Immersion and Engagement

I recently had the opportunity to watch two movies at the theater. One I walked away from thinking it was excellent, and the other I left thinking it was mediocre. When I thought about why I had these different reactions, I came up with multiple possible considerations. One in particular that interested me was the immersion experience, or lack there of.

Theater is a fascinating engagement model topic and warrants a much deeper study than my own cursory examination. But I would argue that movies have always provided escape through the immersion of the audience. Return of the Jedi opened six years to the day after A New Hope on May 25, 1983, and ushered in the release with it Lucasfilm's new theater sound quality system, THX. Audiences at THX-certified theaters were able to experience the acoustic qualities of the film as the filmmaker intended. The objective was to fully immerse the audience into the Star Wars experience through the use of enhanced audio. Of course audio is only one of the many immersion tactics leveraged by filmmakers. Special effects and video enhancements are obvious choices to include. I am also reminded of the experience of the Soarin' over California ride at Disneyland in Anaheim where the smell of the California orange groves meet the senses of the guests.

All of these examples are intended to draw the audience into a new world and provide the escape necessary to enjoy the experience. At the time of this writing, Gamification techniques for Internet based services are all the rage. They are today's popular method for user engagement. Due to some success, it has become a highly copied model for many web based applications and can be read about in countless books authored more recently than not. But I believe gamification is really only a means to an end. It is a strategy for enticing engagement through a parallel experience. What really should be considered the immersive experience for the audience regardless of the platform. Movies, amusement park rides, and Internet services all share the same need for captivating the user.

The prevalence of tactics becoming common among platforms will require new invention and heights to be realized to continue the same depth of engagement. In my opinion, gaming tactics will peak then give way to another form of immersion of the user into an experience. The objective is behavior modification and user engagement. Perhaps the next generation is a new strain of gaming tactics for engagement or something all together new such as how George Lucas appealed to the senses of his audiences in a new way. Whatever the emerging engagement strategies will evolve to, it will require further immersion of its audience to capture the attention. Otherwise, it will be one of those movies that leaves you wondering if it was worth the price of admission.