absolutely pointless things you do for immersion

[Ironman126]

I close doors behind me.

So, I've learned to sound-whore like a pro and I find that closing doors is actually a fantastic way to force NPCs to generate more noise. It's both immersive AND useful!

OT: When I play shooters I pie my corners. Blame paintball for that fun habit. I do it in real life sometimes, even when there isn't the threat of some psycho with a paintball gun.

In RPGs, I tend to avoid fast travel, unless I cannot be bothered to walk through to Riften because of all the goddamn bears. I tried actually walking once, but that takes about three times as long to get anything done and concessions to efficiency have to be made. I also give my characters last names if one isn't required.

 

[infohippie]

I don't really have anything new to add in terms of what I regularly do for more immersion, other posters have covered the same points already. But when I was much younger and playing the old Wing Commander games I recall one time I had some incense burning in the background. I had just been through a difficult battle and my ship was badly shot up with damage warning lights everywhere, an alarm sounding, and the Eject warning flashing at me as I limped home to the TCS Tiger's Claw. That was when a few drifts of smoke from the incense passed in front of the screen, giving me a great feeling of really sitting in the cockpit of a badly damaged ship with smoke and sparks from damaged instrumentation.

 

[Strazdas]

- I tend to talk instead of running because "those NPCs may think im crazy running around everywhere" and i even do it in FPS sometimes in areas that arent shootery.
- I like to close doors behind me if there are NPCs around. if not i wont close it.
- In RPGs i tend not to steal items that belong to my "friends". For example even if i could steal everything in Citadel in Fallout 3 as nothing was marked as owned i didnt because i would "Feel bad" for the citadel inhabitants.
- In openworld games i like to obey traffic laws and do as little collateral damage. however that often goes out of the window when certain missions require reckless driving, ect.
- in games that allows me to play a character multiple ways i tend to pick options that feel more like "myself" rather than what is maximum efficiency for the game. this feels more like me playing but often ends up in not getting rewards or even fucking up missions in games.
- in stealth games/stealth missions i like to hide or position my victims even if it makes no difference. something i learn playing old Hitman games and now i do it even in games like fallout.
- I use armor on myself and companions for realistic look even if it makes no gameplay difference. for example in Mass Effect it made no gameplay difference whether you had your helmet on or off, but it made more immersive game to fight with helmets on for extra protection.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

fallout 4 and making sure i find my character 2 comfy pillows for her bed.

I collected one every pool ball, and arranged them in the triangle on a pool table. The cue ball is in position, and there are two pool cues laying on the table.

I also set up 10 tenpin pins at the end of a length of floors, and put a bowling ball on the ground at the opposite end.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

Various little things; mostly to do with items that have no practical value. For example, I was playing Dragon Age: Inquisition recently and I never off-loaded the completely useless Fereldan Badge of Bravery/Honor/Whatever that Alistair gave me, because my Grey Warden in DA:O was his BFF and I valued it.

But here's something insane; fifteen years ago, when I first played Day of Defeat, I had a friend over and we were playing in rounds (I was playing one round, he was playing the next). For one game, we were in rainy map (don't remember which). It was summer, in real life, so I turned on the air-conditioning right behind us, the air hitting our backs, and the one who wasn't playing that round was spraying water drops on the other from a glass to simulate rain.

And yes, this actually did happen.

 

[Zen Bard]

Sometimes when playing Skyrim, I'll shout "Fetch my sweetroll, wench!" to my wife.

This leads to me being locked out of the bedroom, which means more play time for me! So win-win, right?

lol is that a default convo option?

In Bethesda games I will duck out of sight and stealth before changing armor so nobody sees me indecent. Also so shopkeepers don't see me put on my +charisma/+speech/+barter gear and have it ruin the facade. And as a superhero, nobody will see me change into the Silver Shroud and know my real identity!

You know, I kind of do that too. In an Elder Scrolls game, I always go back to my house or room at the inn to change clothes. And I always wear "town" clothes when I'm not out adventuring...because I figure the armor starts to stink after awhile...

 

[The Raw Shark]

For some reason I make it compulsory in ANY game to shout "Your mother!" AT LEAST ONCE at any NPC. I don't know, I can't get anything out of the experience if I don't.

On the other hand if I have an item in my possession that I don't want then I automatically assume that my character has some sort of weird fetish thing going on.

Case in point, Skyrim.
There's a quest where you go to this lighthouse and the entire family in it has been killed by those mutated Snow Elves, Falmer was it?
Well you see, after you find some of the family members you also find the skull of the father of the family titled "Habd's Remains".

And even after the quest...the Dragonborn still doesn't get rid of it....it's weird....

 

[Poetic Nova]

Does it count that 2 out of 3 characters of mine in New Vegas carry around a teddybear?

Started as some kind of in-joke between me and a friend of mine, ended up being some kind of reference to it.

But on a not so serious note, holstering my weapon when I talk to someone is something I always do.

Now I think of it. I ended up doing this from my second New Vegas character onwards.

Download a mod that turns my nuke launcher into a teddy launcher that plays John Cena's theme song.

Any chance it is a FO mod?

 

[visiblenoise]

I don't think I do anything like this. The closest thing is that when I play an RPG, I have to match classes and races according my spotty knowledge of the typical standards. Undead like necromancy, elves like magic, big strong orcs like smashing things, humans make good rogues.

 

[NPC009]

-If I can dress the playable characters up myself, I try to pick clothing they'd feel comfortable in and is appropriate for the situation. (Walking up an snowy mountain? Don't worry JRPG girl, I'll get you out of that metal bikini and into some proper gear!)

-I try to be considerate towards NPCs. Stealing shit just because I can is not cool and I certainly won't kill anyone without good reason.

 

[CaitSeith]

Skyrim: always wear the novice robes while being at the College of Winterhold.

I don't (consciously) do things to increase my immersion in games, unless I feel like I need to. There's this bit in "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories" where you have to mimic swimming with the Wii mote. I start doing a little dance instead, both because it gets the job done faster and because I feel like it fits the surreal tone of the scene better.

LOL. I tried to use the Wiimote's speaker for the cellphone dialog and audio logs; but it didn't always work. I ended up giving up and using the normal speakers option instead.

 

[RedRockRun]

If I go into a room with an important book or note, I read it every time I have to reload and go back through that room. If my character were real he/she wouldn't just skip it.

 

[Madmatty]

Sometimes I hold my breath when my character is underwater or in an airless environment. I also put some games into seasonal categories.

 

[Veldel]

in first person games even shooters regardless if safe or not I go in treating it like a hostile zone slowly turning corners and shit and fully securing a area before I loot any

When im in a room of ppl i killed if there importent or somthing like say the leaders of Railroad even after there dead i walk up to em and take out a handgun or knife and fire a quick shot between the eyes.

When I play evil I talk and act like a maniac in real life while I play as if im the char themselves

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

Back in WoW vanilla, I and my best buddies were really into Chappelle's Show. Really into Chappelle's Show. So was half the server on which we originally played.

So naturally, when Hammer of Wrath was added, I made myself an add-on/macro that randomly /shout'ed Rick James quotes when casting the spell. So, people would be fucking around, say, EPL, when randomly and out of nowhere they'd see in shout, "CHARLIE MURPHY!". Pretty much everyone thought it was the funniest shit ever. Well, except the Horde. It really pissed the Horde off, but fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.

You'd expect people to get annoyed by that after a while, but amazingly enough, no; people were more annoyed I wouldn't share the add-on than that I had it.