Levine: why first-person is so engaging

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 24 February, 2011

"It's one less barrier to the experience."

For BioShock maker Ken Levine, the first-person perspective is the "most direct way to engage" with gamers.

"It's one less barrier to the experience," the Irrational Games head honcho told IndustryGamers.

Designer Levine, whose credits include first-person games System Shock 2, SWAT 4 and BioShock, reckons the first-person perspective offers a feeling unlike any other.

"It's a strange thing to be in someone else's shoes," he said. "It's something we do very naturally as children, but it's something that is much more difficult for adults.

"Games gives us enough of a nudge in the right direction to have that childhood experience of play.

"Not just play from a fun standpoint, but transposing your identity onto somebody else's, and that is something so powerful when you are a kid. You just lose that as an adult because you get so self-conscience.

"Games sort of allow us to break through that layer to let us go back to that space of play, which I think is really powerful."

Levine's next game is yet another first-person game: BioShock Infinite, due out next year.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • Syrok Verified Community Coordinator, Tarsier Studios #1 1 year ago

    "It's a strange thing to be in someone else's shoes"

    Even stranger when that someone has no feet, or body to speak of except arms. In my opinion all first-person games should build on what Mirror's Edge did. That at least felt like controlling a person and not like a floating camera.
    Edited by Syrok at 24/02/11 @ 08:34

  • charming_fox #2 1 year ago

    You can see your own legs in halo, i don't feel that it creates any more or less immersion than say Half Life... but I do agree with yolu about Mirrors Edge, seeing your hands doing the work (opening doors, picking up weapons etc.) is much better than things magically moving around.

  • carlitoswagon #3 1 year ago

    Actually agree with the article. FP offers that extra degree of immersion. Doesn't mean third person etc isn't a great way to play games but when dodging tank fire behind exploding walls in bfbc2 I am most certainly engaged.

    The rooftop sections of mirros edge are especially true.

  • Darren #4 1 year ago

    Totally agree with Syrok about how the best, most immersive first-person gamers remember to give you a visible body when you look around. Better still are those that add little details like hands that push buttons or open doors and pick up ammo and weapons such as Crysis. Finally, casting shadows is another welcome addition that makes gives you a presence in the game world. Few games bother which makes those that do all the more memorable and 'special' IMO.

    It's games which forget stuff like that that break the illusion you're part of the world you're supposed to be playing in; the Call of Duty series and ironically, the two BioShock games for example. There's nothing more disconcerting and immersion-breaking than looking down in a FPS and seeing no body at all or even a shadow!!!

  • JohnnyWashnGo #5 1 year ago

    I disagree - being a FP gaming hater I find all games played in first person view to be disorienting and sickness inducing in the same way that some people find reading in cars makes them feel ill.

    My preference is third person all the time. Not only because of the lack of nausea it creates in me but also because I find my ability to judge things in 3D space is much more accurate in third person games than in first person games.

    In fact if I look on my gaming shelf I have not a single FP game. Most of my collection consists of third person games, RPGs or fighting games.

    I think saying that first person gives you one less barrier to the experience is nonsense. Gamers can immerse themselves in a game regardless of its type. The real barrier to immersion is crap narrative and shoddy game mechanics.

  • charming_fox #6 1 year ago

    I'd like a really well implemented first-person mode in a GTA game, it would immidiately elevate the combat mechanics to 'at least decent' and high speed car crashes would be lovely!

  • The_Asking #7 1 year ago

    This is the same as the whole issue of the silent protagonist. If you give your main character a body and allow them to be controled from a third person perspective that in no way presents a "barrier to the experience", unless it's poorly implemented. Take away the body and force a first person perspective and you avoid running the risk of it being poorly implemented but you obviously sacrafice the opportunity to gain all the benefits of a tengible character with their own presence. It makes first person the safe, and in some ways, lazy option - just like how keeping the progtagonist silent means the voice can't be a poorly scripted, badly acted annoyance but it also can't beneift the game either by, for instance, creating and engaging and compelling character. Safe but lazy.

  • charming_fox #8 1 year ago

    Those fast zombies in half life 2 running directly at ME were much scarier than watching the necromorphs attack isaac in Dead Space.... maybe I have empathy issues.

    edit: i guess what i'm saying is things attacking the screen is scarier than them attacking someone you're puppeteering. But then, I've never liked 3rd person much.
    Edited by charming_fox at 24/02/11 @ 09:18

  • BigDannyH #9 1 year ago

    Totally agree with Levine. Love a FP game.

    Portal and Mirrors Edge were superb variations on shooty FP. Bioshock was an FPS with a little something different. I'm hoping Bulletstorm's gameplay is also a winner.

  • Ryze #10 1 year ago

    Yep - but I don't especially want to spend all of my gaming time walking around, ducking and shooting.

    Get some more gameplay - NOT FETCH QUESTS - into your games, please. Use Kinect on top of a controller, or Move - to let me manipulate the environment with my hands. Picking up objects and throwing them, opening doors, grabbing pieces of paper, etc.

    Introduce a combination of Mass Effect conversations, combined with use of the Kinect/Move mic arrays to let me shout obscenities at NPCs and have them react accordingly. Just having the game recognise a spoken YES/NO, HELLO/GOODBYE, or a positive/negative tone and have ANY characters - INCLUDING BOSSES and in engine cutscenes, react and break from their script a little.

