Difference Between the Metaverse and Immersive Gaming

Take a deeper look at the wide range of gaming developments and learn more about how you could explore each of them.

LEARNING

TECHNOLOGY

5 MINS READ

DATE

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

AUTHOR

Kenneth Norwood

Dr. Kenneth (Rico) Norwood, is a film and video game scholar, specializing in Black Queer Art and media studies. A leading voice in top publications, they excel as a content strategist and developer.

What does the future hold for video games now that we're seeing advancements in augmented reality and virtual realities such as the Metaverse? And what's the difference between the Metaverse and Immersive gaming? Let's take a closer look at some of these new (and slightly mind-boggling) concepts dominating the digital space so we can understand more about the impact they will have on our digital future and inter-generational communication.

Video games have changed a lot since the first video game Pong, where the player's only objective was to play a digital version of ping pong. Now, gamers have high expectations, quality graphics and sound are a must, a riveting storyline or high-stakes objective is the norm, and, best of all, you can play with people all around the world.

What is Immersive Gaming?

Immersive gaming is a form that seeks to make gaming an experience beyond the typical player, separated by the screen and their character. The goal is to blur the lines between the game and reality through emotion and connection while giving players more control.

In immersive gaming, players are taken into the game world, and it becomes a new type of reality that pleases their senses and provides them with an engaging experience. Two factors of immersive gaming are immersion and flow, where flow focuses on the pace of the game and the components like rewards or the story line as well as the player's motivation. Immersion can complement this with an open world and high-quality graphics or aspects that make it feel like the real world.

Virtual Reality Gaming

When people think of an immersive gaming experience, virtual reality (VR) often comes to mind. However, it is an extreme version of this. As explained above, immersive gaming does not need a VR setup.

Virtual reality takes immersive gaming to the next level by using hardware, goggles (a headset with a mounted display) and controllers to bring the player into a 3D world.

Skyrim VR is an example of a popular VR game. This role-playing game is taken to the next level and provides full player autonomy to explore the open world. You can battle dragons and explore the mountains in a fully immersive experience.

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