There is Nothing Virtual About Immersion: Narrative Immersion for VR and Other Interfaces. 2003 (http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~brooks/storybiz/immersiveNotV irtual.pdf

Immersive environments surround a participant such that everything they perceive is a part of a new world. Long before computers, new virtual and immersive worlds were created all the time by oral storytellers. Audiences still become immersed in story worlds, seeing the details, believing the actions, and making connections between the events in the story and their own lives. Therefore, in a virtual reality environment (VRE) that uses narrative, the participant is doubly immersed. Knowing more about how a participant is immersed in narrative would allow a VRE designer to work more efficiently. This paper discusses three attributes of narrative – time, context and participation – that contribute greatly to an audience’s feeling immersion in a story. These elements also map well from oral storytelling to new media and VR applications