Defining and Measuring Player Immersion

In order to understand player immersion in video games, this study identifies key characteristics within video games that directly influence the experience of immersion. A new scale based upon these 10 characteristics – Comprehension, Intuitive Controls and Systems, Engaging and Rewarding Gameplay, Emotional Engagement, Multiple Channels of Complete Sensory Information, Cognitively Demanding Environments, Believability of Objects in the Game World, Realistic and Dynamic Environments An Unbroken Presentation of the Game World, and Character Perspective Interfaces – was developed. To evaluate the scale, 164 participants were recruited to play a variety of video games. After a principle components analysis was conducted, it was found that all the items on the scale loaded strongly onto a single component. The items that loaded heaviest were items directly related to one’s experience playing the game – was the game enjoyable, was the game’s story, world, and characters interesting, and did the game capture their senses. Overall, the findings suggest that if players do not enjoy the game they will not become immersed. Additionally, the characteristics were then reduced and revised to only contain 8 characteristics - Comprehension, Intuitive Controls and Systems, Engaging and Rewarding Gameplay, Emotional Engagement, Multiple Channels of Sensory Information, Cognitively Demanding Environments, Believability of Objects and Enviornment in the Game World, and Character Perspective Interfaces.