[MUD-Dev] Re: Neverwinter Nights

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

Trent Oster wrote:

>   The player is "playing" a character, the player is not the
>   character, as such the player will want to see the character
>   whenever possible, as such a "god" type view supports this
>   "feel" of play better.

Actually, if immersed the player is no longer playing a character,
he temporarily becomes the character emotion-wise. IMO 1POV is much
better for this.  My pet gripe is usability.

1POV disadvantages:

  - you have no idea of where your feet are

  - you have no peripheral vision and sound does not compensate in
  current worlds (?)

  - you loose contact with how others perceive you (when it comes to
  the physical body we get constant feedback from muscle
  contraptions, you can sense that you are smiling, in 1POV you
  easily forget the expression you have assigned to your face, in
  the physical world we receive subtle signals from others that
  address our presentation and allow use to modify our behaviour
  (?), these are currently lacking in the virtual)

1POV advantages:

  - increased immersion (biological/perceptional reasons)

  - effective in tight spaces where cam-placement is hopeless unless
  it has been designed for, like caves and tunnels.

  - communication of focus to other players

Try zooming out in 3POV in Activeworlds, Anarchy-Online or other
games that allow free cam-movement and you'll sense the detached
feeling that comes with 3POV birdview. Great for navigation and
wayfinding though.  3POV might be better for being immersed into
action and social interaction, 1POV better for being immersed into
character, gameworld and social presence (i.e. more static facial
oriented interaction, "hanging out").

--
Ola  -  http://www.notam.uio.no/~olagr/


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