First-Person Views

Players are shown the game world as if they were inside it.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Players are shown the game world as if they were inside it Games where players control individual game elements and move them in the game environment often present that environment to the players as the game element would "see" the environment. This First-Person View then lets players receive natural feedback to movement in the environment in a way that corresponds to the feedback one receives when doing the same movement in the real world.

Examples

Example: As the name indicates, all first-person shooters make use of First-Person Views.

Using the pattern

First-Person Views give players a view of the Game World from within it, and the primary design choices for game designers involve choosing how players can control what they are viewing and if the presentation players are given uses human-like vision capabilities or augmented capabilities, such as infrared, radar, or night vision.

Since First-Person Views do not provide Game State Overviews in the way Third-Person Views or God Views do, they are sometimes augmented with different forms of indicators, primarily Status Indicators, to compensate. Another way to provide more information for players is to have wider field of view than humans have by using fisheye views, up to the point of giving 360 degree view. In any case, First-Person Views provide Fog of War.

First-Person Views can also be used to provide Public Information which is focused upon a specific part of the Game World and can also by used to give Spectators a sense of Spatial Immersion.

Consequences

Since First-Person Views provide players with feedback similar to that receive when performing movement in the real world, these views support Spatial Immersion and Dexterity-Based Actions such as Maneuvering and Aim & Shoot in the Game World.

Relations

Maneuvering Left 4 Dead series Dedicated Game Facilitators Avatars Detective Structures Aim & Shoot Game Worlds Mini-maps Controllers Focus Loci 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.