Breaking Fiction : How fiction breaks can be used to enhance a player’s immersion in video games

Abstract: This study researches the possibility of creating immersion through the use of breaks in fiction that includes the player inside of the game world through the use of their real name, age gender and more. The qualitative method is used in the form of semi-structured interviews with two groups of respondents (one consisting of experienced players and one with inexperienced) who were made to play an artefact, in the form of a visual novel like experience set in a chat room. The reason for having two groups was to find out if their experiences would differ or not.The results of the study show that the majority of the respondents were able to immerse themselves in the artefact and that the fiction breaks and the use of the player’s real life information played a role in achieving this. However a minority of the respondents did not agree with this and stated that they found the fiction breaks distracting and that the use of them broke their immersion. This, along with the fact that the artefact mostly focused on the narrative rather than gameplay, makes it hard for the study to draw any definitive conclusions for video games at large. It does however show that it is possible for fiction breaks to immerse the player.