TGI – Total Gaming Immersion

I’m claiming this new buzz phrase for my own and I don’t care who’s said it before!

There have been a number of occasions where the effect of Total Gaming Immersion has taken me over. I remember playing Elite, way back when and losing hours as my mind became part of the universe of trading, fighting and mastering the skills of the manual docking maneuver.  Similarly I lost more than a few evenings – into early mornings with Star Wars: Galaxies (before it got crap) just being there, in that Universe. Lara’s adventures had a similar effect too, usually tempered at the point at which the game’s mechanics overcame my brain’s capacity to process at which point everything got switched off and I sought refuge in food and/or sleep!

Although I’ve enjoyed a lot of games over in recent times, I’ve not really experienced the TGI effect for a while until the other day when I was playing Overlord 2 on the PS3. I’d promised myself an hour of Domination – finding and subduing more of the citizens of Nordhaven – and harvesting life force through the extermination of those awful chittering little gnomes, (here’s another set Jake!) when it took control of me. I was in the game subjecting my will onto those citizens, sending my minions off to bonk gnomish skull watching my gold stack up so I could head back to the foundry and get my new weapon forged. It was 3 hours later when I was roused from this absorption by a combination of partner and hunger – both her’s and mine.

I can honestly say that I’d not have gone out and bought Overlord 2. I’d have picked up the box and read the back, I may even have carried it around with me for a couple of minutes, but I’d have put it back in favour of waiting for the NFS: Shift special edition or Forza 3 or Batman Arkham Asylum. Had I done so I would have missed out on TGI; that exhausting, exhilarating feeling one has when a game gets into your head.