absolutely pointless things you do for immersion

[karkashan]

Also jumping on the "Will close doors behind her" train. Part of it's for immersion, the other part is the paranoia that someone will come up behind me, so closing the door might give me that extra precious second to realize this and turn around.

praisegrima

 

[Sassafrass]

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

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

 

[Naldan]

Before my Skyrim completion attempt, I neglected fast travel almost entirely in every game.

I sometimes act in-character for the character, being a dick if the character is one, like stealing, fighting, insulting if I get the chance.

If I see confidence to be reasonable to a character, I get cocky on purpouse. If I do understand the anger of the character, I try to let the character act the way, like neglecting conversation or let violence speak if it fits the character.

One could tell that I mainly do that with RPGs.

In simulations like Dwarf Fortress, I'd never give the Dwarfs a 2x3 bedroom for example.

Sassafrass' avatar is distracting me so much that I have serious trouble thinking.

 

[SweetShark]

Umm...close the lights when I play a Horror game?
Like, I think most of us do this, right?

 

[Vigormortis]

In-Game
- I'll sometimes verbalize my thoughts at the screen, notably in first-person games. (often pointing my view in the direction of the person or thing I was thinking about) For example, after having an epiphany on what an NPC had cryptically instructed me to do, I'll look towards her or him and say, "Ohhh. THAT'S what you meant, you sly bastard."

- In first person games I'll mimic my own head movements to convey my current thought or emotion. For example, looking toward the sky as I let out an exasperated sigh of aggravation.

- When I accidentally kill an NPC or destroy an NPC's dwelling or wares I sometimes verbalize an apology. Like saying, "Oh shit! Sorry dude."

Out Of Game
- I'll often shut off the lights and close the doors and windows when I'm playing a game I want to be fully immersed in. Especially horror or heavily story-driven games.

- I've only ever done it once or twice, but I have adjusted the room temperature to mimic the 'feeling' of the in-game environment.



I'm sure there are other pointless little 'rituals' and things that I've done or do to better immerse myself in whatever I'm playing, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. And I'm sure there are plenty I do subconsciously.

 

[EHKOS]

When I was little and playing Rogue Squadron 3, I had a dollar store army headset I wore and pretended to talk to the other pilots and Command Center while I was dog-fighting.

 

[Evonisia]

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.

 

[Olas]

I disable most non-essential UI features. For instance, if an FPS has iron-sights I disable cross-hairs so that I have to use them. Minimap? Gone. The indicator above enemies heads showing their 'alertness'? Gone. You can tell from their behavior. The grenade indicator? Gone. It's not like grenades are invisible. Objective markers? Gone.

Most of these things are unnecessary and turn a beautiful 3D rendered world into a collection of flat sprites.

 

[WindKnight]

In Warframe I always walk through my ship and not use the menus unless I want something not accessible through the ship directly.

Also, I always make tiome to hang out with my kubrow and my (spoiler)

 

[BrawlMan]

I honestly don't understand how any of this is for "immersion" purposes.

Kick the cat out of the room and turn the volume up really high.

Well, except that. Few things take me out of a game faster than a cat's claws in my groin.

Anyway, this sounds more like "for roleplaying purposes." Is that what we're looking at?

Works great if you're playing a horror game. I don't have a cat, but I assume that's where Baffle is coming from. Sometimes I'll have the character walk a little slow to press a button he or she is supposed to push, or when entering a door. Sometimes I did this when entering doors in the original Devi May Cry or Resident Evil 2.

 

[FPLOON]

If I can walk, I will walk to my destination... especially if I'm not in a hurry in-game...

Other than that, I turn off all of my [optional] electrical devices except the ones that are in relation to the system that I'm playing the game on... This includes, but not limited to, my laptop, my lights, and especially my cellphone...

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I often liked to open my window at night while playing Far Cry 3 - 4 etc as the outdoor dimension of noise of bird song and wind worked really well at adding to immersion. That is until the cat fights, bins falling over and police sirens kill the mood.

I also like to dress my ladies appropriately for seemingly no reason, as long as there is the option. I do not want to be pampered to in the assumption that i am some hormonal teen boy so easily manipulated. Plus females always get the better clothing variety.

I sometimes refuse to reload a clip until my last clip is empty. Unless Metro or games show you adding each individual round in. Yes, i do have trouble fighting the primal gamer instinct of reloading after every breath.

 

[The Enquirer]

I close doors to places I'm never going to return.

I do stuff like this as well. On occasion I'd walk instead of run somewhere, obey traffic laws, etc.

I sometimes refuse to reload a clip until my last clip is empty. Unless Metro or games show you adding each individual round in. Yes, i do have trouble fighting the primal gamer instinct of reloading after every breath.

I've got a friend who does the same thing. Though in some games it actually does make a difference with reload times, which is where I probably picked the habit up to always reload before the clip empties.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

I play games that are set during nightime, at night(see Thief, Max Payne, Shadowruns etc.). During winters i like to aptly play a game that has some snowy setting(Icewind Dale, Max Payne again etc.)- Oh, you mean what do i do INgame to feel more like a part of it?

-Walking instead of running, jumping, doing crouches etc.
-Obeying(generally) traffic rules while driving a car in GTA-like games.
-Trying to keep my killcount low as possible, if it's a semi-realistic setting.
-I may break and enter into your base/mansion and kill/knock out all your guards, and steal everything that isn't nailed to the surface, but i'm polite, and i will close the doors after i leave.

 

[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?

 

[MHR]

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!

Sometimes, if the game allows, I'll have keepsakes.

I always try to keep a sweetroll in my inventory and make sure no one steals it.

And the mans I assign to defense, I like to kit them out with recovered Raider armor and pimped out rifles or something. Nothing to it, honestly. Here I am lvl 30 with multiple settlements and not a single one has ever been attacked.

Lol yeah I just did that yesterday. I wanted Lucas to man the guard post out front, but he's all wimpy-looking and troubled, so I kit him out with badass looking stuff to make him intimidating. Replaced his dirty T-shirt with road leathers yeaaah! Gave him mis-matched leather armors, a skull bandana to wear around his face and welding goggles. Gave him a decent weapon, and now he looks completely badass!

I can't say that did nothing, because it's inspiring me with confidence.

 

[BodomBeachChild]

I have this weird thing about outfits. It has to be appropriate for the setting. Unless I absolutely have to have a reason for wearing armor or something non-civilian I try to change into something normal. In GTA I do my best to avoid people and unnecessary deaths. It wasn't until playing as Niko did I start that, but even my online character follows that. Modding helps make games more immersive. I always shoot for those.

 

[Jei-chan]

When playing DA:I, my first playthrough I romanced Cullen, and everytime I returned to Skyhold I would make sure to go see him even if he didn't have anything new to say. I figured with the characters being apart so often they would probably try to at least say hey to each other everytime the Inquisitor was actually in town.

Same with Mass Effect, generally. I talk to the characters I like even though I've played all three games so many times I know what they're going to say so it doesn't really add anything.

 

[Schtimpy]

I've been playing around with some macros in Mechwarrior Online, and one of them disables the left mouse button in menus. So I gotta turn it on and off with every match. At the start of the match there's a little animation where the "pilot" turns on the mech, so I turned the macro activation button (F12) into a couple of Numpad numbers.

I think I'm the only guy with a password protected mech.