Re: Tabula Rasa


Nikolas Landauer wrote:
It's also a way to make up for the fact that a first-person view on a
computer screen is only a *very* small portion of the normal field of
vision of a human being. Peripheral vision is a huge factor in how we
perceive our environment...

No, it's not. There are very few receptors outside the center of
vision projected on the back of your eyes. You think you have good
peripheral vesion because you'll automatically, without thinking, turn
your eyes to the left or right to focus on anything you might think is
of interest there. Try reading something to the left or right of your
computer monitor while keeping your eyes fixed on a spot on the middle
of the monitor to see how good your peripheral vision actually is.

... and without a fish-eye style (ick), it's impossible for a first-person viewpoint on a
computer or console game to convey the same perception of environment. Again,
third-person is used to make up for this fundamental UI incapability.

This gives you a much different perception of the enviornment than
you're actually capable of. You're granted a perfect 360 degree field
of vision. In reality, if you're perfectly silent, it's easy to sneak
up behind someone, in a third person game it's impossible. I play
EverQuest II in third-person because it's important to insure that
monsters don't wander up and attack me from behind while I'm in combat.
While this makes playing the game easier, it's not realistic. In
combat, you can't be constantly looking behind yourself.

On the other hand, I just started playing Deus Ex 2. After playing EQ2
in third person for so long, it was kind fustrating at first not having
that 360 degrees of awareness anymore. But it felt so much more
realistic having to worry about what might be behind me.

My wife and I both find first-person immersion-breaking ("So, why
exactly can't Gordon Freeman look down and see where the *** his
*feet* are in relation to the things he's carefully running and jumping
from?!").

Because the game doesn't bother to render the character's feet, but
there are first-person games that do or can.

Ross Ridge

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