First Person Games Getting Too much Hate

I understand where people are coming from when they say this. COD getting repetitive and the like.

But seriously, don't assume that all FP games are that same formula. Dishonored, Borderlands, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, those are all games that would be total crap if it wasn't for the first person thing. The latter two you can even see from Third person but are easier to play in FP. The whole reason first person games were invented was because third person games were a lot harder to make back then.

They give me headaches. It's pretty bad design when a significant fraction of your audience is medically unable to play your games without side effects.

This will end well.

What he said. Obligatory reaction image post

edited 19th Feb '13 5:55:15 PM by Reflextion

Clarste@ Are you sure that's not the computer screen? I'm just saying, I don't think even the majority of players get headaches from them, unless they play them for 9 hours straight and don't get out of the house.

I know a handful of people that get nauseous after around 20 minutes or so of playing in first-person

Some people are just built differently dude. Some people can't handle the way certain games scroll, or get repulsed by lights that flash just so.

Apparently it happens a lot in Japan, which is something people bring up when people wonder aloud why FPS games don't sell there. How much truth there is to it I do not know.

Aside from the people who can't handle playing in first-person, I don't think I've seen any sweeping complaints about the first-person perspective in general.

I've seen complaints on FPS, but not the perspective.

edited 19th Feb '13 6:10:48 PM by burnpsy

Well, I can see where their coming from. 3D glasses and static always give me a headache (especially the former, it hurts my eyes just to take them off after 3 minutes).

I think that Total Biscuit nailed one of the reasons certain people can't play FP games without complications. The field of vision in a square display is too significantly more narrow than that what we see in Real Life. Having a roughly 120-160 degree Fo V instead of 90 degrees or so solves the problem for him and the increasing prevalence of wider screens (at the expense of height) may mean the end of that problem.

Boats, buses and long rides in cars make me feel sick. It's pretty bad design when a significant portion of passengers is medically unable to go on long rides without side effects.

IT'S GETTING A LITTLE HOT IN HERE GUYS GOT ANY MORE GASOLINE

Things are getting too spicy for the pepper.

I've got some thermite.

You know what, fuck it. I'm not even going to comment on this one. I was gonna, but I can already see where this one's going.

I'm also going to say that I've heard sweeping complaints about First-Person Shooters, but nothing about all first-person games. Which as pointed out, also includes Dishonored, a stealth game, and Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls, primarily RPGs.

Wait, where is this going? Did I start something by accident or is this a more standard minefield topic?

I don't dislike First Person games, they just give me headaches after half an hour or so. I can push on through it, but eventually it leads to nausea and it seems to take longer to recover to longer I go on. Play for an hour, take a 2 hour break, etc. This doesn't really suit my normal schedule.

Although there are few games that abuse it and cause instant nausea. Penny Arcade's take on it. Portal actually made me throw up. I liked the writing though, so I got a friend to play while I lay down nearby with my eyes closed.

It isn't just first person though, I guess. Over-the-shoulder third person can cause a similar effect, depending on the game. Honestly there are so many idiosyncrasies involved that I'm surprised the companies haven't been doing research in how to minimize the effects. I'd expect there to be big money in that.

edited 19th Feb '13 9:41:41 PM by Clarste

Are you sure they haven't? Could just be too expensive for them, like Hardware concerns, to do a total fix yet. It's also possible they have fixed it, but again, it's hardware related, not software, and you need to actively look for the answer online.

I'm too tired tonight, but I might go look this stuff up on Google and see if there's anything major on the subject. It's a shame when people are left out of something through no fault of their own.

I don't really see how it's hardware related, unless you're blaming the monitor. It's not like I can't watch TV or play other games though. In fact, it seems to me like older generation first person games (Doom, N64 etc) had much less of a problem. I think it has something to do with the physics engines, or maybe just the incessant head bobbing.

edited 19th Feb '13 9:51:37 PM by Clarste

I would be blaming the monitor, if I were actually blaming anything. I'm just trying to figure it out. I know people with motion sickness. They have a hard time with stuff like Portal as well. I think it's the perspective. Most TV doesn't have the field of view fluidly moving so much. These games? It's always in motion unless you're managing to win by camping. It's definitely that way with Portal. Your movement drives the whole thing.

edited 20th Feb '13 12:07:03 AM by Talby

Actually, there's another reason First Person games get hate- people who don't understand games use COD as a benchmark. Consider this conversation with my dad about Dishonored:

Dad: So what is this game then?

Me: Well, it's this first person game where you play as an assas-

Dad: Can you get guns?

Me: Well, you can get one gun, it's this pist-

Dad: So it's like a crap version of COD, then?

When people don't play games often, and they see the sales figures and the huge amount of people that play COD, they assume that it is a benchmark by which all games should be measured, especially First Person ones.

edited 20th Feb '13 2:35:17 AM by Ninja2634

Well, the new Fallout and Elderscrolls tend to be harder to play as if you can see your character, but that's just my preference.

Ya know the solution to that? We convert the entire populace to game players. Considering the President of the United States put his weight behind video games, AND is fighting for gun control, a few people will wake up, thinking "If Mr. Guns are bad I'm from Illinois Obama thinks video games are good, there has to be more to them than the shooting ones."

I did say a few. Most will stick to their sheltered little boxes that spoon feed them everything rather than stepping out of their comfort zones to work with something that makes them act. Right until someone gives them a present that fits their genre. "Hey grandma, you know that Fletcher woman you're always watching? Here you go, now you can be her! I'll even walk you through it with nice slow words."

My dad's got bad eyes in a way that makes shooters impossible for him. Even though he'd like to play them. He happily spends hours on puzzle games.

edited 20th Feb '13 7:12:00 AM by Journeyman

^ I get the feeling he sucks at Minesweeper.

Well, the COD popularity is bad enough that the indie devs actually actively avoid FPS for a good long while until they finally did some experiments...

@Clarste: Motion sickness isn't just limited to FPS...I heard people have problems with TPS too (and some has worse with TPS than FPS)...also from what I heard a lot of asians also suffer from that, and a lot more than in the west...guess I'm one of the lucky ones. Also some people only get sickness because of narrow FOV, but no problem if FOV's wider...so the monitor thing might make some sense...

edited 20th Feb '13 7:23:13 AM by onyhow