World building and immersion poll
With putting together this blog with such a heavy emphasis on experience and immersion in TTRPGs, it begged an obvious question: how much does immersion matter to the average player? In order to answer that question I reached out to my current group, as well as other friends of varying levels of experience that I have played with in the past. Respondents included some friends who I know have barely played, but mostly consisted of frequent participants. While the poll was small, consisting of 19 respondents, I feel confident it represents, at a minimum, the core of those that play consistently. The full results of the poll can be seen here.
To start, 63% of respondents play a TTRPG on a weekly basis. This tends to be the most frequent commitment in terms of time, as a session tends to run for several hours per session. More importantly, all respondents rated their level of immersion at a minimum of moderate, indicating that participating in a given story or setting is part of the appeal of TTRPGs as a whole.
The question with the most diverse answers of the poll was question three (shown below). While every respondent answered that story and character development (their character's development) are important to them, it was surprising that world building was as high on the list as I expected it to be. Many of my own experiences playing TTRPGs with friends has involved playing pre-made adventures, more frequently called modules. In a module, the setting is very well defined and the plot is understood in advance as to what the overarching direction/objective will be within the campaign. Unlike with homebrewed content, modules are much more structured with character motivations and different interactions laid out in advance. Given how exploration in a module tends to feel more like a video game RPG like the Baldur's Gate series, I did not expect this to have as much pull as it does. Visuals and music were understandably less important as they only matter in interactive formats like video games. Most groups play with maps and miniatures of some sort, but relatively little in the way of art or music.
The fantasy answer is unsurprising as most of the respondents are friends who play D&D or an offshoot system of it like Pathfinder. The question that likely needs more follow up to better understand is question 7: how important are themes and settings in your immersion experience. While 57% of respondents answered it is very important, 37% responded moderately or slightly important. This could be for a variety of reasons: lack of unique/different elements, the players driving the plot in an open-ended environment, a focus on “monster of the week” format, etc. Some groups prefer simpler depictions of good and evil. Others might prefer grittier environments where lines are blurred. Depending on preferences of the table this question can elicit wildly different feelings. Question 8 confirms this in the range of themes listed.
Overall, I think the poll confirmed for me few things I already know: TTRPG players, when committed, are a group of people hungry to play consistently; the range of plot lines and different ways of play are always more varied than you think it is; and the importance of different game elements plays a key role at any table.
