An immersive digital environment is an artificial, interactive, computer-created scene or "world" within which a user can immerse themselves.

Immersive Digital Environments could be thought of as synonymous with Virtual Reality, but without the implication that actual "reality" is being simulated. An Immersive Digital Environment could be a model of reality, but it could also be a complete fantasy user interface or abstraction, as long as the user of the environment is immersed within it. The definition of immersion is wide and variable, but here it is assumed to mean simply that the user feels like they are part of the simulated "universe". The success with which an immersive digital environment can actually immerse the user is dependent on many factors such as believable 3D graphics, surround sound, interactive user-input and other factors such as simplicity, functionality and potential for enjoyment. New technologies are currently under development which claim to bring realistic environmental effects to the players' environment - effects like wind, seat vibration and ambient lighting.

Examples of immersive digital environments

• Computer games (from simple arcade to a Massively Multiplayer Online Game).
• Training Simulations such as flight and driving simulators.
• Entertainment environments
• art installations such as those made by Maurice Benayoun, Char Davies, StudioIMC, Jeffrey Shaw

References

• Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances : A Study of the Affinity Between Artistic Ideologies Based in Virtual Reality and Previous Immersive Idioms by Joseph Nechvatal 1999 Planetary Collegium
• Oliver Grau, Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, MIT-Press, Cambridge 2003
• Oliver Grau (Ed.): Media Art Histories, MIT-Press, Cambridge 2007
• Joseph Nechvatal, Immersive Excess in the Apse of Lascaux, Technonoetic Arts 3, no3. 2005

More general examples of IDEs

• Any computer application or software program.
• Your office at work.
• Interactive TV shows or services such as CNN text.
• A VOIP conversation or MSN chat sessions.
• A physical environment / immersive space with surrounding digital projections and sound such as the CAVE

Examples of not-quite-IDEs

• Screensavers (these are (mostly) not interactive)
• DVD Movies (also not interactive - but they are often very immersive

External links

• ADSIP Research Centre - University of Lancashire

The research centre pointed to by this link claims to have developed the IDE concept, though their definition seems a little narrow (they define an immersive digital environment to be a "reverse-engineered" or "reproduced" real environment).

• Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances : A Study of the Affinity Between Artistic Ideologies Based in Virtual Reality and Previous Immersive Idioms by Dr. Joseph Nechvatal