Many of us from class got the opportunity to sit in a 4d chair and watch a scene from a couple of movies that were compatible with four dimensional technology. I got to watch a scene from Monsters Inc, in which the characters are on a rollercoaster-esque ride through a factory. I feel this was a great scene for me to experience the 4d chair with, as the movements in the scene complimented the functions of the chair very well. There were several first person shots in the sequence, which added to the overall immersion of the experience. Sitting directly in front of the TV, at moments it did feel like I was in the scene and on the “ride” with the characters. I did feel that the experience was slightly detracted from due to the limitations of the chair’s technology. At some points, the chair just couldn’t provide the impact that I wanted from particular moments in the movie, and I found that some moments were disproportionate to others in how the chair reacted to certain events.

Another instance of my immersion being broken were the moments where the chair completely stopped moving. While viewing the scene, the chair conditioned me to the feeling of a constant rumble. When some peace occurred in the film, the chair completely stopped moving, and I felt that this was jarring, especially coming off of such an intense part of the ride. This was probably an intentionally jarring moment, but for me it took me out of the scene as I thought the chair had turned off. I was also comparing the experience to the only other similar experience I had had with 4d entertainment, and that was 4d theme park attractions, which are much more authentic. Overall though the 4d chair was fun. Thanks Darrin.

For my final project, we visited crown casino to research how it’s design encourages people to come in, and more importantly how it encourages people to stay. The casino floor is huge, and stretches out seemingly forever. This is obviously an intentional design choice to keep people constantly visually stimulated by the endless rows of slot machines,wheels and tables. The lack of windows rids the casino of a sense of time, which in turn causes gamblers to lose a sense of reality while playing. It isolates you from the outside world and time loses its sense of importance. The sounds and lights help lure you in, and the constant rewarding chimes and flashes of colour make you think that it’s only a matter of time before a win happens for you.

The design of the building is very grand and majestic, and unlike other smaller casinos which to me feel cheaper and dirtier, crown casino makes you feel like you’re living the high life while you’re inside. The roof is extremely high, and there a grand staircases and pillars throughout the building, adding to the rich feel of the place. Crown casino achieves immersion by tempting you with what could be possible if you spend some money on gambling, and once you begin to gamble it’s very easy to lose track of how long you’ve been doing it.

I saw a live show with a friend of mine recently. It was a band called childish japes who were performing with some friends of mine. I found myself drawn to their performance more so that I have at any other concert I’ve been to. There weren’t heaps of people at the gig, and it wasn’t the dancing kind of environment. Many of us were seated at tables and watching from there, which i think added to the overall immersive feel of their performance. The lighting was dim and the stage had a projection that spun translucent colours over the stage and the band, which gave the show a kind of hypnotic look.

The band itself were extremely tight and in sync, and due to this I found myself focusing on nothing else but their music, as there was little transition time between there songs. The lack of dead air between their songs really gave the show a flow that not many other live shows have; there was minimal talking, and the talking that did happen was very intimate and personal, as the crowd were all musicians who shared the same interests. I’ve never had such a direct connection to a band from the crowd, and the songwriting and technical skill of the musicians in the band helped add to the immersive feel

Over the past month I’ve been playing a fair bit of Destiny 2, a video game. The game achieves immersion similarly to the first one, by rewarding you with special items and loot the more you play. The game is essentially a big gamble as to what you’ll receive and when you receive it; it can’t be controlled and functions on a lottery like system. As a result of this, you continually feel enticed to return to the game over and over again to “increase your chances” of obtaining good gear. This game gave me a good insight into what it must be like to have an addiction to gambling, as that is the topic I’m covering for my final assessment. By using colourful rewards and satisfying noises, the game constantly rewards you even when you don’t actually win, and this encourages further play. Seeing what other players have obtained also entices you to keep playing, as it gives you something to try and work towards, even though you have little control in actually determining when and how you get a reward. The environments themselves are also extremely immersive. There is always something happening around you and some kind of activity to take part in. Even when making your way to a particular location, it’s easy to become distracted along the way by other events and players inhabiting the same game world as you.