A Third Person or First Person View Option

[John Slider]

Is there something that stops game developers from giving the player the option of choosing either first person view or third person view? I get motion sickness while playing first person shooters and would love to see some of these games bust out that choice for players.

[Tarantino]

There are some games that allow you to choose. Fallout 3 comes to mind.

[Eric D.]

I believe MW2 will offer both options as well.

[Suprmallet]

Oblivion and Fallout both do.

[boredsilly]

I wish there was more of this as well. I don't get sick, but for some reason I really don't like playing FPS games. However, I can get down with some 3rd person action.

[Chew]

Oblivion and Fallout both do.

I haven't exactly read glowing reviews of using the 3rd person option on either of these games (especially Oblivion).

Can anybody speak to their experiences?

[MoviePage]

3rd person view on both Oblivion and Fallout is pretty awkward. It can be done, but it's almost like the controls are still in first-person view (crosshair aiming, etc.), only you can see your character on the screen. The games were definitely designed primarily for first-person view.

And I agree this would be a great option to have on many of the games out there, but it seems doing it right would take a lot of extra work on the part of the developers, almost like developing two games in one.

[chess]

I haven't exactly read glowing reviews of using the 3rd person option on either of these games (especially Oblivion).

Can anybody speak to their experiences?

It's like an ice skating sim. Your dude technically moves around, and his legs are technically moving, but the two have nothing to do with each other.

I think a third person game could be easily translated to first person, but not vice versa...just because the camera and controls are so unique in FPS games.

[Drexl]

There can be issues with switching. For instance, in third-person view you can see around your character, which sort of puts you at an advantage they may not want to give you. Cameras may be a problem too, if a first-person game is designed so that there are things you can't be in a position to see (and therefore they don't bother to render it) that then would be visible in third-person. Also, backing up against a wall in third person would sometimes pull you back to first-person because there's nowhere to put the camera, unless they spin it around in front of you.

I think the choice of which to use comes down to what is more important in the game - movement or aiming. When movement is more important, third-person works better because you have a better handle on your surroundings. When aiming is important, first-person works better because, well, aiming kind of sucks in third-person. You often have to auto-aim, cycle through targets, or just shoot in the direction you're moving. None of those is as satisfactory as actually lining up that cursor with your target like in a FPS. Some games may use a hybrid though (Uncharted), and this tends to work well.

Mirror's Edge, however, was different in that it placed the emphasis on movement, yet it's first-person. It would probably be much easier in third-person, but then that would take away the challenge they wanted. They'd have to redesign the game to make it harder when not in first-person, if they wanted to keep it challenging.

[fumanstan]

There can be issues with switching. For instance, in third-person view you can see around your character, which sort of puts you at an advantage they may not want to give you. Cameras may be a problem too, if a first-person game is designed so that there are things you can't be in a position to see (and therefore they don't bother to render it) that then would be visible in third-person. Also, backing up against a wall in third person would sometimes pull you back to first-person because there's nowhere to put the camera, unless they spin it around in front of you.

I think the choice of which to use comes down to what is more important in the game - movement or aiming. When movement is more important, third-person works better because you have a better handle on your surroundings. When aiming is important, first-person works better because, well, aiming kind of sucks in third-person. You often have to auto-aim, cycle through targets, or just shoot in the direction you're moving. None of those is as satisfactory as actually lining up that cursor with your target like in a FPS. Some games may use a hybrid though (Uncharted), and this tends to work well.

Mirror's Edge, however, was different in that it placed the emphasis on movement, yet it's first-person. It would probably be much easier in third-person, but then that would take away the challenge they wanted. They'd have to redesign the game to make it harder when not in first-person, if they wanted to keep it challenging.

A great explanation :up: Games are pretty much designed with a perspective in mind and changing that can really disrupt the way the game plays and how characters even move around, hence the floatiness in something like Fallout 3.

[dtcarson]

Agreed, movement versus aiming is a very revealing way of looking at it. Although there were some games that used the 3rd person and sort of "auto aim" or "aim and spray" that were still fun.
I am not a huge FPS fan, I like 3rd person view, but hated Fallout 3's.
Actually I think I'm liking FPS more and more, but not online competitive ones.

[John Slider]

I believe MW2 will offer both options as well.

This is fantastic news because Call of Duty is the series I've been upset that I cannot comfortably play. I hear people rave about the online experience, and it is something I've wanted to hop into for some time now. Has there been any confirmation of this, and if so will it be available online (or just in single-player mode)?

I understand what you guys are saying about the difficulties of developing a game with both of these views available to players, but I think it might be worthwhile because more people would be interested in purchasing their games. For the bit about third person players having an advantage, it would be an advantage open to everybody. I'm not necessarily agreeing that it is an advantage because like some of you have said first person view has better aiming, but it would be a choice everybody could decide what worked best for them personally.

[Groucho]

I think the third person mode in MW2 is only for certain multiplayer types.

[Maxwell Smart]

I want 3rd person view in real life.

[edstein]

I want 3rd person view in real life.

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