What happened to the head bobbing in FPS games?

I kind of liked the head bobbing in older games. Why don't modern games (STALKER notwithstanding) use it?

Any theories?

People got nauseous from it? I dunno. Its but one of many features removed from FPS lately.

I would say Follow the Leader because Halo Combat Evolved didn't do head bobbing. However, Goldeneye 64 didn't do it either and it predates Halo by several years.

I think it's a matter of preference. Some FPS games had the option to toggle it, but then it just... went away.

Perhaps the majority of FPS players simply got tired of it?

I enjoyed it. It made you feel less like a floating camera with a gun.

Head Bobbing was pretty nauseating for me. It's one of the few features of FP Ses that I'm glad was removed. Although I guess it should be toggleable with the default set to off.

Ditto. Added a sense of realism. One of the many things I liked about STALKER.

You bobbed your head in Doom because the guy was going around, nodding his head like YEA THIS IS AWESOME.

In Co D it's more like 'yeah, whatever'. I don't blame him.

I agree with the whole “feels like driving a forklift” feeling. Of course, I'm also one of those people who use 1st-person with the virtual cockpit on in most vehicle sims.

I have to admit, I've also often thought that FPSs need a “trip if you run around on unseen terrain (or backward) while looking up” feature.

^ Way Of The Samurai did make you trip over dead bodies if you backsteped over them, though it had a fighting game camera angle. It did make multi man battles more interesting, esp as heavy Mook Chivalry of the combat makes multiman brawls less multiman.

I switch it off mainly because it makes aiming more annoying.

I also keep my head fairly stable when moving IRL, so it also looks silly.

edited 5th Aug '11 5:53:59 PM by deuxhero

^^ Yes. Would definitely make you less willing to sprint backwards while firing madly from the hip. You're just asking for trouble if you do that.

Incidentally, I turned off headbobbing in Minecraft.

edited 5th Aug '11 5:52:03 PM by pvtnum11

When my sister turns bobbing off on Minecraft, I turn it back on. So I guess I do like Head Bobbing.

To make it harder for Machinima artists to create the illusion of talking, of course.

Why it went away I'm not sure, but it's certainly a loss. I think it's just that it's damn hard to get it right, and if you get it wrong like STALKER (the first time, since Ultima Underworld, I've ever wanted to disable bobbing in a 3D game... and there was no option for it!!!) well, that's not a good thing.

But I was playing Brink yesterday to test it out, and sure enough, it feels completely remote. Like you ain't really there. I think there is a bit of bobbing? But it's not good, it just feels off. I think you do need some bobbing, because it's part of what makes the game experience more visceral, but if you're gonna do it, you've to take the time to make it more than just a sinus wave pattern.

What I want to know, what I don't understand, is how anyone can play, say, Dark Messiah, who got it so perfectly right (the visceral feel of being there), or Mirror's Edge (to compare the Parkour experience with that of Brink), and then go back to something like Brink or Oblivion. Personally, since I've played those games, everything else that tries to do the same things they did just tastes of ashes :/

edited 6th Aug '11 11:04:07 AM by fibojoly

Maybe it went to head accounting.

I don't even notice it, so I don't care one way or the other I guess.