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Immersive vs Presence 3/3

Why Presence Isn’t Everything – The Limits of the ITC-SOPI

22/09/2025 – By Natasja Paulssen

The ITC-SOPI is an excellent instrument, but it only measures one aspect of what makes an immersive experience successful. As the original researchers themselves state: the ITC-SOPI measures “four facets of a media experience that are putatively related to presence”, not the complete quality of the experience.

What the ITC-SOPI Doesn’t Measure

Agency & Control: Real Influence vs Illusion of Control

Presence means you feel like you’re “somewhere.” Agency means you can actually accomplish something there. Research shows that interactivity and immersion facilitate learning through both presence and agency, two different mechanisms. You can feel completely present in a virtual world but become frustrated because your actions have no meaningful impact.

Embodiment: Your Body in the Virtual World

The feeling that a virtual avatar is truly your body goes beyond spatial presence. Studies on video passthrough show how embodiment can fundamentally alter body schema. A user might score high on spatial presence in the ITC-SOPI but still feel that the virtual hands “aren’t theirs.”

Flow State: The Zone of Optimal Experience

That magical moment when time disappears and you become fully absorbed in the experience isn’t captured by presence measurements. Flow emerges from the perfect balance between challenge and skill, a dynamic that’s completely separate from how “real” an environment feels.

Social Presence: Connection with Others

The quality of social interaction in virtual environments, or the feeling of being alone in an otherwise populated world, is a separate dimension that significantly impacts experience quality. You can feel strongly present in a virtual space while still feeling socially isolated.

Meaningful Outcomes: What Sticks?

Whether an experience actually leads to learning, behavior change, or emotional impact isn’t measured by presence. Declarative knowledge is mediated by situational interest and embodied learning processes, factors that require their own measurements.

Toward a Broader Measurement Framework

For IX designers, this means the ITC-SOPI is an important but incomplete tool. A high-quality immersive experience requires:

High Presence (ITC-SOPI) + Effective Agency + Successful Embodiment + Flow Induction + Social Connection + Meaningful Outcomes

The ITC-SOPI gives us a solid foundation for measuring presence. But to create experiences that truly touch and change people, we must look beyond just being there. We need additional instruments that measure agency, embodiment, flow, social connection, and learning outcomes.

The Practical Implication

Use the ITC-SOPI as part of a broader evaluation framework, not as a standalone quality measure. Combine it with:

• Agency measurements (sense of control and influence)
• Embodiment questionnaires (bodily connection)
• Flow scales (optimal experience)
• Social presence instruments (connection with others)
• Performance measures (learning, behavior, emotion)

Because ultimately, the question isn’t “did this feel real?” but “did this do something meaningful to me?” The ITC-SOPI helps with the first. For the second, we need more.