Immersion & Tekken 6

Given that recent lectures have dealt with immersion, I found it relevant to submit a blog that addressed the issue of immersion in a more recent context. The concept of immersion in video games is probably something that has already been addressed multiple times within this blog, and hence needs no introduction, but my aim is to deconstruct Tekken 6 (Namco) in an analytical way, hopefully highlighting the way in which this particular game successfully immerses us as an audience.

Mia Consalo breaks video game analysis down into four main areas; object inventory, interface study, interaction map and gameplay log. Interestingly enough however, given that Tekken 6 is a 'third person fighter' by genre, it doesn't really involve any sense of an object inventory or interaction map. The single player campaign mode (a new mode for the Tekken franchise) arguably has traces of these, because in between levels you can move along a map, and similarly there are weapons which can be picked up within the levels themselves, but the traditional play-style of Tekken as an arcade fighter is primary, and has never included these aspects. Because of this, as well as the fact that I seek not to bore you all to death, this mini-analysis will focus solely on the interface and gameplay of Tekken 6 for the PS3, and their relationship to the unique sense of immersion experienced during play.

The interface of Tekken 6 has been designed to provide a blend of control and simplicity which adequately encourages immersion in a couple of senses. Many people complain that some games are too complicated to be played on PS3 because of a lack of buttons available to perform desired actions. Given its origins as an arcade fighter (which it still very much is,) Tekken 6 requires very few buttons to play, only utilizing the directional buttons and the four action buttons on the PS3 controller. The design is so simple in fact, that roughly speaking, each button relates to one of the four limbs on the body of the avatar. For example the X and O (circle) buttons represent the left and right legs, while the square and triangle buttons activate the left and right arms. Typically pressing any one of these buttons alone will cause a chosen character to perform some kind of attack using the relevant part of their body, but it is when the buttons are pressed in combination that more advanced and damaging moves present themselves. By using this simple but effective design, the player really only has two main perceptual interface issues to think about, each of which are controlled by an individual hand. Character positioning (within the game space) is defined through the use of the directional keypad controlled by the left hand. Similarly combat maneuvers are initiated through the use of the action buttons which are in turn controlled by the right hand. Each hand only has four buttons to worry about, and the result is a much faster paced game which because of it's interfacial simplicity, allows for a much smoother transition through the barriers to immersion.

Gameplay of Tekken 6 is also similarly simple, at least at a beginner level. Now that we can understand how the interface works, it's time to apply that interface to the context of the game space. Firstly, play is divided up into fights, where one character is matched up with another. Each fight is then divided into rounds, and so the simplest immediate goal of the player is to win the current round. A new player will likely be completely unfamiliar with the variety of moves possibly executable with the character they've chosen. Simple attack combinations will picked up on early, for example the player consciously presses X and O simultaneously, the character performs a sweep kick which trips the opponent to the ground, and as a result the player has just learnt how to perform a sweep kick. The initial reaction of most new players however, is typically to press as many buttons as possible, at random, in hopes of being lucky enough to deal some serious damage. This act is known as 'button-bashing', and in itself it changes the nature of the gameplay because instead of being left to the skill of each player, the fate of the round is left more to chance. As a comparison however, a more experienced player might instead have a chosen character, for whom they actually know many of the combinations required to execute many moves (probably through past experimentation.) This player will become far more immersed within the game, and embodiment is far more consistent (per round), because instead of simply 'button bashing', this player is constantly experimenting with cause and effect, and notably at a much faster rate than as illustrated through some of the recent lectures/readings. For example, if executed correctly, an attack combo will often leave the defender in a disadvantageous position (probably stunned or falling out of the sky) while leaving the attacker in a highly advantageous position, in which if they know how, they might have the opportunity to attack again, literally linking attacks in a chain like format. The 'button-basher' is therefore far less mentally involved in the fight, because they probably aren't thinking logically about how to link such moves in the first place, whereas a skilled player on the other hand not only has to think about these kinds of things, but he or she must think of them on the fly, or in 'real-time'.

It's the 'real-time' nature of Tekken which got me thinking about it with relation to immersion. In most games you're given a greater or lesser timeframe in which to make decisions about what happens next, but with Tekken this timeframe is incredibly small, and sometimes as a player you find yourself subconsciously making hundreds of these split second decisions without even thinking about it. Of course in order to reach that state one needs to have built up a reasonably high level of skill, even with just one character, but I often wonder how (if at all) this influences the state of the players mind. Is every semi-skilled Tekken player out there secretly altering the way they think in some way? Is that potentially advantageous or even dangerous? I personally suspect that for someone to be able to train themselves to think and react almost instantly on the spot, many times in a row, must have some impact on the motor/sensory areas of the brain, but then again I'm no doctor. To understand it more thoroughly would require many more paragraphs of explanation and examples, but this is hopefully enough to mimic the barebones for now.