Hi Dark,
You bring up some good points. Some of which I haven't thought much
about. However, as you said if we continue on with this discussion we
will eventually get into a discussion of cross sensory representation
and theories of functionalism which is way beyond what this list is for.
<Grin>
dark wrote:
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.
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