Im conducting research about First Person vs Third Person perspectives in games and development.
I realise there is much more that influences the game then just camera perspective but for this post please restrain to the topic discussion.
What do you like better :
When playing a shooter game. (Example Team Fortress 2)
When playing a melee combat game (Example Darkfall)
When playing an mmorpg. (Example World of Warcraft)
What is easier to develop and some of the problems you have to overcome and concider in terms of First Person vs Third Person perspective?
For a shooter game.
For a melee combat game.
For an mmorpg.
Some problems may be third person dealing with proper camera set up, while first person you have to create animations for your arms and weapons moving.
In your opinion what is harder overall to develop First Person or Third Person.
Should games try to have both cameras implemented or stick with one.
Does it depend on the type of game?
Does First Person or Third Person immerse you more in the game?
Does not being able to see your character in an rpg game where character progression is a big factor influence your opinion of the game?
Would the World of Warcraft Inventory system where you can see a representation of what your character looks like help aliviate the problem of not seeing your character in an First Person view.
Anything else on the subject madder of First Person vs Third Person perspectives that you have on your mind or an opinion of I would love to hear.
I didn’t vote because different games need different perspectives. Some non-shooter (or more specifically, games that aren’t based on shooting) games that use a first-person perspective really well are Portal and Metroid Prime.
There are two reasons I can think of to make a good first-person game. The first is to emphasize skill in a game; basically a first-person view says “In this game, you are you.” It encourages you to stop thinking about who your character is and how you’re going to survive this level.
This is probably also why first-person shooters are so popular; the very camera angle of the game is designed to encourage twitchy reflexes.
The second is to increase immersion. While the first goal is to help you forget who your character is, this is exactly the opposite; it helps you forget who you are. In Metroid Prime, for example, I really feel like a bounty hunter in a Power Suit (I don’t want to say I feel like Samus since I’m a guy :P). It’s very difficult to remind myself that I’m no in fact unlocking items on an alien world and that I’m only a nerd sitting on my couch.
Of course, third person games have their place, as well. They can emphasize story in a game by keeping your character constantly in view, as well as encourage movement-based gameplay (read: platforming) since you can always see where your character is. They’re also more accessible, since first-person games tend to make casual gamers dizzy.
I tend to prefer a first-person perspective, but it has to be done well, and for many games, a third-person view is the only possible option; however, I can’t think of any first-person game that couldn’t work with a third-person camera. Some of them (Left 4 Dead comes to mind) wouldn’t work as well because of the mood that’s built around the first-person view, but I’d imagine it would still be playable.
I chose first person as I love FPS games. However, I do love the occasional third person action adventure game. Racing games I always prefer first person. For something like car combat games(twisted metal/Vigilante 8) third person is desired.
What has keeping your character constantly in view have to do with emphasising story? Stories are usually told better through First Person perspectives. Third Person has very few advantages over First Person. In Third Person the player has to put up with poor camera angles almost the whole time and is extremely hard for developers to make a TP game with a satisfactory camera. Creating animations in FP isn’t that hard, most devs just don’t bother and instead focus on creating shooters with over the shoulder cameras and stuff. The only genres of gaming that I can think of that wouldn’t work in First Person are the fighting game and the RTS. I have an extremely hard time imagining games that are in First Person in Third. It would ruin an awful lot of them. Most FPS’s would be destroyed if they were in Third Person. Stealth and horror games work much better from First Person too.
I find the biggest difference (from a graphics quality point of view) is the following…
3rd Person - If you have an excellent looking character, with great animation, and the camera correctly pans/avoids being blocked by obstacles, it can work well and let the user scrutinise less on the graphics within the environment. FPS games IMO require top notch graphics nowadays to be at the top, using 3rd person, that has been well executed can offset this somewhat.
1s Person - Easier to code than 3rd person since you have less variables/issues that can impact playability. Although the graphis and environmental effects need to be top notch to immerse the user within the gaming experience.
I don’t think the experience suits any sort of genre more than the other.
I played Mortal Online, an MMO, and it was only FPS, and loved it. But I’ve also played some games which are FPS which I hated as the camera and movement didn’t seem right.
So in summary either would work well, but either should be well executed. 3rd person removes some of the realism aspect, but FPS is more immersive, and thus requires a higher level of immersion.
I didn’t vote because you’re approaching game development wrong here.
you are asking a forum of programmers and designers, many which are actually good and bad equally. You aren’t looking or researching a large segment of the gamers market.
you are trying to design the game around the viewpoint, this is making no sense at all. Say 50% want duke nukem and the other 50% want tomb raider. Where does this leave you? it doesn’t work.
Like some people have suggested above, it is better to look at entirely what you want. 3rd person games are generally very character driven and typically suit a story based game (wow, tomb raider, uncharted etc) while games which depend on scares, immersion or twitch combat (doom, duke nukem, etc) are first person.
You will know what camera view to use, when you know what game you are making. Typically, story based or explorative games suit the 3rd person viewpoint much more because you can see the main character, and the camera allows much more awareness of what is going on around you.
For FPS you want to make aiming and immersion the primary goals.
Do the design first and the camera last. Better still, make what YOU enjoy.
I suspect that it depends on the age of the gamer as to which perspective they prefer. Younger players may prefer a 3rd person perspective as they’re more comfortable with controlling a toy action figure. Whereas older gamers want to feel as though they themselves are inside the game world and so they will prefer the 1st person perspective.
But as Hippocoder has said, some game designs dictate which perspective to use. For example, martial arts fighting games probably won’t work in first person mode.
Can’t argue with that; nor did I mean to imply it. I was just providing some acclaimed examples to debunk any biased, absolutist, sweeping generalizations
