This chart, from the Corpus of Contemporary American English, gives an indication of how the word
immersive has taken off in recent years:
An example from early in the period shown is this, from the
New York Times in 1991:
The computer world and the fine arts world "really drink at different bars," said Michael Naimark, who teaches a course on "immersive virtual environments" at the San Francisco Art Institute and has tried to bridge both worlds.
Dictionary definitions often relate to the use of innovative technology, but this seems to be too restrictive. The online Oxford defines
immersive as "(of a computer display or system) generating a three-dimensional image which appears to surround the user", while the Collins dictionary says "providing information or stimulation for a number of senses, not only sight and sound". However, the word seems often to be used of the effect on the user of a game or work of entertainment, even if it's via nothing more than sound and two-dimensional images.
For example, this quote, about a National Geographic TV series:
"The old traditional way was pretty much a voiceover being illustrated with images," said Executive Producer Guillermo Navarro. "Here, the visual language is what takes over. It's a much more immersive experience. That's the basic use of film language, how the power of an image can build emotion and connectivity.
In the following quote from
Variety magazine, the word is used to described the qualities of a book that make it well-suited for television adaptation:
“Ken Follett is one of the great authors of our time – and ‘The Evening and the Morning’ is exactly why,” said Michael Cooper of Range Media. “Its power and beauty and brutality and humanity all swirl together in the most immersive ways. It’s a beautiful book for this medium. Range is honored to partner with Legendary to bring this stunning book to life.”
There seems to be no dissension from the idea of making
immersive a common word, so I'll take the plunge and do just that.