Coincidentally, Wired.com has an article that asks the question, "Why do we tell stories?"

It cites a 1944 study, during which 34 people were shown a short film that showed two triangles, one large and one small, and a circle moving across a two-dimensional surface away from a stationary rectangle, partially open on one side. No narration, no sound.

The participants were then asked to explain the film. All the participants, except for one, created elaborate stories, mostly involving humans, to explain what the movements were about. Some said the triangles were two men fighting for a woman, the circle, who was trying to escape from a prison. The shapes took on their own lives, the circle was “worried;” the big triangle was “blinded by rage and frustration.” The participants used the shapes to create unique stories that could explain what they saw.

The author, Frank Rose, notes, "We know this much: People want to be immersed. They want to get involved in a story, to carve out a role for themselves, to make it their own."

The book is "The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation Is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories."

"Single biggest key to a successful story," I'm looking forward to that. My guess, heart, if you had to pick one thing, that engages deepest. Change, more precisely positive change, my next guess. Can't wait for reveal.

Fascinated by immersion (thanks for wired article, Tom!), watching games evolve. Uncharted, watershed game, first person movie perspective [the lead on game, that took things to next level? woman, the brilliant Amy Hennig], commercial ads highlighted movie quality (not so bright girlfriend asking her boyfriend to pause the movie [game] so she wouldn't miss anything while she went off). Every generation game industry is able to go further. The more you can immerse the audience, the greater they're entertained.

Detail in script that immersed me recently, a character who was being sloppy shaking someone's hand, I went ewwww and rubbed my fingers clean, just reading words, talk about effective, totally immersed me. I added a sticky detail to my story (I'll immerse with every trick I can).

New Unreal game engine debuted, video at gizmodo, and it's pretty (tech demo showing realtime gameplay rendering quality). Talk about immersive.