So which do you like, first, second or third? What are some of the advantages of each?

What''s the difference between second and third?

Whether I prefer first person or otherwise depends on the gameplay. Games that require careful aiming seem to work well with first person while kung fu and sword fighting games work better with second or third person.

The game style that always bugs me is a racing game. I always want to use the external camera so I can see my beautifully rendered car, but first person just seems to drive so much better. And it seems to give a better feeling of speed.

Of course these are all my personal preferences.

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Second is "you", as opposed to "I" or "Bob". I believe it''s technically impossible to implement in a visual game (the majority of text adventures use it), but the guys at Halfbakery think it would be controlling the player while looking through the eyes of your enemies. That would be pretty interesting...

quote: Original post by Sakuranbo
Second is "you", as opposed to "I" or "Bob". I believe it''s technically impossible to implement in a visual game (the majority of text adventures use it), but the guys at Halfbakery think it would be controlling the player while looking through the eyes of your enemies. That would be pretty interesting...

That implies that the game consist strictly of one-on-one conflicts, and that you always be in sight of your opponent. Any other parameters make it third person.

Yep, second person is from the eyes of an enemy or some other character that you don''t control. I don''t think there are any games that use that perspective, but it would be interesting to have some kind of second person action game. I guess it would work with a fighting game. Doing a "second person shooter" (if such a thing is possible) could be interesting also.

Back to the original question... I like first person perspective a lot because it''s makes games super immersive, but it can also make a lot of things difficult to control. There are some definite advantages when it comes to jumping and hand to hand fighting that you get from a third person action game, but first person is better for aiming and shooting.

Funny. I find it trickier to jump in third-person games. On retrospect, this is probably because of sucky cameras (or not knowing the ''center camera'' key when one exists.)

Hmm. Second person fighting game? "Ready 2 Foul Boxing" through the eyes of the ref, who may or may not be your enemy.

The Lakitu camera in Super Mario 64 was kind of a second person camera in concept, although you could control it.

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1st Person, From the main Character''s eyes
2nd Person, You are the Main Character
3rd Person, From outside of the main character, the person playing is a god, whom can see into the mind of characters.

Quake is a FPS, because you are not the main chacter, unlike a choose your own adventure, where you are the main character.

If the guy from quake was ''spose to be the player, or Dark Forces allowed you to play as yourself, then it would be a Second Person Shooter.

Seeing outside of another person''s eyes would be third person...

To complete the effective hijacking of my own thread, I'll also borrow this one from Halfbakery.

quote: What we *really* need is a Third Person Plural Conditional Past Perfect Shooter.

Or maybe not.
sirrobin, Aug 20 2001

"Third Person Plural Conditional Past Perfect Shooter" Let's see, I think that would require multiple 3rd person readouts, that would play back what would have happened if you had or had not shot...
MotoMannequin, Aug 20 2001

As for second person, I interpreted it as a narrative telling you what you are doing, and I'm not sure how you could represent it outside of text/speech other then convince yourself that an FPS (and your senses) is doing just that. The "enemy view" is MotoMannequin's idea.

[edited by - Sakuranbo on June 9, 2003 3:07:34 PM]

quote: Original post by dede
1st Person, From the main Character''s eyes
2nd Person, You are the Main Character
3rd Person, From outside of the main character, the person playing is a god, whom can see into the mind of characters.

Quake is a FPS, because you are not the main chacter, unlike a choose your own adventure, where you are the main character.

If the guy from quake was ''spose to be the player, or Dark Forces allowed you to play as yourself, then it would be a Second Person Shooter.

Seeing outside of another person''s eyes would be third person...

1st person = "I"
2nd person = "you"
3rd person = "he/she"