Augmentation vs Immersion: The debate that never was
by Tateru Nino 
May 15th 2008 at 10:30AM
Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Second Life, Academic, Virtual worlds
Since around the middle of 2006 a debate has swirled back and forth, over Immersion vs Augmentation, sparked by Henrik Bennetsen. Discussion groups in Second Life have wrangled over it, blogs have argued the point in no less than three directions, papers have been presented on the topic. We've been a part of that ourselves, in the past.
The curious thing about the debate, though, was just how spectacularly varied the positions were, and how none of them seemed to form divisional boundaries-- a very curious thing in what you'd expect to be such a polarized topic.
And then, just recently, we finally realized ourselves that the reason was that the terms of reference were essentially flawed and as a result, more than half the material written on the topic is invalid for all practical purposes.
Augmentation extends, expands or adds to your abilities; computers, mobile phones and virtual worlds provide various forms of augmentation. Augmentationists use Second Life as a tool to expand their income, skill-set, social sphere, job network, whatever
The Immersionist viewpoint is pretty much always given as "that SL is its own thing and should not be contaminated by anything from the outside". There's just one problem with that.
That doesn't describe immersion. It's not even close. That's Escapism, essentially (or Separatism, if you prefer the word) but it isn't immersion.
Immersion is about attention (or getting wet, or astronomy - but those aren't really relevant definitions to the topic at hand). Immersion is fundamentally focused and concentrated attention. The sort that is vital to Escapists, and to Augmentationists, if either are to derive benefits from a virtual world.
Let's a priori assume for the moment that Escapism and Augmentationism are two ends of spectrum. Immediately, Bennetsen's observations make sense. The confusion with the word immersion is what's clouded the essential debate thus far, as many commentators on the topic have wandered between the provided definition and the pre-existing definition.
While Escapism and Augmentationism are distinct philosophical positions (things you choose), immersion ultimately is a mental and circumstantial quality that is equally applicable to either (something you have, independent of both positions).
In a sense, this is a debate that never was, with immersion getting falsely caught up in a struggle between polar positions, where it had no place as an option. Problem is, unless everyone's using the key terms in compatible ways, no useful discussion is taking place.
Augmentation vs Escapism -- now that's an interesting sociological tension!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brendan Drain said on 11:30AM 5-15-2008
I'm a sucker for well-reasoned, intelligent arguments and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this piece.
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Dedric Mauriac said on 12:28PM 5-15-2008
I was immersed in your post as I read through it as escapism into the world of SL to take my mind off work. I am now augmenting this post with my own comments.
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Jacek Antonelli said on 2:50PM 5-15-2008
I have to admit, I never could figure out what people meant by "Augmentation" and "Immersion". What I ended up thinking it meant was:
* Augmentation = using SL as a tool for your RL self. In the same way you have an email address or a MySpace page, you'd have an SL account that you publicize as connected to your RL identity.
* Immersion = becoming someone new in SL. Your SL identity exists on its own, maybe even having its own email address or MySpace page, and most people don't even know your RL identity.
I have no idea if that's what other people think Augmentation and Immersion mean. I was just guessing from context, and from experience on what a meaningful distinction might be.
For myself, I'd fall under my Immersion definition. Jacek Antonelli exists as an independent identity from her driver, with her own blog, email address, registered accounts on several sites, etc.
But at the same time, Jacek Antonelli _is_ me. It feels very weird to describe myself in the third person. I guess Jacek is more of a pseudonym than a separate person. I go to some lengths to keep both lives separate, but it's not that I'm replacing my first life with my second (at least, not completely). Escapism? Nah, but maybe "escapist tendencies".
I know several people who would qualify as "Augmentationists" according to my interpretation of the term. Mitch Wagner aka Ziggy Figaro seems to have no qualms that people know the connection between his RL and SL names. At risk of putting words in his mouth, I think he has one identity -- Mitch Wagner -- and "Ziggy Figaro" is merely a user name.
I'm not saying that either way is universally better, only that there are people in both categories (although I personally know more "Immersionists").
So, maybe my interpretation of "Immersion" and "Augmentation" are different from yours, but mine is a meaningful distinction. (I wouldn't call it a debate, any more than I'd call "chocolate vs vanilla" a debate.)
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dandellion Kimban said on 5:09AM 5-16-2008
Those false definitions in Bennetsen's article made so much mess and misunderstanding of what is happening in SL and virtual worlds. Hiopefully, we'll start thinking now.
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Tateru Nino said on 5:29AM 5-16-2008
I don't think Bennetsen's to blame. I believe it is more one of those situations where you start with an aspect of a word and things tend to drift a little off-base.
dandellion Kimban said on 6:39AM 5-16-2008
Bennetsen is not to blame, for sure. One have to start a discusssion at some point. It is that SL residents will keep to that article just to make camps and accuse those in the other one for anything and everything.
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Sophrosyne Stenvaag said on 2:12PM 5-16-2008
I think Jacek above has the right of it. In a year of discussing this issue, I've never head anyone take the position that you correctly label "escapist."
I have seen that position repeatedly used as a straw man, and attributed to those of us whose personal situation matches Jacek's.
For myself, I see myself as a separate entity from the person active in the physical world, with whom I share a mind. There's nothing prescriptive in that; it's a simple description of my circumstances.
While there are quite a number of us, we also have vocal critics, people who disrespect our nature. They tend to label us "escapist," claiming that we want some wall between RL and SL, implying that we do so because our RL lives are somehow failed or unpleasant.
Rarely has a stereotype so missed its mark: the only people I've encountered who might qualify as "escapist" are RL-disabled, and not a one of them is an immersionist as Jacek and I, and most commentators, use the term. They're among the most agumentationist, I've found, quick to talk about their physical circumstances and the benefits they find in SL. And still, not a one of them advocates some sort of moat around SL.
Jacek sees the continuum as running between "RL-based personality using their avatar as a screen name" and "SL-based personality fully inhabiting their avatar." The latter might argue for seeing SL as an equal space with RL, but not a separate one.
This only matters because several commentators have chosen to use the "escapist" straw man to remove this issue from the realm of friendly discussion.
Unless and until someone actually stands up and claims the mantle of an escapist, I believe it's a term best discarded.
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Tateru Nino said on 8:58PM 5-16-2008
I've actually met two of them. I am assured by others that there are some more out there. The problem, of course, is that people in the escapist category would rather stay away from and have little or no contact with the rest of us, if at all possible -- as I understand it.