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scottie on 27 April 2011
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Troll_Whisperer said:
scottie said:
Troll_Whisperer said:
880user088 said:

A 2nd person shooter can't exist.

1st person=ME

2nd person=YOU

3rd person=HE/SHE/IT

So, in 1st person shooter I am shooting (my point of view is the characters eyes), in a 3rd person shooter he/she/it is shooting (my point of view is an outside one). In a second person person shooter "you" are shooting, but that doesn't make sense in the context of a game. Like, the person next to you is shooting. You would be a character with a 1st person view following the soldier or whatever. You wouldn't be able to move the camera, etc. Either you ARE the guy or you can control the guy, but the 2nd person would be limiting.

It is the same with books. They can be narrated from the perspective of the protagonist (I woke up...) or from a 3rd person perspective (he woke up...), but 2nd person just doesn't work (you woke up...). You can't know the character's thoughts first hand, neither what everyone does or thinks. You would just describe what the guy next to you does, which again, doesn't make sense in the context of the story.

In short, the 2nd person is just for adressing nearby people, but doesn't work a narration vehicle. Either you are part of the story and play an active role, or you aren't but can control it. You can't be part of the story yet do nothing.


1) 2nd person literature exists, although it is rare. See the wikipedia page.

 

2) It can be very easily applied to video games, Wii Bowling, for example. You are looking out from your own eyes at the bowling pins. 

1) Yeah, but as you said it is far from standard, and it doesn't mean it would work in a game.

2) Sorry, but I don't think I understand this. Isn't it 3rd person? The camera just goes through the character and zooms in the pins, right? That's still 3rd person. Correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't played it in ages.

I think 2nd person would mean being a character that watches the main character, or just watching through other character's eyes but being unable to do anything. Like an FPS playing itself, or like when you see through others players POV online.


1) This is true

 

2) First of all, Wii Bowling, the camera is positioned where the Mii's eyes are. You can see the Mii's hands. It is either 1st person or 2nd, it is NOT 3rd.

 

2nd person narratives are like 1st person narratives in that the aim of them is to make you identify with the protagonist. It is perfectly common, standard even, in 2nd person narratives for you to be told not only that you are doing x, but also that you are feeling y. That means that 2nd person cannot be told from the perspective of another character narrating what you are doing. 2nd person 

 

1st person - I marched resolutely on, pausing momentarily when I hear noise ahead. "You are walking towards me, about to jump on my head", cried the Goomba. "I know, but I need to save the Princess and you're in my way" I replied.

2nd person - You march resolutely on towards the Goomba. "you are walking towards me, about to jump on my head", cried the Goomba. You quickly memorise his potato-like face and jump on him, crushing him like a pancake. You can mourn later, but the princess needs saving now.

3rd person - Mario marches resolutely on, pausing momentarily when he hears noise ahead. "you are walking towards me, about to jump on my head", cried the Goomba. Mario ignroes the plea and marches onwards.

 

A 2nd person game would be identical in gameplay terms to a 1st person game, but the plot and characterisation would be presented in a completely different way. It would be very easy to do any FPS as a 2nd person game, but the main reason people don't is because 2nd person requires you to tell people how they feel. Video games get a bad enough rap for allowing you to play as a terrorist or whatever, imagine what would happen if, whilst playing as a terrorist, you hear this. "you are filled with the joy of the kill, the US soldier looks into your eyes as if begging for mercy. You mutter 'for Allah' under your breath and squeeze the trigger, delighting in the splash of red out the back of the heathan's skull." It'd be fucking barbaric. 2nd person is intense and the video game industry is not ready for it.

 

P.S. Apologies to anyone who takes offense to the above. I chose that example because a game did recently get in trouble for allowing you to play as Islamic terrorists killing US soldiers. I am aware that 99.99999% of Muslims are not terrorists.