Pleasure principle: Immersion, engagement, flow

Abstract

While few critics writing on readers and hypertext have focused on the affective pleasures of reading hypertext fiction or interactive narratives like Myst, those who assess the experience of reading them tend to assume interactive texts should be either immersive or engaging. This study uses schema theory to define the characteristics of immersion and engagement in both conventional and new media. After examining how readers' experiences of these two different aesthetics may be enhanced or diminished by interface design, options for navigation, and other features, the essay concludes by looking beyond immersion and engagement to `flow,' a state in which readers are both immersed and engaged.