In his Art of Immersion, Frank Rose speaks of the characteristics of ‘immersive experience’ – in the entertainment industry. His book is about the re-invention of Hollywood. I think the a astonishing parallels – metaphorically speaking – between his account of immersion in multi platform entertainment and the intimate experience of leading, following, and innovating.
I am aware that I risk losing myself in this immersive argument, but at the risk of becoming a character in this non fictive fiction, this is what I see. I see an organisational world in which as a leader, and as a follower and as a latent innovator, I….
- Forage for content – and for fictional ‘satisfactions’, like food, points, attention, ways ahead, the ‘answer’, friends, sex, the ‘jackpot,
- Quest for ways of making sense – and find that my stealth, cunning and ingenuity are rewarded (as well as my staying power)
- Play around with points of view – for example in 3rd party shooting games, where I can look over the shooter’s shoulder
- Experience a blurring between fiction and reality – this is blurred to the point of invisibility
- Seek our hyper-real qualities, often in the aggregation of detail upon detail (it is surprising – and touching – how many computer games are based on a quest to find the devil, or the prize, in the detail)
- Obsessively accrete details in order to create an ‘immaculate reality’ in which details make it familiar, even though it is entirely imaginary
- Develop a thirst for authenticity, yet couple this with a love of artifice
- Find myself – as if I had not been seeking it – randomness, spontaneity and emotional urgency
- Can carve out a role for myself
- Have an experience of non linear reality
….and so on….
…and I see these qualities as intrinsic to the dynamic of organising, of being organised. And further to that, I think it is in intimate relationship to the ‘fabric’ of immersion…the ‘texture of immersion’….that I am organised; that I organise myself. In this sense, the innovative-work-of-being-organised is what makes me.
Slingshot