The sense of immersion in role-play and computer games is sometimes
viewed as dangerous, as players’ strong perceptions of fictional worlds
are assumed to make them lose contact with reality.
On the other hand,
players’ immersion also implies a potential for improved learning, since
it enables them to ‘experience’ new places and historical eras. Yet a
new study from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that
immersion in online role-play games requires a lot of hard work.
Gaming researcher Jonas Linderoth, at the Department of Education,
Communication and Learning, University of Gothenburg, followed a group
of players in the world’s largest online role-play game World of Warcraft
for a period of ten months. He observed the players almost daily in
their fictional online lives and also filmed and interviewed them.
‘They are not your ordinary gamers – they are role-players who really
want to feel like they are in a different world,‘ says Linderoth.
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