English version

FICTION, IMMERSION AND VIRTUAL WORLDS
SYMPOSIA MONTREAL - PARIS

PARIS : 27 & 28 AVRIL 2011

MONTRÉAL : 7 & 8 NOVEMBRE 2011

These symposia and the research associated with them aim to clarify the relationship between three situations of immersion : 1) the immersion of the subject in a real situation, 2) the immersion of the subject (reader or viewer) in a fictional situation, 3) the immersion of the subject in a virtual situation. Specifically, the interactions between these three kinds of universe will be approached because none of them can be conceived separately. But it will also be necessary to consider the modes of inputs and outputs between the immersed and non-immersed positions, for these different immersion modes.

How do we perceive the world ? How are we absorbed by it ? The various attributes that can be attached to ordinary consciousness (selectivity, exclusivity, continuity, unity ; see, for example, (Harth, 1993) are probably to be reconsidered in a situation of immersion. The intensity of these attributes and their coordination need to be compared with the theory of activation and novelty. Put simply, it can be considered that a "new" situation is able to generate a sufficient level of activation, that the subject is confronted so intensively that he/she is deprived of divided and fragmented consciousness. In a real situation of immersion, the activation of the subject's attention is directly generated by his/her environment. Perception and action are closely correlated. If we use representations, then they belong properly to the subject and are not constructed by others.

Fictional immersion and virtual immersion produced by decoys and artifacts are very different from real immersion. In both cases, mimetic immersion exists. This relies on the ability of considering that something is "like" something else, which is obviously not the case in the real situation. The playful, shared pretense (as an activity built and focused on by the subject) makes it possible to distinguish between a situation of fictional immersion as compared to real or false immersion. This is the analog modeling that characterizes the products of fictional immersion, when compared to other types of mimetic products. Fictional immersion uses decoys in its own way and assumes a decoupling between this data generated by representational lures on the one hand, and the conscious processing of these data on the other hand (Schaeffer, 1999).

What about virtual immersion ? Can we also find a form of decoupling between this data generated by representational decoys and the treatment of these data ? Is it not rather the increasing treatment of coupling between the decoys and the processing of such data by the subject that is covered by the technical apparatus underlying virtual worlds ? However, it would certainly be too simplistic to equate immersion and virtual illusion. In most cases, the subject remains conscious of the limits that are assigned to the virtual modeling. In virtual immersion, in relation to a real situation (flight simulation, Google Earth, etc.), or in connection with an invented universe, virtual immersion does not erase completely the actual context in which it is engaged. Finally, in addition to issues specific to each of these modes of immersion, it can be asked what happens when fictional immersion takes place within a virtual setting. In this case, do these two modes of immersion become competitive, complementary or confused ?