Interactivity/immersion

In the beginning of Murray's chapter, she discusses the physical distance placed between ourselves and the encompassing worlds of media. Older media, such as books, theater, and television, rely on analog pages and sedentary interactions to keep the consumer grounded in the physical world. In the case of video games, however, the user physically interacts with and--to a varied, limited extent-- controls their environment. The player is more causally connected to the media's world, but the reality of the controllers, keyboards, and phone screens act as distancing artifacts. 

In my experience, I've had an easier time immersing myself in the more traditional forms of media: text, performance, and direction as forms of storytelling. In an almost counter-intuitive way, the worlds I engage fully with are not the worlds where I have the physical connection. Video games give me sentience in a narrative world, but they don't necessarily sweep me into that world. 

Interactivity and immersion seem to have an inverse relationship when it comes to narrative. The Prince of Persia movie immerses me much more than the Prince of Persia video game, despite my actual physical interaction with the video game.

When it comes to immersion in media, body mindfulness is the enemy. Anything that brings you out of your mind and into your body disrupts full psychological engagement with a story. Even virtual reality games, where the experience is supposed to be fully immersive, still encourage the inherent barrier of body mindfulness. No matter how realistic the VR skiing experience, computers can't recreate physical touch.

Books, movies, and theater, on the other hand, don't encourage body mindfulness. In fact, they discourage it. Movies and stage performances shut off surrounding lights and sounds, dumping a fully-formed, non-interactive story onto a stationary audience. Aside from occasionally turning a page, people sit still and absorb the narrative in a book. The sedentary consumption of old media forms enables consumers to detach from their bodily awareness and dive deeper into the media.