Sound Research WIKINDX

"Immersion is not wholly subject to the technology's physical dimensions nor is it wholly dependent on audio or photo realism. Three conditions are required for immersion"

• "the user's expectations of the game or environment must match the environment's conventions fairly closely"
  
• "the user's actions must have a non-trivial impact on the environment"
  
• "the conventions of the world must be consistent"
  

These conditions are described further by Ermi (Ermi & Mäyrä 2005)

Defining realism as one of the factors of immersion/presence, McMahan describes two parts of it: social realism and perceptual realism.

She extends Fencott's (1999) work and his argument that, because presence relies on perception (which is a mental rather than sensory/tactile state), increased presence derives from increased field of view and a strong sense of foreground and background. Fencott has derived Perceptual Opportunities which include:

• Sureties -- indicators, signs, architectural detail
  
• Shocks -- polygon leaks, poor design - anything which detracts from presence and indicates that this is merely a game
  
• Surprises -- nonpredictable details that are a part of the virtual world's logic and design. 3 types of surprises
  
  
  
  1. Attractors - tempt the user to do something.
     
  2. Connectors -- similar to sureties in helping the user's orientation.
     
  3. Retainers -- make the user "linger and enjoy" parts of the environment.