11 - Beyond Immersion: Absorption, Saturation, and Overflow in the Building of Imaginary Worlds
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2021
Summary
Abstract
While much has been written about “immersion”, it is only the first step in the experiencing of an imaginary world. This paper explores the experience by going further into the process, with the additional liquid metaphors of absorption, saturation, and overflow, and examines not only the effects that each of these processes or stages has on the world's audience, but also how world makers actively use them to enhance the experience of a world, increasing the illusions of completeness and consistency, and cause audiences to keep returning to their worlds.
Keywords: Immersion; Absorption; Saturation; Overflow; Imaginary worlds; Transmedia; Reception; Audience experience
The Media Studies meaning of the word “immersion” is new enough that it does not even appear in the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary that appeared in 1989, yet much has been written about immersion since then (for example, Ryan, 2001; Rose, 2012; and Arsenault, 2005, 50-52). Overall, there seem to be three types of immersion, which we could refer to as physical immersion (like a theme-park ride); perceptual immersion (like a movie); and conceptual immersion (like a novel). Imaginary worlds, which provide places for the audience to go vicariously, greatly aid the act of conceptual immersion and give us some of the best examples of immersion. Yet, when one considers the process of experiencing an imaginary world, as well as the process that goes into the building of one, what we call “immersion” is really only the first step in the experience. An audience may become immersed in an imaginary world, but, unless it is built with care, they may have little desire to stay there, learn more about it, or return later. Builders of imaginary worlds, then, must consider what happens beyond immersion, and we can identify three more such stages in the audience's experience. In keeping with the water metaphor found in “immersion”, I will refer to these stages as “absorption”, “saturation”, and “overflow”, which I have already written about elsewhere (Wolf, 2012).
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- World Building Transmedia Fans Industries , pp. 204 - 214Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2017
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