Immersion?

[CleverNickName]

I don't know about you, but I'm going to vote for the option that makes me sound the smartest. ;-)

Joking aside, the concept of "immersion" in a game is important to me. Being able to suspend my disbelief long enough to believe in the fiction is pretty much the whole point of telling a story, or playing a storytelling game. It's the main complaint I have with combat in D&D, actually: it always feels like an interruption.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Immersion to me means that I’m so enthralled with our game play that 3 hours zip by without me worrying about work or my phone or anything else really.

Since things that break immersion have been mentioned, I’ll add another:
When the VTT isn’t working as intended and we spend any amount of time trying to “fix” it during our precious game time rather than just immediately pivoting to Theatre of the Mind and/or our physical dice and character sheets.

 

[el-remmen]

For me immersion means what @Swarmkeeper said above + when the choices being made in-game align with the stakes as the characters would understand them.

I also agree with those who have suggested that immersion is not something that is toggled on and off, but a spectrum of affective and intellectual focus on the game at hand.