Ever tried to enhances video game immersion

[theAlfaBlade]

I never realized I did this before,but I usually play certain video games in different moods.
I refuse playing Thief or splinter cell conviction in broad daylight and this goes for horror games as well.I unintentionally whisper when I'm playing a stealth game and get easily startled when am playing horror games.

Now,since it's a slow summer for games,I began replaying old games, putting music over the cutscenes and dialogue(since am not playing for the story).

Dubstep or electronica- Battlefield,Halo,Mass Effect,Ghost Recon,counter strike,Tribes

Cool jazz- Thief,(sometimes)Minecraft,Fallout,Deux Ex,Icewind Dale

Classic music- Assassins creed,Katawa shounjo,Sims

Rock(soft and hard)with some hip hop- Max Payne,Splinter cell,Gears of War

 

[Sean Hollyman]

If I'm playing Metro 2033, I tend to plug my headphones directly into the TV, and it adds to the atmosphere.

You can hear enemies talking to eachother, and the drip drip drip of a leaking pipe.

It's cool.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I only play Rez when I'm home alone, in a pitch black room and with the volume cranked really loud.

When there is nothing to distract you, the game really gets intoxicating after a while.

 

[fireaura08]

If I'm playing Metro 2033, I tend to plug my headphones directly into the TV, and it adds to the atmosphere.

You can hear enemies talking to eachother, and the drip drip drip of a leaking pipe.

It's cool.

Seconded. I play Metro on my computer, so my headphones are already plugged in from the get-go.

 

[renegade7]

Sometimes when my parents are out I go upstairs and hook my laptop into their 60-inch plasma and stand in front of it with my headphones in and play an RTS, recently it's been Supreme Commander. I feel like I'm actually in charge of something

 

[Space Spoons]

In Grand Theft Auto, I sometimes drive like a sane person. You know, obeying street signs and stop lights, not speeding, parking my car sensibly, stuff like that. I don't know if this counts as increasing immersion, given the fact that it's a game about breaking the law, but it's kind of a nice change of pace.

 

[Nexxis]

Sometimes I'll listen to certain types of music during games to get myself pumped for an intense situation in a game. To get "in the zone", as it were. Kinda makes me feel like I'm in an action movie, of sorts. Not sure if that counts, though.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

To an extent. I prefer to play horror games at night, and I love playing TES games when it's raining outside (because of how frequently it storms in the games, especially Morrowind). I also take every chance I can get to play games in surround sound, which isn't as frequent as I'd like since I don't have an X-fi soundcard or whatever they're called. It's really surprising how few PC games will put out a Prologic compatible signal without special hardware. Everything I've got that does it is an FPS, usually either on the Source engine or one of the Unreal engine variants, although Star Wars: Battlefront 2 also does it.

 

[Hjalmar Fryklund]

I recall playing Condemned: Criminal Origins in the winter evenings in a room with the lights turned out, in order to set myself up for a sense of paranoia. Don't know if it was really necessary though, as I played it in the much brighter summer evenings too, and it was still pretty unnerving.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Here's something I think would be amazing to see in games that would be very immersive:

 

[RatRace123]

Noise cancelling headphones. I pop those on, and often the only thing I can hear is the sound from the game.

Super awesome in games like Skyrim where I can hear damn near every bit of atmosphere in my vicinity.

 

[Sacman]

Headphones... and than I go into a little trance... pretty much lose all sense of my surrounding... I think that's pretty good...

Unless it's a Bathesda games... than I just get frustrated by the bugs and poor menu design...<.<

 

[Able Seacat]

In Grand Theft Auto, I sometimes drive like a sane person. You know, obeying street signs and stop lights, not speeding, parking my car sensibly, stuff like that. I don't know if this counts as increasing immersion, given the fact that it's a game about breaking the law, but it's kind of a nice change of pace.

High five, I do that too I then get pretty annoyed when there is even the slightest scratch on the car.

Yeah I agree with others about using headphones. Playing amnesia, sneaking around the corner trying to work out where those footsteps are coming from and then your phone vibrates, HOLY CRAP CAKE!!

 

[Sovvolf]

Keep the fan on and a window open when playing Skyrim. It sort of replicates the effects (at least in the early morning) of you trekking through cold tundras or pine forests. Sometimes it's hard to even tell which bird noises are real and which are coming from the game.

I used to do pretty much the same for some games. Mainly Skyrim, Lost Planet and Oblivion, stuff like that. Would change the settings of the fan depending how strong the breeze looked and knocked the fan off when entering a building. Kept a fan heater there too if I was going near something really warm.

Though don't do it that often or on a regular basis. Was mainly just an experiment. Was good fun though.

 

[purplecactus]

In Grand Theft Auto, I sometimes drive like a sane person. You know, obeying street signs and stop lights, not speeding, parking my car sensibly, stuff like that. I don't know if this counts as increasing immersion, given the fact that it's a game about breaking the law, but it's kind of a nice change of pace.

Yep, I do that as well. For me there's something oddly satisfying in not driving like a lunatic just because you can.

For some games I get out the headphones, depending on just how good an atmosphere the game creates by itself. I don't use the headphones all that much now though. People have this habit of texting me when I wear them, and it never fails to scare the hell out of me when my phone goes off. Loudly.

For most others I'll turn the in-game sound down a bit, plug in my speakers and turn up whatever music fits my mood.