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Perhaps it was due to the other aspects of higher immersive quality in the darkzone arena, but despite strike having a customized, sountrack specifically built for the arena, whilst darkzone had sound effects, with an underlying soundtrack of rock and pop music hits, the darkzone soundscape was the more immersive of the two. Perhaps this can be attributed to the use of darkzone’s music soundtrack to situate the game world within the real world, instead of attempting to create a world that is entirely separate. By positioning some elements of the game world in the real, the space becomes more believable as it has elements of shared reality with the world outside the game. Further, the music in darkzone had a considerably higher tempo, which enhances gameplay, as it’s participants mimic the tempo, resulting in faster, more active gameplay.

By having noises emanate from the player’s gun, the player feels personally implicated within the game, and is immersed on an individual level, as the gun reacts to being hit as well as shooting.

Having sound effects play from the surround sound speakers, which target particular parts of the arena in response to what is occurring within the space, contributes to the arena’s ability to immerse the player, as it mimics the outside world, as the space alerts the players in such instances as when different bases are under attack, playing this audio in the parts of the arena where the players belonging to the attacked base are most likely to be. Due to their active engagement with the events occurring in the arena, the sound effects and voices played from these speakers are accepted by the players as part of the world of the arena, as they respond to them accordingly – running to protect bases etc.

Unlike video games, in laser tag, which exists in a built environment, such sound elements are not necessarily as important here, and may be less prevalent or less truthful. As long as they are synchronous with movements in the arena, they are believed, as they are just simply reaffirm what is happening within the physical space.

While in video games, sound must compensate for a lack of true, physical engagement, this is not the case in laser tag – here, tactility and physical response is more important. As long as responses are synchronized, they will be accepted despite their unrealistic sounds.

engagement is mostly subliminal, the best engagement works when you are so caught up in gameplay that you don’t notice the immersive devices, and simply accept them as part of the ‘world’ that you are in. This was noticeable as within the darkzone arena, I did not even notice the soundtrack of upbeat songs that were playing over the speakers until someone else had pointed it out afterwards. I had instead just accept this as part of the game world and hence it had not stood out to me as it would if I believed it did not belong there. This is how many of the immersive devices functioned within the space.

Interactive elements are responsive to the individual players and the gameplay at work, instead of being a passive soundtrack or series of lights that play out within the arena on a loop, the stimuli work in direct response to the gameplay at hand, thereby immersing the player in the arena by directly implicating them and ensuring that they are active players within the game.

Lights on the gun functioned

The darkened arena sets the tone of the space, and allows for a more believable ‘world’ as unrealistic elements are disguised in the dark, and fear and awareness are heightened in the darkened arena, as it becomes hard to see. Notably, this is one of the largest contributing factors, as the illusion of the world created within the arena is immediately broken, and suspension of disbelief instantly shattered, when the lights are turned on at the end of a game.

The guns had were interactive on multiple levels, not only did they allow gameplay, as they were the source of shooting etc, as the player pulled the trigger, but they also lit up depending on whether the played had been hit (turning the colour of the shooter and then going out to signify a fatal hit), was shooting (blinking when the trigger was pulled), or was in active gameplay (lit up steadily). The guns would furthermore vibrate and sound off when the player was hit, allowing the player to see and feel a physical response to gameplay, allowing immersion through the ability to feel physically the results of being hit in the game.

The bases and target lights worked in a similar way, being lit when protected, and going out when hit, furthermore eliciting a sound response in the form of the arena’s voice of god announcing that the base was under attack to the other side of the arena. Target lights worked in a similar way, stationed around different parts of the arena, these provided small tactical focus points which could be hit for damage against the opposing team. The accuracy and focus required to hit these targets allows for further immersion, which is contributed to by the corresponding fear which accompanies focusing on one object, and leaving oneself vulnerable to attack from other players within the arena.

Darkzone had far more obstacles, interactive elements, targets and multiple levels, which increased engagement, through the heightened fear and awareness that this created.

Building of story and formation of alliances increases likelihood of players developing emotional investment within gameplay, and having emotional responses such as anger, sadness, joy and frustration to experiences within the game world. This increases the player’s immersion within the space through emotional engagement with its environment and the story that is produced through the gameplay.

An element that enhances the space’s immersive qualities, as built through story, is

– they are prepped with instructions and primed with a video or instructional, as well as primed for the arena through the preliminary area where the laser packs are stored – which is themed accordingly to prime the participants for the arena. This sets the tone and amps the players up, getting them ready to dive straight in.

– they are have come to laser tag willingly, and are therefore willing to engage with the arena, and therefore more susceptible to the manipulative immersion devices in place.

between arenas, there were some differences which allowed darkzone to be better. These included faster recovery times for players between being shot, which allowed them to re-engage with gameplay more quickly, and also kept them more engaged as they were provided limited time to run away or hide before they were susceptible to being shot again. Longer offline times after being shot means that the player may become removed from the ‘world’, as they are disconnected, and unable to interact or engage fully with it. Shorter recovery times allows the player to retain engagement with the game, as they remain alert, rather than removed from the world as they wait to be able to reenter gameplay. – CONTINUAL ENGAGEMENT WITH SUSPENSION OF BELIEF

The system created by the pattern of lights, sounds and vibrations which change in response to the player’s life status (generally, on if alive, off if shot), in combination with ranking and point scoring,  establish a system of reward and response, which, functioning in a similar way to those patterns established in gambling, create a reward based system which enables a form of addiction to be established within the player, as well as (similar to pavlov’s dog) automatic responses to stimuli which are built up throughout gameplay and enhance immersion as the player becomes more involved and responsive to the world of the arena.

Through the special power-ups able to be accessed throughout the game through interaction with touch screen interfaces and shoot-able lights, special abilities such as stealth mode are able to be accessed. These further immerse the players through increased engagement as power-ups such as rapid fire or stealth mode, which turns all lights off on a player’s pack (making all players think that they are inactive), breaks the established stimuli-response pattern, heightening the player’s awareness within the arena. They are not permitted to be passive players, but must actively engage with the sights, sounds and strategy of the arena’s world in order to be successful. The pattern of reward-response established throughout through lights, sounds, points etc, ensures the player’s want for success.

The Darkzone arena is targeted at many ages, as a g rated space that is engaging on many different levels regardless of age, it generally attracts a large age bracket, from around 8 to 35. Strike, though less engaging physically, smaller etc, attracts an 18 and over audience as it is a licenced bar venue. This makes comment on the effect of alcohol in upping engagement?