BioShock Creator Extols the Immersive Properties of the First Person Perspective

[Logan Westbrook]

BioShock Creator Extols the Immersive Properties of the First Person Perspective

Irrational Game's Ken Levine thinks that viewing a game through the protagonist's eyes makes it easier for the player to become someone else.

When we were kids, we could become someone else in the blink of an eye, leaving behind our mundane personas and becoming a space commander or a ninja wizard with ease. Sadly, it's much trickier to do it as an adult, but Levine thinks that one of the advantages of first person games is that it helps the player tap into that part of themselves again.

Levine felt that playing games with a first person perspective was the most direct way to engage with them. It helped put the player in the character's shoes and removed one of the barriers to getting him or her fully immersed in the experience. He thought that getting the player to "transpose" his or her identity onto someone else's, which was easier to do in a first person game, could lead to a very powerful experience. He said that it was difficult to get adults to do that, as they were usually too self-conscious, but thought that games could often give them a gentle push in the right direction.

You can't really argue with Levine's point, especially not when he's demonstrated just how immersive the first person perspective can be time and time again with games like System Shock 2, Thief: The Dark Project and BioShock. Of course, it's also fair to say that third person perspective games can be just as immersive if they're done well, although that's not something that Levine really seems to be disputing.

Source: Industry Gamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/bioshock-creator-on-immersion-in-games/]



Permalink

 

[BlindTom]

First person perspectives are immersive? What a novel idea!

 

[Autofaux]

BioShock Infinite looks immersive. Not sure if its an FPS though.. WAIT.. Yeah, still not sure.

 

[Latinidiot]

My dreams always have taken place(and still do) in third person, so if done well, it works fine.

 

[imperialreign]

Correction, it's Thief: The Dark Project.

I do agree with his point, though, and I think that's a big reason why FPS still hold out the way they do. Personally, I've never been able to become too absorbed in 3rd-person titles . . . I also wonder if there's a reason 3rd-person has taken more of a hold on the console market . . .

 

[similar.squirrel]

I've never understood this 'immersion' malarkey.
Never once did I feel as if I was the protagonist in Bioshock. I felt more like a spectator. That applies to all the other FPS games I've played.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Correction, it's Thief: The Dark Project.

Whoops, so it is. Fixed.

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

I think Bioshock is a specific example of this because you never hear Jack's voice, or see his face. For all intents and purposes, you are Jack. It's your adventure.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

BioShock Infinite looks immersive. Not sure if its an FPS though.. WAIT.. Yeah, still not sure.

Judging by the level of scripting we saw in that trailer, can we be sure it is even a game?

 

[Autofaux]

BioShock Infinite looks immersive. Not sure if its an FPS though.. WAIT.. Yeah, still not sure.

Judging by the level of scripting we saw in that trailer, can we be sure it is even a game?

Interesting question. Might have to wait a while (read: too long) before it can be answered. I suppose if that trailer represents the scripting in the first part of the game al a the first BioShock, there would be nothing to worry about.

 

[Cousin_IT]

yeah...until you have the misfortune of drawing a weapon or looking anywhere but straight ahead, at which point you realise your "body" isn't there & your eyes are aparently at shoulder level

 

[googleback]

that's the idea. which is why its called "first person"

in "third person" games you're clearly playing as someone else and playing through their story. in a first person game you are doing the same thing but you "are" that person for the duration.

games that are first person but take you out of the perspective for cutscenes dont work for that reason. which is why fps story's aren't as immersive if they're told "out of body" in cuts cenes.

 

[Catchy Slogan]

I think Bioshock is a specific example of this because you never hear Jack's voice, or see his face. For all intents and purposes, you are Jack. It's your adventure.

You know, except that I'm not called Jack. Nor Male.

System Shock 2, Thief: The Dark Project and BioShock.

You said System Shock 2 twice. _> ...

I kid, I kid. I love Bioshock.

 

[googleback]

Correction, it's Thief: The Dark Project.

I do agree with his point, though, and I think that's a big reason why FPS still hold out the way they do. Personally, I've never been able to become too absorbed in 3rd-person titles . . . I also wonder if there's a reason 3rd-person has taken more of a hold on the console market . . .

I want to say that it works easier with a controller but i'm not sure.

it gives you more of a movie like experience I think, I remember at school one of my friends loved how the camera shake as it followed you sprining in the first gears made it seem like he was watching a well shot war movie while playing. its probably just the spectacle of it.

I don't really have a preferred pov. they've both worked well in the past.

 

[WeAreJimbo]

I get virtual motion sickness from FPS which I do not get in third person (or oblivion and Fallout in FP for some reason). Tends to spoil immersion if you can only play a game for ten minutes then have to rest for 30 minutes in a darkened room before you can continue. Never managed to complete the first Bioshock game due to this.

 

[teknoarcanist]

You know, I've never really bought the idea that first person is more immersive. How the hell am I supposed to get the sense of a character or his personality when all I see are his floating disembodied gunhands, he doesn't speak, and all his actions are determined by me? Or all I can see are the barrels of his weapon, and he only speaks to deliver snappy one-liners, and does cool things in cutscenes that I have no control of?

That makes no sense. It's sloppy design. It makes me want to grab the dev by the collar and shout: "Am I the main character, or is the main character the main character? Do you want me to become him, or does he represent me? Make up your mind!!"

Valve is about the only studio I've ever seen pull first-person off well. It both characterizes Gordon AND puts me in shoes: and it's because they FIRMLY COMMITTED to not having him make a goddamn sound. They also gave him a concrete back-story, and characters reacted to his presence and person both in action and dialogue . All that 'last free man' stuff is a very sneaky writer, establishing Gordon by right angles to the player.

And it worked. When playing Half Life 2, I legitimately felt like I was the silent, stoic super-scientist, coming to save the world.

That having been said, I'll take my third person any day, thank you. Because I'm outside the character, I can actually gauge 3-dimensional spatial relationships between 'myself' and other objects. More importantly: I can get a sense of how the main character carries himself and relates to the world around him. I can read into his gestures, facial expressions, and their subtext (best example of this: SotC).

The point is: I actually feel like a body in virtual space, rather than a tracking viewfinder with guns attached.

 

[Therumancer]

I think any game perspective can be immersive if it's done correctly. I honestly don't think first person is any inherantly better at this than any other viewpoint, it comes down to the skill of the creator.

If you want to get technical I think the thing that makes a game most immersive is when you wind up creating the protaganist yourself, as opposed to being given an established hero. To be entirely honest I am one of those people who think that while hearing the voice of the character your playing might be entertaining, the whole "silent protaganist" thing works better, because hearing a voice that isn't your own or what you'd imagine actually hampers the overall effect.

Of course opinions on things like this are going to vary.

As a final note I'll also say that one of the things that made "Ultima" successful back in the day was the way how it came up with a decent gimmick for a "you are literally the hero" premise (or at least at the time) including the slow ascension from a mere nerdy couch potato into a superhuman via magical stat gains and such.

It's dated, but back in the day when Ultima started to lose it's steam (very slowly) one of the big complaints about the later chapters was the details it put into the "real world" in getting the game set up, the less generic it was, the more people felt it missed the point of it being them "transformed".

Agree or disagre, it's something to think about.

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

I think Bioshock is a specific example of this because you never hear Jack's voice, or see his face. For all intents and purposes, you are Jack. It's your adventure.

You know, except that I'm not called Jack. Nor Male.

Touche =) But I mean when a character is faceless and voiceless, it's far easier to put yourself in their place.

And about the male thing... Just imagine those male grunts of pain are coming from someone else =D