Four Categories for Meaningful Discussion of Immersion in Video Games

Mata Haggis-Burridge's paper argues that "immersion" is used so loosely across game development, academia, journalism, and player discussion that it obstructs meaningful analysis, and proposes four distinct categories to replace the single term. Systems immersion describes deep engagement with a game's rules, challenges, and decision-making, closely related to Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow. Spatial immersion refers to a sense of presence or transportation into a virtual world and is tied to embodiment, while empathic/social immersion captures emotional bonds with characters or other players and the social context of play. Narrative/sequential immersion describes the compulsion to discover what comes next, whether through story, character progression, or exploration.

The author contends that these categories overlap and interact as a network rather than operating in fixed proportions, and that a game's success typically depends on balancing several of them. Illustrative examples include Doom for systems immersion, Gone Home for empathic and spatial immersion, and Grand Theft Auto V as a title designed to appeal across multiple categories. The paper also draws on the author's own experience developing Fragments of Him, which deliberately prioritised empathic and narrative immersion by removing conventional mechanics such as combat and fail-states. The analysis extends to ethically sensitive territory, noting that the same game may be experienced very differently depending on which form of immersion a player prioritises, with implications for debates about violence and wellbeing.

The paper is a conceptual and essay-style contribution rather than an empirical study; it draws on prior academic research, developer testimony, and illustrative game examples, without presenting original survey or experimental data. Its scope spans commercial and serious games, with particular attention to open-world and narrative-driven titles, and it acknowledges unresolved questions around augmented reality, co-located multiplayer, and the meta-game sphere, as well as the need for further research into demographic and cultural differences in immersive preferences. The author presents the framework as a practical vocabulary for discussion rather than a definitive taxonomy.