Dunk Dinkle

Working on a Game Design MA thesis where I defend @EveOnline is an unconventionally immersive game. I made a blog post sharing small parts of it. medium.com/@nazimadakli/eve-… The conventional understanding of immersion is that it is the experience of being in a different world. Sensory realism is only one way to induce immersion. Most AAA studios, crowdfunded sandboxes, VR folks and Metaverse projects all chase this kind of immersion. Our world is inherently social. Social context is ineliminable to human existence. And immersion can be achieved by relating people to each other in a virtual environment, by putting them in a social context. Virtual worlds are most believable when people can relate to each other in different ways; hostile, friendly, synergetic, parasitic. That is the door to all kinds of emotions, friendships, betrayals, love and hatred. Nothing does this better than @EveOnline. The entertainment industry is completely missing this point, while focusing only on sensory factors. I think this is what @DunkDinkle was also getting at in his blog posts. As parts of a truly living, breathing world, Eve players are in a special position to understand this. @HilmarVeigar the years of research in Eve Online concluded that it's a friendship machine. That's not what's special about it. No other game offers this special experience of being in a different world. Friendships are a byproduct of that. #tweetfleet