Obviously bugs.
Pop culture references (if too obvious like McDonalds Tavern offering meat patties in bread and thickened fruit-and-milk drinks, etc.)
Modern things parading as olde worlde like a steam-powered 2 wheeled iron horse (motorbike), a clairvoyance box (TV), etc.
Stupid character (and guild) names (Toony McToonface, Legolassss, Ima Tank, Hugh Jarse, Big Yellow Druid Porting Service, etc)
Over-the-top outfits (Chainmail bikinis, 'normal' bikinis, pyjamas, tutus, massive swords, ballgowns and tuxedos, blindingly glowing/sparkling magic, huge shoulderpads, etc)
Third-party tools and sites.
Pseudo-PvP griefing on PvE servers (abusing game mechanics to 'compete' with others by hindering them.
The intersection of thematic inconsistency and loosely balanced mechanics that "break" the game (or egregious cases of either by themselves).
A prime example of this intersection (for me) is feign death in EQ1. Having a monk trick orcs to wander into an ambush (the monk's group) over and over by flopping to the ground due to a presumed heart attack is strange, but doesn't break my immersion because it's a relatively minor infraction. Orcs are dumb and even without single pulls we could still probably handle the content we're tackling. Having a monk trick ancient, wise, and cunning dragons with the same floppy routine and turn a nearly unassailable garrison into a stream of seemingly gullible bumbling dragons does break my immersion.
An egregious case of thematic inconsistency (for me) is outlandish appearances for players. Having a player in combat with a Santa hat on will just always break my immersion. I completely understand that it's harmless fun, but it's a different kind of fun than what I go to an MMO for. In town my immersion can handle more, but not to the level of bikinis, fake tails, etc.
An egregious case of loosely balanced mechanics is actually kiting. Seeing a sea of druids all kiting the same type of helpless enemies just makes the game feel so much less fearsome. Basically anytime I see something that I thought was fearsome get absolutely broken by players, then it takes a lasting chunk out of my immersion in the game.
disposalist said:Pop culture references (if too obvious like McDonalds Tavern offering meat patties in bread and thickened fruit-and-milk drinks, etc.)
Modern things parading as olde worlde like a steam-powered 2 wheeled iron horse (motorbike), a clairvoyance box (TV), etc.
Stupid character (and guild) names (Toony McToonface, Legolassss, Ima Tank, Hugh Jarse, Big Yellow Druid Porting Service, etc)
Over-the-top outfits (Chainmail bikinis, 'normal' bikinis, pyjamas, tutus, massive swords, ballgowns and tuxedos, blindingly glowing/sparkling magic, huge shoulderpads, etc)
Pseudo-PvP griefing on PvE servers (abusing game mechanics to 'compete' with others by hindering them.
Did you mention stupid names?
I don't think you mentioned stupid names.
So I'm going to say stupid names.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafraid.
Immatank
Gover There'ndie
Stupid names..............
Can we have an ignor option in game, where if it's a person we ignored it blocks their character name on screen?
Everything folks above me have stated, plus...
Player behavior that obviously and intentionally "games" the system.
Examples would be things like climbing up on a ledge to confuse enemy pathing, or using death as a travel mechanism. But it can also simply be players making choices that don't make sense in the context of the world because of the way game mechanics work - for example, choosing to outlevel quests or content instead of taking it at the intended level, because "level is king", and it's easier than improving their gear or learning how to handle those encounters properly.
A lot of this can be prevented via smart design and addressing AI-related exploits. But so many games seem to stop short of really doing that, so I feel it's important to say.
1. Art styles that don't really fit within the world's setting. For example weapons, armor, and mounts/pets which look like they belong in another game. In Pantheon's case, I think anything that is to Syfy/ futuristic looking would be extremely out of place.
2. Gold sellers/ people spamming external links in trade chat. Not sure if I find this immersion breaking or just really annoying in general.
3. Pop culture references are great but only when used in moderation and not obviously apparent.
4. Extremely flashy animations can sometimes break combat immersion. I want to be able to see player characters, and mobs vs them always appearing like a lit-up Christmas tree.
5. Flight mounts have been talked about to death on these forums regarding their immersion-breaking quality. However, EXTREMELY large mounts can also be immersion-breaking when they are blocking the entrances to buildings or standing on top of mailboxes.
6. The thing that breaks immersion the most for me though is being able to play the majority of the game solo. An MMO's world is all about trying to sell the idea that it is a living breathing place, the people residing in the world are living breathing denizens, and the threats they face are real. Having to play with others not only sells the idea that the world is real and there are other people in it. but it also sells the idea that threats faced in the world are actual real threats.
If you tell me that "There is a bandit leader who has been raiding nearby villages, he currently has a camp set up near some old ruins filled with his followers. I need you to go in and dispatch him by whatever means necessary." and I walk in there and solo him though means of direct combat (not a special means like poisoning or something), then how big was this threat really? Why couldn't you just send a town guard to do it, and furthermore if he was this weak to being with why couldn't the other villages he was raiding dispatch him before he became this "huge" problem. Now conversely if I needed a group of people to break through his army of bandits, and he was no pushover to kill with 4 to 6 people then his "threat" level becomes realistic.
EDIT: The whole fated hero, chosen one trope at its core is extremely immersion-breaking. It works great in solo based games, but in an MMO it has no place.
Excellent examples already posted so Ill do my best to mention what I dont yet see...
-World wide/general chat channels that always wheel around to real world conversation inevitably, or even worse elite versus newb arguments again and again.
