A Turn

In order to look at Immersion - I wanted to know what game designers did to pull people into their designs and came across Don Carson,  a freelance designer & illustrator  who was a Senior Show Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, the theme park design arm of the Walt Disney Company. He helped to design Splash Mountain for Walt Disney World Florida, and Mickey's Toontown for Disneyland California and Don continues to work as a consultant for companies such as Disney, Jim Henson Co., Universal Studios, and Microsoft.
Just reading his approach to designing inspired me. I wanted to play, I wanted to visit those places. My imagination was fired http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3186/environmental_storytelling_.php
In this article he wrote in 2000 he says a well designed game :

• Lets me go somewhere I could never go.
• Lets me be someone I could never be.
• Lets me do things I could never do!

I wanted to be "Transported" to a place where I could experiment with different Identities and learn how to do new things! 

I wanted to PLAY! and then he blew me away with this - I've put it all in because each time I read it it fires up creativity, desire, longing in me :

" For the time being, the ability to create virtual worlds is relatively new to us. I have no doubt that in the years to come we will continue to blaze new trails deep into this entertainment medium. Although we break new technological ground with every year that passes, I still find that I am left wanting. I long for the day we break away from rambling labyrinths for their own sake, whether they are dungeon passages, back street alleys, or miles of sewer pipes. I look forward to visiting virtual places that tell me more about where I am and what I am supposed to do. I want to use my wits and knowledge to get myself out of tight spots, and never again have to twitch my way through timed puzzles that force me to repeat my actions over and over to simply reach another level of the game.

With the growing popularity of multiplayer games and the promise of higher band widths, I relish the day I can meet friends and explore these worlds together. Places where our success isn't measured only in frags, and our rewards aren't merely based on how many fire beetles we have killed. I look forward to the day when the act of exploration actually builds relationships between it's players. I want my character to be tested. I want to be given the choice of sacrificing myself for a higher cause, or sacrifice others for my own petty rewards. I want to be given choices that test my relationship with other players. Force us to work together for a common goal, pull us apart, then bring us together, and make us pool our mental and emotional resources to get through this adventure in one piece.

In closing, I want to say that I relish the years to come. I can't wait to see what virtual worlds you will have created for us to explore. Push that envelope and bravely challenge the "way it has always been done before." Use your environments to draw us in deep, and build on the strength of a good Story, making it the back bone of your project. You have the power. You are the storytellers. Now......"

Isn't that what MMORPG do? Isn't World of Warcraft just that place? 
I needed to look more into how MMORPGs incorporate PLAY into the GAME.
This led me to the 17th issue of Mind, Culture and Activity (2010) which dealt particulary with play and imagination as a Pedagogy for children and adults .