Presence and Immersion: A Tale of Two Cities

Abstract

Highlights:

1) the "sense of presence" and "immersion" are logically distinct but related concepts which to date have often been confused an used synonymously
2) "immersion" may be conceptualized as an objective property of technology or the extent to which a user feels immersed
3) "presence", in turn, is a perceptual illusion in which the user has the impression of "being there" in the virtual environment
4) for a better terminological stringency, we suggest using the term "immnersiveness" to describe the technology and "immersion" to indicate the level to which a user feels immersed
5) also, we suggest conceptualizing presence as a consequence of immersive technology which is mediated by user factors (demographics, attention, motion sickness etc.)