Manouk said:Lore that gets out of hand or runs away in different directions with expansions so that it's loosely cohesive or makes little to no sense.
One thing I liked about EQ was that there wasn't so much of a story but it was a world. You would find old ruins that offered no use to any quest or special mobs, but they tied into the culture and history of the race that lived there. I think Iksar was probably the crowning achievement of this for me. You never had a story to follow, but there was so much history that guided how the world was built it helped with immersion.
Graphics.
Asian style over-the-top weapons twice the size of your character, Female armor being nothing more than dental floss. Little 'lolly" chars that make me think they were created for pediphiles.
Cartoony: I am playing a game, not a cartoon. No wow stuff please.
Blocky. Wont play minecraft because of it, wouldnt play an mmo with it either.
Goofy Vanity... Ogre Warriors in Neon Pink armor. People running around in Nikes and bermuda shorts with sunglasses and fedora
Huge Quest Markers. NPC with big question marks and excalamation points over their heads. Something more subtle can be used. Perhaps animations or markers on mini maps that can be turned on and off.
Glowing paths and arrows. If you can not figure it out on your own, ask people but the hand holding to the point where you can see on screen what you need to do is not necessary.
KatoKhan said:Graphics.
Asian style over-the-top weapons twice the size of your character, Female armor being nothing more than dental floss. Little 'lolly" chars that make me think they were created for pediphiles.
Cartoony: I am playing a game, not a cartoon. No wow stuff please.
Blocky. Wont play minecraft because of it, wouldnt play an mmo with it either.
Goofy Vanity... Ogre Warriors in Neon Pink armor. People running around in Nikes and bermuda shorts with sunglasses and fedora
Huge Quest Markers. NPC with big question marks and excalamation points over their heads. Something more subtle can be used. Perhaps animations or markers on mini maps that can be turned on and off.
Glowing paths and arrows. If you can not figure it out on your own, ask people but the hand holding to the point where you can see on screen what you need to do is not necessary.
Thank you this seems to be the trend now days.
The biggest offender for me is ridiculous costumes that are outside of the game world's lore. F2P games have shops that put a lot of that kind of stuff in and it really pulls me out of the world seeing it. The second big immersion breaker is stuff like gold sellers/spammers alongside botters. There are other things like exclamaition points above heads, minimaps, instant travel nodes, basically just look at any modern MMO and they are almost impossible for me to get immersed with.
I'm the opposite of the "no text or typing" crew. I would far rather read text quickly than wait for NPC voice actors to finish their lines. This is particularly true if it is not my first time visiting this character (eg now playing an alt and redoing a quest). I read way faster than any character is going to speak and I get to imagine, like when reading a book, what the character sounds like.
I also hate games which have bad or over-the-top voice actors. If I want to hear bad voice acting I can go watch D&D streams. I'm especially done with dwarves with various overblown UK accents. What often happens is a game studio will get a few talented voice actors for main plot lines, then fill in identical voices on numerous merchants or random NPCs. It's pleasant the first time you hear a merchant's banter, tedious after the 5th visit and by the 10th you're ready to just move to another town and hope the voice doesn't follow.
Another breaker for me is to obviously recognize the actor who is doing the voice-over. Hearing Kate Mulgrew's distinctive voice in Dragon Age Origins would be a clear example. I see the witch Flemeth, but my brain says "Janeway" and I'm completely pulled out of the moment.
I find Discord or other inter-player voice comm systems to be extreme immersion breakers. I can mentally split out the voice comms easier if the game isn't also trying to communicate with me at the same time through spoken NPC dialogue.
So far as the actions of other players, I think the only thing that pulls me out of the game is real-world discussions in chat (politics, football, whatever). That's easily fixed with a quick /ignore or hiding/switching chat channels.
Gold spammers are a definite annoyance, but I can simply equate those to street hucksters. Many of the things listed by others in this thread are more annoyances than immersion breakers. I think the key to staying immersed is to focus on the character, not the player behind the actions.
