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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8806983" data-attributes="member: 6785785">Not always. Or not for everyone.I mentioned upthread how having to zoom out to a greater level of authorship can help me with inhabiting my character. It gives me some ability as a player to have input on the world… and that makes me feel like my character knows things. That there are truths he knows instead of things he is told are true.  This then helps me when I’m thinking from the POV of the character. One player making demands on another is always a sticky situation. But it can just as easily happen in any game, and I don’t think it’s really connected to gamist versus narrative concerns. Certainly such concerns can conflict, but I don’t think they must, or that such conflict is all one-way. I don’t know… I’ve seen players who many would classify as “immersed”… they’re using a voice and portraying their character  in a way that seems authentic to what’s been established. And while there’s certainly a level of engagement happening, is it meaningful? The answer depends on many other factors, I’d say. But I don’t think that “portrayal” is the same as immersion, or inhabitation. Personally, I’ve come to realize that the most immersive kind of play for me is when the mechanics support the fiction… when they take the events of play and what my character is going through, and then connect that to something I experience as a player. The Panic element of the Alien RPG or Sanity mechanics in Call of Cthulhu are good examples. XP Rewards are another; something is important to the character, so the game rewards the player pursuing that thing. There are many examples.These mechanics mirror the fiction to some extent. When the character is at risk, there is a risk to the player. When the character achieves something, so does the player. Without such elements, for me, it feels like portrayal more than immersion.</blockquote>

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