A Grounded Analysis of Player-Described Board Game Immersion

Substantial research has explored the experience of immersion in digital games, but it is unclear whether this phenomenon extends to other game genres such as board games. Immersion is a concept widely discussed in the board game community by both developers and players and yet there is relatively little research in the area. This paper presents a grounded theory analysis of board game players’ online discussions of immersion. This data is augmented by interviews with five board game players describing their experiences of immersion. The resultant analysis highlights that board game players discuss immersion in terms of both engrossment in the challenge of the game, and submergence within the game world the board game creates. We also focus on elements of game play which players reported in helping and hindering their immersion; importantly these elements do not always come from the game itself. We conclude that board game immersion shares similarities with the literature on immersion in digital games, despite the lack of multimedia interaction.