I've always felt tom that audio side scrollers were third person, sinse you
here not what is literally around the character's position, but what is
ahead of and behind them, ---- something which they themselves couldn't
here, or at least, wouldn't here in the same position as the player here's
it.
I also disagree that the first/third person distinction is exclusively
visual at all.
Remember, that the very origin of the phrase comes from literature.
first person, ie, talking about only yourself "I walked down the road
and ----"
Second person, Ie, talking to a second present person Ie, "you fell down a
hole you idiot!"
Third person, Ie, a tirciary observer independent both of the person
expeirncing events, and the person to whome those events, and a second party
witnissing them Ie "---- she climbed out of the hole, ---- because she was
Angela carter and litle things like holes didn't bother her!"
Personally, i only tend to think of full audio games where you here what is
literally around the character as first person, and games where you here the
character's position independent of their surroundings as third person.
So games like Shades of doom, packman talks, Terraformers, --- and also
sterrio targiting affairs like troopanum where you physically move your
targit and things are in it's range, I regard as first person.
Games where your character is defigned pspecficially by sound and you here
objects around that character independently of it's movement, --- such as
all the audio side scrollers, alien outback (you can here and move your
spaceship), and the grid based games such as entombed, night of parasite and
treasurehunt I regard as third perwson, ---- even with a limited,
occasionally scrolling view point.
An interesting distinction was made actually by a sited friend of mine who
tried shades of doom. He's an avid fan of graphical doom and very familiar
with the series.
He actually said it was far easier for him to play by audio alone than with
The graphical display in the gma engine, --- -which shows only vague
representation in black and white, ---- but from what might be called a top
down perspective, rather than a first person one.
Thus, when in a corridor, ---- instead of seeing on the screen (as in real
doom), what your character sees, you see the corridor as a white rectangle,
with your character as a black circle in the center.
You can therefore see all around your character, in front and behind.
It might therefore be said though the sound is first person, ---- the
graphics (such as they are), are third person.
sinse my spacial coordination is pretty pathetic, I just ran with
this, --- -but my friend, being used to graphical doom, found it extremely
difficult to work with and actually requested me to turn the graphics off
because he found the transition of viewpoints very difficult.
In the end though, this is probably just a matter of semantics and personal
opinion, ---- though it does bring up some interesting questions about the
representative qualities of audio, ---- but before I start going into
aesthetics, cross sensory representation and theories of functionalism I'd
better stop!
Beware the grue!
Dark.
---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