Players not being there (no collision) running right through them like they are just holograms.
Normally aggressive mobs walking/running right past me like I'm not even there. (Mobs running back non agro to there home point after killing/losing thier target)
Nothing more immersion breaking for me than not actually feeling "present" in the world. I'll take and accept the bad that comes with these things, but to be virtually transparent to the world kills it for me.
Zorkon said:Players not being there (no collision) running right through them like they are just holograms.
Normally aggressive mobs walking/running right past me like I'm not even there. (Mobs running back non agro to there home point after killing/losing thier target)
Nothing more immersion breaking for me than not actually feeling "present" in the world. I'll take and accept the bad that comes with these things, but to be virtually transparent to the world kills it for me.
I agree when it comes to NPCs/mobs, but transparency to other players is a must - raid chaos and the ammount of griefing (esp in non-pvp servers) would be unbearable...
SugarWood said: My wife asking me to fix something around the house for the 3rd time when she can clearly see I’m busy
How is that immersion breaking? THAT IS LIFE! Doesn't get more real than this xD
Hegenox said:Zorkon said:Players not being there (no collision) running right through them like they are just holograms.
Normally aggressive mobs walking/running right past me like I'm not even there. (Mobs running back non agro to there home point after killing/losing thier target)
Nothing more immersion breaking for me than not actually feeling "present" in the world. I'll take and accept the bad that comes with these things, but to be virtually transparent to the world kills it for me.
I agree when it comes to NPCs/mobs, but transparency to other players is a must - raid chaos and the ammount of griefing (esp in non-pvp servers) would be unbearable...
I would prefer then that they remove Raids as a solution, not collision.
And yes griefing would happen but the amount of griefing is trivial.
SugarWood said: My wife asking me to fix something around the house for the 3rd time when she can clearly see I’m busy
haha, just buy yourself a cottage in the country-side of terminus and you can 'fix something around the house' while not stepping out of the immersion of terminus!
Kargen said:starblight said:I know you could explain it by saying it is a giant rat or an infected deer or insert fantasy world description here
LOL !! how about Rodent of Unusual Size? Rabbit of Caerbannog?
I guess it has been too long since I have seen Monty Python as I had to Google "Rabbit of Caerbannog" to confirm my suspicions. Hey if they want to add in some comical references it would not bother me but I bet it would bother the heck out of a lot of other people. But if they are going to add in a killer rabbit, I will need a holy hand grenade.
starblight said:Kargen said:starblight said:I know you could explain it by saying it is a giant rat or an infected deer or insert fantasy world description here
LOL !! how about Rodent of Unusual Size? Rabbit of Caerbannog?
I guess it has been too long since I have seen Monty Python as I had to Google "Rabbit of Caerbannog" to confirm my suspicions. Hey if they want to add in some comical references it would not bother me but I bet it would bother the heck out of a lot of other people. But if they are going to add in a killer rabbit, I will need a holy hand grenade.
I'd rather not - If we'll cross that border, then there would be no reason not to add real Christmas/Holidays events into the game and so on...
disposalist said:Obviously bugs.
Pop culture references (if too obvious like McDonalds Tavern offering meat patties in bread and thickened fruit-and-milk drinks, etc.)
Modern things parading as olde worlde like a steam-powered 2 wheeled iron horse (motorbike), a clairvoyance box (TV), etc.
Stupid character (and guild) names (Toony McToonface, Legolassss, Ima Tank, Hugh Jarse, Big Yellow Druid Porting Service, etc)
Over-the-top outfits (Chainmail bikinis, 'normal' bikinis, pyjamas, tutus, massive swords, ballgowns and tuxedos, blindingly glowing/sparkling magic, huge shoulderpads, etc)
Third-party tools and sites.
Pseudo-PvP griefing on PvE servers (abusing game mechanics to 'compete' with others by hindering them.
I agree with all of these.
I would say though for tuxedos, there can be a place for expensive or posh clothing - as long as it is styled in a fitting way, likely medieval period.