Do we really ever want full immersion?

Tad William's Otherland novels and The Caverns of Socrates by Dennis L. McKiernan both came to mind when I read this and my answer then is a resounding YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES.

Graphics aren't a "Big" thing to me any more, they used to be, but they're not any more. I think so long as the game has great gameplay, a good story, and quite a bit to do, then they're good in my book.

There is some exceptions though, I love Nintendo's games such as Zelda and Mario! Zelda: A Link to the Past is my all time favourite RPG.

For me immersion comes from more of the community I surround myself with or the back story and lore of the game, rather than graphics. If I feel like a part of the world, than thats all the immersion I need, even if everyone is running around in a 2D world. So a very big yes to a 2D mmo with perfect gameplay.

Nowadays 'immersion' is as much of an empty marketing buzzword as Sega's 'Blast Processing'

...a Tron mmo!

Immersion to me comes more from the UI design, the lore, the quests, and other such things (AHEM PERSISTENCE PLEASE AHEM) moreso than the art itself.

MMO Games that go for realism in the art style typically ends up falling flat. The world becomes sterile and square. Inorganic and ... Well - what's the antonym for immersive?

The fact is, for such a huge world to be realisticly portrayed in the graphics, you'd have to allocate a ton of ressources on varied textures (no recycling), and polygons, that there'd be nothing left for world objects. - And lack of world objects will - ironically - make it very unrealistic!

I'm not just talking about grass actually sticking up from the ground, as oppsed to flat patterned textures, and barrels in the corners. I'm talking about holes in the ground, dirt piles, discarded garbage and junk items... Things that make it look more like a world that's populated, and less like one that's designed.

That's where WoW especially has struck gold in their art style efforts. It's a dynamic yet simple style, that doesn't hog a lot of ressources, yet still manages to look more organic than the styles of many games where the decision was made to go for realism...

The human eye and brain is so trained to look at, and recognize, objects and shapes, that it's impossible to make it look realistic. We WILL see something wrong with it. So it's a lost cause to go for realism - even Crysis showed us that, so there's a long way to go before I think it should be attempted in mmog's.

Better to find a style that fits the atmosphere of the game, and push that a little over the edge.

But for gods sake - make sure the character movements and controls aren't too stiff. That one item prevents any and all immersion, and the battle is lost right there at the start of the game.

And add music. Good, well-orchestrated, fitting music.

Screw 2D -- I demand a 1D MMO!

The most immersive games i have ever played are tabletop games, so i dont believe graphics are the answer to immersion :P

I still feel that Ultima Online was the most immersive MMO I've played. 2D graphics and all.

I've played WoW and Have a Wii. Don't assume I'm perfectly happy with either. I want better (photorealistic) graphics and more immersion.

Heaven forbid any credit goes to excellent music and sound effects anytime the worth of a game is brought up.

immersion=/=realism
I don't understand why people think this. I find the most immersive settings are often the most unrealistic ones. Stylized graphics, gameplay and settings are far more interesting to me than realism.

Immersion is one of those words that mean different things to different people.

For me, I do play certain games for immersion. (I also play other games for other reasons.)

My definition of immersion leans more toward being able to pretend to be someone else, a character of my own design, and make choices that match that character, rather than me as a player.

Not a lot of MMOs can do that very well. I get periods of it in certain ones, like soloing in City of Heroes, or wandering the landscape in LOTRO. Singleplayer games are better. Fallout 3 is doing spectacular at immersion for me at the moment. Oblivion wasn't too bad. Call of Duty 4 was cinematic immersive, not my character but I bought into the storyline.

Some people might also define immersion as just being highly invested in the game, perhaps almost addicted or obsessed about it, unwilling to leave the confines of the game world. This is certainly an aspect most MMOs can lay claim to. If for differing reasons like intriguing gameplay or community ties.