First-Person Views

Presentations of game worlds as entities within these game worlds would perceive them.

Games that present game worlds to players can do this in various ways. When the presentation is done by tying it to what a diegetic character would perceive, this is called First-Person Views. Even if the name suggests vision-based information, other senses such as hearing and touch are also implied to be presented as if a diegetic character experienced them if they are available at all.

Examples

As the name of the genre indicates, First-Person Shooters such as Counter-Strike and the Crysis, Doom, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead series, Portal series, Quake, and Unreal Tournament all make use of First-Person Views. Later installments of the Elder Scrolls series and the Fallout series have adopted the point of view as well, as have the sandbox game Minecraft.

Racing games such as the Need for Speed series and Gran Turismo series often allow players to switch between first- and third-person views.

Live Action Roleplaying Games such as Assassin, Conspiracy for Good, Dragonbane, and Trenne Byar have First-Person Views since players literally represent characters in them.

Using the pattern

First-Person Views give players a view of Game Worlds from within them, so this requires the presence of Game Worlds and ways of creating presentations of them. For most games this means the use of Dedicated Game Facilitators but for Live Action Roleplaying games this is for free as the Game Worlds are staged as sub parts of the real world. The pattern also requires Avatars since having perceptive powers without an entity with senses is a God View even if it is spatially located. Cutscenes can use First-Person Views regardless of how Game Worlds are presented otherwise in games.

Not too surprising, First-Person Views are not directly compatible with God Views and Third-Person Views, with an exception for Third-Person Views when mirrors, cameras, or other devices (e.g. the portals in the Portal series) allow Avatars to see themselves. Given that players may have personal preferences on what kind of view they may want to have or that some views are advantageous in some gameplay situations, it is quite common to provide players with a Freedom of Choice between First-Person Views and Third-Person Views (reasons why one may not want to let players have this freedom can be that it may ruin Surprises. Games can also automatically switch presentation styles to match actions. For example, some games with Third-Person Views provides First-Person Views to help with Aim & Shoot actions, and this can be found in The Legend of Zelda series. Others such as the Battlefield series, which primarily use First-Person Views introduce Third-Person Views when showing Killcams. In addition, Cutscenes may be used to change perspectives temporarily in all types of games.

Two basic options exist for modifying First-Person Views. The first option is to use Point of Interest Indicators to highlight things the diegetic characters may notice; the second is to consider if Vision Modes should be available to support that the Avatars have augmented or additional sensory capabilities (e.g. seeing infrared light or having night vision or radar equipment). Both these options create Player/Character Skill Composites and implied Characters (since perceptive abilities are abstract qualities of Characters).

The basic use of First-Person Views is to provide players with presentations of Game Worlds. They can however also be used to provide Public Information focused upon specific parts of Game Worlds to Spectators and thereby make Spatial Engrossment possible for them as well.

Diegetic Aspects

First-Person Views is an Diegetic Pattern.

Interface Aspects

First-Person Views is an Information Pattern. However, since First-Person Views do not provide Game State Overviews in the way Third-Person Views or God Views do, players are sometimes augmented with additional information through HUD Interfaces. This is typically Game State Indicators related to the Avatars themselves or the Characters linked to them, e.g. showing Health, selected Weapons, and so on, but can also be Mini-maps to provide spatial awareness.

The choice of Focus Loci can affect with types of views of Game Worlds are possible, so the design of First-Person Views should be done in relation to the design of a game's Focus Loci. For example, First-Person Views are not readily compatible with God Fingers.

Narrative Aspects

Games that wish to have Detective Structures can be aided by the use of First-Person Views since this makes the issue of what information players have access to the same as the issue of what the players' Avatars can perceive.

Consequences

First-Person Views provide players with presentations of Game Worlds from the view point of their Avatars, meaning that the game supports Player/Character Awareness Consistency and players can only perceive that which their Avatars have Line of Sight to. The lack of being able to detect things behind Obstacles, etc., make First-Person Shooters be able to spring Surprises on players as well as maintain Detective Structures.

Since First-Person Views provide players with feedback similar to that received when performing Movement in the real world, these views can support Spatial Engrossment in games, especially those that require Dexterity-Based Actions such as Aim & Shoot or Maneuvering. When the option of switching between First-Person Views and Third-Person Views are given to players, this provides them with the Freedom of Choice of use the viewpoint they prefer or is most effective at any given point in the gameplay.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Detective Structures, Line of Sight, Player/Character Awareness Consistency, Public Information, Spatial Engrossment, Surprises

with Point of Interest Indicators or Vision Modes

Characters, Player/Character Skill Composites

with Third-Person Views

Freedom of Choice

Can Modulate

Aim & Shoot, Avatars, Dexterity-Based Actions, Game Worlds, Maneuvering, Third-Person Views

Can Be Instantiated By

Cutscenes, Dedicated Game Facilitators, Live Action Roleplaying

Can Be Modulated By

HUD Interfaces, Killcams, Point of Interest Indicators, Third-Person Views, Vision Modes

Possible Closure Effects

-

Potentially Conflicting With

God Fingers

History

An updated version of the pattern First-Person Views that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.