-People running around boxing entire groups or worse.
-Content being watered down after I do it "the hard way" over and over again.
-Huge lulls between new content when the old contents been completely devoured.
-Cut and paste content particularly in the itemization department.
-Poor foresight when unrolling lore into the game, which obliterates the rich lore and replaces it with poor story telling.
-"beta info" guilds who cozy upto the dev team and then destroy content with insider information. Ive competed against them and been inside them. Completely immersion breaking.
1. seeing group after group of bots running across your screen in unison killing and farming gold quicker and more efficiently than anyone ever could.
2. continuous spam messages of links on how to buy gold.
3. content/gear being mastered or obtained too quickly and easily.
4. instancing
One of the other things that I didn't mention is people selling carries through raids or harder content. Like that's more of a community-based complaint but it breaks the whole sense of immersion when talking about power progression and sense player based achievement based on personal skill/ work.
Going to have to say Static Spawns/Camps. Having the denizens of the world just pop into existence and stand there while their friends 20ft away are agroed and slaughtered.
NPCs should have life cycles and sources. There can be “posts” that guards move to and task locations that they stay at for a significant amount of time but this standing still for their entire life cycle unless they happen to be one of the few patrols is very immersion breaking. The metagame of players finding a specific set of coordinates that spawn a mob that rewards something they want is perhaps the worst artifact of old technological game design limitations. We really need to move past static spawns if we ever want to have a truly new game experience.
Trasak said:
Going to have to say Static Spawns/Camps. Having the denizens of the world just pop into existence and stand there while their friends 20ft away are agroed and slaughtered.
NPCs should have life cycles and sources. There can be “posts” that guards move to and task locations that they stay at for a significant amount of time but this standing still for their entire life cycle unless they happen to be one of the few patrols is very immersion breaking. The metagame of players finding a specific set of coordinates that spawn a mob that rewards something they want is perhaps the worst artifact of old technological game design limitations. We really need to move past static spawns if we ever want to have a truly new game experience.
This is a very interesting point and perspective. The game would be terribly immersive if it were a bit more "wheres waldo" like real life.
not being able to pvp(safe zones are fine. there is a time and place for conflict and a peaceful npc city isn't one of them. pvper should be civil enough to take their squabbles outside.).
speed hackers or hacking of any kind.
physics(walking through people is pretty unimmersive, but i can give a pass if it's due to engine limitations-which i know isn't the case because it's unity. i know it's labour intensive to setup so yea-, however, i'd recommend a soft bump collision system).
hmm i think i'm okay with gold advertisers. mulitboxers, general chats etc etc.
i mean with gold/carry sellers, it's no different than tourist/attraction or safari guides. it's essentially the same thing.
multiboxers i think of group that has slaved their minds to a mind flayer or a cthulu type of entity.
general chat or world chat can be filtered so just leave on proximity chat XD
(btw i'm not knocking on you guys, this is just my perception of the listed grievances. i can understand where you are coming from.)
Aanwenae said: Goofy and ridiculous costumes/armor/weapons. This includes garish colours like neon orange, etc. Outlandish mounts count for that, too. Basically, seeing anything in the game world that does not fit into lore. I don't want to see character's pulling out their iPhones.
*proceeds to pull out a magical slab that happens to look like an iphone with a magical window*
what? it's magic.
stellarmind said:
multiboxers i think of group that has slaved their minds to a mind flayer or a cthulu type of entity.
Thats a hilarious way of looking at that, I may steal it.
Mordecai said: For me the dumb names and toxic players don’t bother me all that much. The thing that does kill it for me are the ridiculous holiday stuff. Santa hats, and people in bunny costumes or Jack o Lantern heads. If there are holidays implemented in the game, it’d be cool if it was all based off the Lore of Pantheon.
I agree strongly with hemlockreaper and yourself on this particular topic. Hope this ones not passed over.
Fighting monsters that by there description should be no threat. Example are rats, deer, etc. I know you could explain it by saying it is a giant rat or an infected deer or insert fantasy world description here. It just dose not work for me and breaks my immersion. It seems lazy to me not to invent a new creature or at least pick ones like bears that do pose real threat. I have no issue at all having rats in game as long as they never pose a real threat.
Kilsin said:Community Debate - What is something that you personally consider an immersion breaker in MMORPG's? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
Idiotic names, like Legolas Myeggolas. FFS you idiots, take a few minutes and think of a name that fits within the gameworld.
Real-world references of any kind. Even the ones where they just change the name but it still matches up with real world holidays or events.
Gold Spammers. Specifically, though not limited to, the level 1 chars who spam that crap in whatever zonewide channels exist or through /tell or /whisper.
Perpetually static NPCs that really shouldn't be static. Unless you are an NPC set to guard a specific location, you should be moving around. After all, you're part of a living/breathing society so effing act like it. There should be more NPCs moving around in the world than just standing there staring blankly ahead waiting for their eventual death at the hands of the players.
So many things have break the "fourth wall" and ruin immersion.
Firstly, to me, immersion is allowing that experience to become my reality. Anything that reminds me I am not *LIVING* in that reality but sitting at my desk playing a game is an immersion breaker.
And those things are the things that make the in-world experience not cohesive with BEING in the world.
In other words, as soon as me (the real human) is doing something as part of a game instead of my character doing something as part of funcitoning in the world.....THAT breaks immersion.
And that can be all the things that make it a game and not a world......"convenience" things, like instant travel and auto mapping and ESPECIALLY punctuation quests, etcetera.