    THIS WOULD BE IMMERSIVE, and it's VERY MUCH DOABLE WITH CURRENT HARDWARE.

    I need to document some of this stuff in serious detail!

    /blog

    edit: removed sweary venting and grammar issue!
    Edited by Ryze at 24/02/11 @ 12:18

  • TheEarlOfZinger #11 1 year ago

    @Syrok

    Exactly why I'm looking forward to Brink. Hopefully it's great.

  • menage #12 1 year ago

    I'm not sure. Uncharted 2 did more for me than Bioshock even. It also makes it harder to see crap coming from all sides.

    First person might remove a barrier it also makes it harder to identify.
    Edited by menage at 24/02/11 @ 10:10

  • Yuroko #13 1 year ago

    I agree. I love a first person perspective. But I'm not that keen on shooters. Loved Oblivion, Everquest and Mirrors Edge. None are shooters but are rather immersive due to the FP camera. I have to play driving games in FP too.

    I just can't get into fps games nowadays. Loved Halflife series and Goldeneye/perfect dark but later fps games are too intense. Can't stand CoD. I can tell it's a good game but it's too stressful for me! I'm getting too old I think. Just give me more FP RPGs.

  • Tryhard #14 1 year ago

    But why do I only feel 3 foot tall in first person?

  • mkreku #15 1 year ago

    One big problem with first person games is the field of view (FOV). Most games have like 80 degrees (or something like that) vision, while in real life we perceive an almost 180 degree vision (usually around 130 is usable). It makes first person games feel like you're looking through a tunnel or wearing blindfolds all the time.

    It can be solved if you have lots and lots of money and can buy three monitors and an Eye-finity card from ATI..

  • Cappy #16 1 year ago

    I find third person games are more engaging and find first person a 'barrier'.

    It's a bit strange him being such a proponent of first person when the view in Bioshock is so strange and limited and the player character seems to be only about 1 Metre tall.

    Third person is actually closer to how we perceive reality, we're not looking out of a slit in a mask, we have a much wider field of view and are always aware of our own presence in our surroundings. Otherwise you'd constantly be bumping into things... Much like a character in a first person game.
    Edited by Cappy at 24/02/11 @ 11:13

  • FogHeart #17 1 year ago

    First person takes away some immersion to an extent - either the protagonist is entirely silent or talks with a voice that is not your own. The paradox of looking through someone's eyes but hearing a different voice is disconcerting - think of how jarring it is when watching a home video and hearing the voice behind the camera.

  • uknortherner2000 #18 1 year ago

    The thing that puts me off playing first-person in games like Oblivion is simply the fact that all I can see is my hands. My torso, legs and feet are invisible, which leaves me feeling as though I'm little more than a disembodied head and arms floating through Cyrodiil. There's no point acquiring fancy armour if you can't even see it!

    L4D worked better because at least you could see your legs as well as your arms. Don't know why they took this out in the sequel though.

  • louyfitz #19 1 year ago

    Theres merits to both third person and first person. IMO FPS games are great for jumpy moments and clearing rooms full of powerful foes, but theres a certain level of "movie-like" feel in a well designed third person game.

    For instance Doom 3 really used that jump factor with first person, and made you feel alone where many games without allies and other such AI just feel empty, I don't think Doom 3 would ever work as a third person game. Where as gears could work as a first person game, but would just be one of the pack, rather than an amazing cinematic gaming experience. It's the feeling like your watching a michael bay film, but controlling the green screen with your pad, that's what makes third person cool.


    Army Guy: "No, No, No, Mr. Bay, those aren't ideas, they're special effects."

    Bay: "But I don't know the difference"

    Army Guy: "We Know you don't"


  • koopahell #20 1 year ago

    Definitely more Mirror's Edge hands/feet in FPS games please, but I don't think FPS can match the feeling of being a speck of dust in a huge environment like 3rd person does. Think Red Dead and pulling back the camera to look up at the stars or the sunrise or the fact (I anyway) always switched to 3rd person whilst running across the wasteland in Fallout 3/New Vegas.

  • charming_fox #21 1 year ago

    Ah Koopashell, I always lement the lack of a first person camera in any 3rd person games, i don't mean being able to play it in 1st but to at least be able to look around from 1st person... in enslaved I want to have a good look at Trip's.... face. In assasin's creed I think the verigo from the tallest tower would be vastly increased by 1st perosn.... I guess I agree with Levine!

  • Feanor #22 1 year ago

    Hopefully Bioshock Infinite won't have the same screwed up mouse acceleration that acted as a barrier to experiencing Bioshock on the PC.

  • gelf #23 1 year ago

    Meh there's room for both perspectives, First person doesn't offer everything. FPS is better for aiming a gun but for judging your surroundings I think 3rd person is miles superior. If more games could do what Strangers Wrath did and allow you switch perspectives that would be great.

  • ExplodingClown #24 1 year ago

    3rd person is like playing with an action figure, so lends itself to some genres more than others - Gears of War as an FPS would have been unbearable. 1st person is better for atmosphere and tension. Admittedly it's nice to have the 'body awareness' of Crysis, Mirror's Edge etc. but not essential. Unless in real life you're prone to looking down and going "Hell yeah! It's my feet!".