wanted something nice to look at, if I'ma stare at my own character's ass all day!"... just look around at the game ya dingles >_>). There's also some times when I'm looking at the sky or something in particular around in the world just to better examine it's details, but otherwise I would not be able to maintain that all the time for RP.
Do you declare that you are "immersed" to others during RP interactions, or is it something participants should just pick up on?
Personally I notice some people have different ways they display how they're immersed or RP'ing. Some use quotes around their text to note they're writing for their character, others like myself just turn on the RP tag and walk around with a search comment listing some basics about their character. I think of it like this, compare it to IRL... Would you go to a movie and while you're watching it go "I'm watching and enjoying this movie! Who else is?" in the middle of the theater? Ideally in a RP setting or when you decide to set yourself into an RP mode where your character and you are immersed in feeling and the like, you would go around as if you would a regular person in FF14. Some people prefer tells and the like because they may be nervous or not handle walkups well but for people who do walkups or hardcore RP, walking around feeling immersed and bumping into RP is pretty natural to feel. My character typically is pretty quiet and walks around, may sit somewhere, start writing to himself in his journal and maybe someone curious enough will walk up to him and ask or get curious enough to look over his shoulder. Other times I may see a stranger wearing particular clothing or possibly overhear a conversation that my character may want to join in on. Assuming I understand they're ICly talking, I join in as I would ICly as well. Sending a tell to make sure never hurts either but for those who do walkups and have RP tags on, I usually assume it means they're IC as they speak. Participants usually pick up on it for me just because of my search comment and RP tag being on, as well as me walking instead of running around. Again, this all varies with the setting, people you RP with, or etc.. but if we're talking just strangers online, then it's something you typically have to show in a fashion that isn't out right stating it(to help maintain immersion anyways). Like going to a convention and seeing someone wearing a star wars shirt, you'll probably take a good guess you can talk to the person about star wars seeing they have the shirt on(then again, some people wear shirts and just like how they look than knowing anything about them, but I digress). Even in that case, like Is aid, if there's any doubt, you could ask them just to make sure as you would ask an RP'er OOCly if they're IC atm.
Immersion comes down to the individual imo, your immersion shouldn't break another and vice versa. Again though, this comes down to who you RP with and where you are, but feeling your character in how they react and view their interactions shouldn't differ too much from the other RP'ers you're with. It's only when you decide to break your perspective of your character that your immersion will not be maintained(which again also is based on distractions, how many OOC interactions are mixing in or keeping you from feeling super into your RP interactions).
Is the etiquette for interacting with an "immersed" player/character different than the etiquette for interacting with an avatar?
I'm not quite sure what this one's asking, I would say no though. Immersion comes from the player feeling like they're in a wonderful magical world of elves, fairies, dragons and the like. For a person to RP with them and act as their character would in the world would only add to their immersion of this perspective. The only differences I would say exist is OOC and IC. Obviously when someone runs up to you and asks "wanna run Shiva EX for pony farm?", you'd kinda be clueless ICly wtf that means. As a person in the universe of FF14 wouldn't know about EX's(aside from the warring triad maybe?) or that ponies are a thing dropping from shiva's body or that you can "farm" them. Versus someone walking up to you to say "Adventurer! Please heed my call, a primal has been summoned and we need your help!". Clearly you're not an adventurer IRL(we don't really have these anymore IRL huh?) so they're talking to your character through their character of an in game experience that only people of the game's universe would understand. If you're asking if there's a different way to act to an RP'er vs an immersed character though... I don't think so as they kinda go hand in hand most of the time.
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