How did FPS's become so popular?

[Stryc9]

This isn't a debate about which came first, it's a debate about why FPS games are so popular.

The way I see it is that the FPS is the logical advancement of the side scrolling platform shooters such as the original Duke Nukem, Commander Keen, Captain Comic and other similar games from the time. They are similar in about as many ways as they are different, but they all still boil down to going from one place to another shooting shit until it dies.

 

[Snotnarok]

Because it's fun to shoot stuff what is there to miss?

 

[individual11]

Immersion.

Looking through the player character's eyes.

No other game style will allow the same level of immersion.

Case in point: System shock 2 was more involving and atmospheric than Dead Space, despite being made ten years earlier and having visuals that were dated back then.

In my humble opinion.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Every one here is Saying "Because of Halo" without actually trying to figure out why!
I'll take a stab at it: First Person (shooter) games put YOU in the boots. That is IT. they let you be in the middle of the story, without making you think "I'm duck taped to the right shoulder of 'so and so' as he does whatever!" Gordon Freeman; Master Chief; even Ramirez from Modern Warfare 2 are just a pair of boots for you to wear, but the one in the action IS you, and it's a tried and tested way of Immersing the players in the world.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

Spoiler: SNIP

SNIP

Spoiler

*Ahem*

Spoiler

Dang, ninja'd.

Welp, in that case it's because they're easy to pick up, learn and play.

 

[Sebenko]

Because it's a MANLY genre and totally isn't compensating for anything at all.

Anyway, I have to get back to building suspiciously large structures in Minecraft.

 

[Twilight_guy]

They filled a power void left by the death of old school adventure games... maybe? I don't know I think it just kind of grew over time and FPS became a default. Maybe its because FPSs are a bit easier to program then other games so more were made and they became popular by volume.

 

[instantbenz]

Government pushes it to make a better soldier from youth ... We had a designer at my school and after he worked on a Cod or Moh ... can't remember ... anyway he said he'd never work with any FPS again as they pushed for him to make the design of things more kid-enticing ...

 

[Wintermoot]

maybe people wantted to shoot stuff from a first person perspective

 

[Griphphin]

It think that a big part of it is that it's an easy genre to make (not like there's a lack of reference material here currently), and for the gamer it's a very intellectually easy genre. You don't have to empathize with the characters to get a good thrill when your helicopter gets shot down or you blow up a scarab, much of the focus is on the actual action that's going on instead of the interpretation of said action.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just what I see from a good few FPS's

 

[Socius]

people. enjoy. killing. things. thats why!

 

[Weaver]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

Yeah it's basically all Halo's fault.

People seem to misinterpret your post as "halo did it first" which isn't at all the case, and I know you know that as much as anyone. What halo DID do though was introduce FPS games to a new generation of consoles and a new generation of gamers (aka console kiddies). It also did well in universities as well as a split screen shooter.

What this lead to was big publishers and developers going "Oh my that Halo game sure sold a lot of copies, let's make an FPS on the console!" which brings us to our current situation. Also, if fucking CoD4 didn't do so well publishers would have likely stopped the massive FPS craze but it only made things worse.

 

[Snownine]

I have never had an overwhelming love for the genre like many gamers seem to have. However there will always be a special place in my heart for Doom 2. God I love that game so much. I wish it would work properly on modern systems.

 

[Whitenail]

Easy to make, ever popular and a little ingenuity goes a long way in an fps (experiencing the halls of Rapture are a grand thing, but do you think the game would've done as well or been as remembered if it were in third person or from a fixed shot?).

Personally I enjoy fps'es, I got my start in gaming thanks to the old school fps'es of my older brother and some of my favourite games have been them.

 

[lord_beo]

the reason games like doom, quake and duke3D became so popular was very simple, it easy to play, it's fun to play and you can switch you brain of for about 2 hours while playing, it's only later on that real story got attached to it and even in halo and half life(1) the story is secondary, it's the brainless shooting that people enjoy and that people will keep enjoying

 

[Kermi]

Because games viewed from the first person perspective by nature have a better chance of being immersive, and the more connected you are with the action the more exciting it is.
Enough bullshit about simplicity, or being overrated, or blaming everything on Halo or Half-Life.
They're exciting games. Simple.

 

[Netrigan]

the reason games like doom, quake and duke3D became so popular was very simple, it easy to play, it's fun to play and you can switch you brain of for about 2 hours while playing, it's only later on that real story got attached to it and even in halo and half life(1) the story is secondary, it's the brainless shooting that people enjoy and that people will keep enjoying

Proper story attached to the FPS: 1995's Dark Forces, featuring the usual bang-up job from LucasArts.

And by the time Half-Life hit, it was increasingly common for a FPS to receive praise for its good story. Half-Life's claim to fame is that they presented 100% of the story in-game instead of mostly in cut-scenes which was the way games operated up until then.

If the OP is asking why a shooter got popular... that's not much of a mystery. Shooters always do well and the FPS ended up being one of the best approaches to the 3D shooter, as there's absolutely no camera angle problems that plagued most early (and a lot of current) third person shooters.

Although I still think the question is along the lines of "how did this genre come from no where to dominate the consoles so quickly?", to which the answer is "you got invaded by an already popular and polished game genre that had dominated the PC gaming scene for the previous 8 years".

 

[Crises^]

id say the competative nature of fps's i played css for like 5 years its the leagues and cups and trying to beat other teams and get better that drags alot of people in

 

[Irridium]

Sorry, I assumed he was just talking about post 2000's.

The attitude that drives every PC gamer up the walls

Seriously, it's amazing how easy it is to get a rise out of us PC gamers by ignoring everything not on a console. I was reading some articles earlier about the most important games in various genres and while all the genres were open to console and PC titles, the FPS category was oddly console specific. Totally pissed me off.

Love it or hate it, PC gaming created the genre. It's like discussing the history of rock 'n roll and ignoring everything that came before Elvis. Yup, Elvis (Halo) brought it to the mainstream in a way black musicians (PC gaming) never accomplished, but it's a crucial part of the history that shouldn't be dismissed because it wasn't quite as popular.

All fair points and very true. However the OP asked how FPS games became popular, and Halo is the answer.

Yes there were Quake, Doom, Unreal, and many other games. But those were limited to the PC, and weren't too popular with people outside of PC players.

 

[Netrigan]

Halo is part of the answer.

But there were already loads of AAA FPS games already released and in the pipeline. Halo was the spearhead of a well supplied, battle-hardened invasion force. From a console perspective, the rise of the FPS is dramatic and a bit unexpected. From a PC POV it was the continuation of a decade old highly successful trend.

There's scores of million plus selling PC FPS. A very large number of devs were working this already popular and lucrative market. Halo opened it up to consolers.