Immersion as a Prerequisite of the Didactical Role-Playing

Abstract

The article deals with the relation of immersion and the didactical potential of role-playing. It fathoms the extent to which role-playing games without a didactical goal still have didactical potential, as well as the extent to which this potential is being exploited. Along the lines of the concept of surplus reality, I specifically look into the subject of the role-playing game’s alternative
reality and demonstrate that the didactical potential of methodically applied role-playing can only unfold by means of the generation of an isomorphous model of a real subject matter. It can then be shown that recreational live role-playing indeed has an enormous didactical potential, just like the methodically applied kind. This potential unfolds just like in methodically applied role-playing, as live role-playing generates an isomorphous model of our reality.  On the basis of these explanations I conclude with the development of a process-oriented definition of immersion, which allows for an intermediary perspective on the phenomenon of immersion, instead of a purely subjective one.