Communication University of China

Immersion Attribution and Design Suggestions for Script Murder: A Game Studies Perspective

This paper examines the immersion of script murder (剧本杀), a Chinese tabletop role-playing and deduction game that became popular from around 2016, through the lens of game studies.

• Immersion in script murder (剧本杀) is driven by players' sense of agency, control, and connection, and players' avatar identification is multiple and fluid, shifting among real self, ideal self, virtual avatar, and hybrid avatar.
• The study used a grounded theory approach, coding semi-structured interviews with script murder players alongside analyses of specific game scripts and their interactive and audiovisual design; the sample size is not specified in the excerpt.
• Factors that foster immersion include guidance, props, music, room layout, performance, well-crafted icebreaker sessions, evidence-gathering formats, and short scenes.