A quick dive into the correlation between immersion and agency and how the two play out in Naughty Dog's game, Uncharted 2. Part of the game design series from BonusAttack.com

1. Immersion &
Agency in
Unchared 2
February 3, 2010

2. Immersion vs Agency
*ref: Adams 2004: http://bit.ly/by6lEk

3. Immersion
There are 3 main types of immersion in games*
✦ Tactical
✦ Narrative
✦ Strategic
*Adams, 2004: http://bit.ly/by6lEk

4. Tactical Immersion
✦ In first-person shooters, it’s commonly called
being "In The Zone".
✦ The player has a feeling of active connectedness
to the controls and the game world.
✦ This enables the player to rapidly express
themselves and accomplish goals.

5. Narrative Immersion
✦ This feeling is more akin to that experienced
with films and books.
✦ The player feels wrapped up and vested in the
story and eventual outcome.
✦ The player identifies and relates with characters
and their trials.

6. Strategic Immersion
✦ This is the slowest paced of the three types.
✦ As longer term goals are played out the player
finds deeper connections to the system.
✦ The connection is tied to the act of finding the
best solution to a problem via repetition.

7. Agency
✦ Agency in games is the feeling that you (the
player) are actually in the game.
✦ In Half-Life, the player often feels like Gordon
Freeman (High Agency)
✦ In Tomb Raider, the player may feel like “She
didn’t make that jump” (Low Agency)
✦ Traditionally high agency has been highly valued
in game design.

8. Immersion & Agency
in Uncharted 2

9. Immersion in Uncharted 2
Solid gun play and close-calls create high tactical
immersion. The controls are simple & expressive,
allowing the player to feel like a lethal action hero
in a very short period of time.

10. Immersion in Uncharted 2
Climbing, risky jumps, wise cracks, comedy &
drama all create narrative immersion as a classic
high adventure story. Amazing main character
realism, brilliant voice work, and fluid motion
capture all help suspend disbelief.

11. Immersion in Uncharted 2
The strategic immersion plays out over multiple
battles. In each battle you get slightly smarter as
to how to approach the challenge. By the end
game, you are an Uncharted 2 master, all with
very little repeat attempts.

12. Agency in Uncharted 2
The high realism of the main characters forces a
low sense of agency while controlling them,
regardless of how direct and expressive the
controls are. You never slip, Nathan Drake slips.

13. Key Takeaway
Uncharted 2 is extremely immersive, but the strong
narrative and character development creates low
agency. This goes against the standard 'strong silent'
type of main character common in many games today.

14. Thanks for reading!
Aaron Rutledge
Questions: aaron@bonusattack.com
Reviews: http://bonusattack.com
Twitter: @neonarcade