Immersion, Perspective, and the Third-Person Point-of-View Paradox

Laurie Taylor asserts that critical writing on games concludes that, “the first-person point-of-view is logically the most effective way the player can truly act on the elements of the gaming world” – the world is being seen through the eyes of the player, through the eyes of player character; with the ultimate aim to recreate a sense of realism whereby the physical screen becomes “transparent” and the player is “absorbed” (immersed) into the game world completely.

This assertion works very well within the context and evolution of first-person shooters (FPS). As was pointed out in the lecture, the inclusion and development of hands within the onscreen verisimilitude heightened the sense realism and provided a further layer of immersion for many players. Although, as was pointed out, problems such as the stereotypical right-handed, white male player character had the potential to disrupt immersion rather than re-enforcing it (EVERY game player is a right-handed, white male. Right?).

However, while the first-person may recreate the closest representation of real life optical perspective I have found that sometimes it can completely destroy my immersion in a game. While the absolutely stunningly rendered cockpits in Gran Tourismo 5 maybe a treat to look at, for me, playing in the first person view makes driving a hell lot more difficult due to the huge blind-spots created.

Personally, I would regard this perceived problem as being irrelevant – more often than not, it is made explicitly clear that the player is not playing as themselves but rather the genetically enhanced super soldier Master Chief in Halo or Nomad, the special forces soldier in Crysis (if you are that way inclined, don’t worry, we aren’t judging you (ok maybe a little bit!)); and even when it isn’t stated that you aren’t playing as yourself, I have played enough shooters to understand the stereotypes associated with them – something which we termed a ‘gaming literacy’.

Debunking the original statement that first-person games offer the best “sense of and engagement with the space because optical perspective is closer to that of "normal" optical subjectivity than other perspectives”, Taylor claims that as long as consistency is maintained immersion will be sustained – the ‘normalness’ of the onscreen perspective becomes less relevant. However, this is where I think the argument becomes slightly blurred. For example, Halo, a typical FPS, but when you enter a drivable vehicle the camera switches to a third-person trailing point-of-view; and on the other hand, Gears of War, a third-person shooter, but when you aim a sniper rifle the perspective shifts to the first-person – if we were to take Taylor’s assertion as a truism, then perspective shifts would make games incoherent and jarred; however, with the aforementioned ‘gaming literacy’ shifts like the above become second nature to the player.

Finally Fallout 3 (an action role playing game), employed both the first-person and third-person perspectives with the player being able to switch between the two whenever he or she needs. One would assume that being able to actively switch freely between perspectives would destroy immersion, however I found it lead to a much more engaging and atmospheric game. While the first person view was indispensible in combat situations, the third-person perspective was much better for general exploring and interaction – the third-person created allowed for a much greater sense of environment and atmosphere (you horror gamers would probably disagree vehemently with that).

I would like to finish this with a quote:

“It’s important to realize that the shift from first to third-person in any computer game represents not just a switch in what the player is allowed to view of the world, but also a transformation in the type of game being played. Certain game designs will cease to function when viewed from any viewpoint other than the one they were designed to use.”

Considering the above, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykj_phEGQp8 is this still Halo? Opinions?