We talked about 1st person and 3rd person. What about SECOND person?

[The Blackangel]

The title says it all. What about games in second person? Granted there aren't a lot, but if you've played certain racing games you know what it is. First person has you in the drivers seat looking through the drivers eyes. Third person has you out behind the car watching it. But second has you in a spot like you're riding on top of the car. Like I said, there aren't a lot of games that offer a second person perspective, but for the games that do, what is the thought of them? I think it's an interesting option, but can't say I've played enough games with the option to really have an opinion.

[m76]

That's just a form of third person view. with a fixed camera position.

[Shagger]

Second person is something pretty much impossible to contemplate in a video game because the 2nd person is the perspective of your subject. In Call of Duty, this would be controlling the game from the view of whoever it was you were trying to shoot, or in something like Assassin's Creed, you'd be trying to control your character from the perspective of the guards. The camera angels you described in a racing game are still third person, just from a different angle. There are video games, especially racers, that have cinematic camera that take the view of how a motorrace looks on TV, for example. That is a second-person perspective, but nobody making a genuine effort to control the game accurately would actually use them. They're just for show.

Edited August 20, 2020 by Shagger

[Crazycrab]

Yeah... I think @Shagger has just explained eloquently why 2nd person perspective is something that can't really work in a game.  Similar ideas exist like switching to and from the perspective of different characters or playing in co-operative with someone but I think that's about as close as you can realistically get.

[Alexander.]

@Shagger has hit the nail on the head, as to why this wouldn't work out in a game title. Some videos on YouTube have explored this concept to give other gamers the chance to experience the sight of second person gaming. Personally? I would always stick with 1st, and it makes aiming at your opponent far easier.

 

 

[skyfire]

There are lot of youtube speculations on how the 2nd person game would look like. And the thing is that such games can be fun to play as well but I dont' think people would adopt them easily. 

[KuroInDistress]

Can't wait for the fourth dimension 😛

[Wolves]

You can't exactly play properly in 2nd person. It's more of a mirror of yourself, so you're like watching yourself play while the character is looking at you. Usually only see 2nd person shots in gameplay editing.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Wolves

[Heatman]

Seriously - It's almost impossible to make games in 2nd person game mode. How would it be played? It doesn't seem feasible at all. I'm not sure if I remembered any game made with such pattern. 

[Reality vs Adventure]

Wouldn't that be a game like Age of Empires where you can see the enemy and your own army battle it out? 

[Crazycrab]

48 minutes ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

Wouldn't that be a game like Age of Empires where you can see the enemy and your own army battle it out? 

 

No, that's still 3rd person.  2nd person would be looking at and controling your troops through the eyes of your enemy.

[killamch89]

7 hours ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

Wouldn't that be a game like Age of Empires where you can see the enemy and your own army battle it out? 

As @Crazycrab said, it's a third person view because it's the view from another perspective besides yours.

[Withywarlock]

If my understanding of second person is correct, based on the video @Alexander. had posted above, then there's the Fighting Fantasy video games, which are adaptations of the choose-your-own-adventure novels of the same brand. In those it's not "I come across a sleeping goblin whose face needs to be caved in with a warhammer," it's always "you come across a sleeping goblin whose face needs to be caved in with a warhammer," and so on. It's only when you're given the choice that you might say "I cave the sleeping goblin's face in with a warhammer, per its needs," and even then I may be misremembering it saying "I."

I must say thanks for sharing the video too, it's a spectacular watch. I don't have the attention span to watch all of it, but it gets its point across quickly.

[Crazycrab]

1 hour ago, Withywarlock said:

If my understanding of second person is correct, based on the video @Alexander. had posted above, then there's the Fighting Fantasy video games, which are adaptations of the choose-your-own-adventure novels of the same brand. In those it's not "I come across a sleeping goblin whose face needs to be caved in with a warhammer," it's always "you come across a sleeping goblin whose face needs to be caved in with a warhammer," and so on. It's only when you're given the choice that you might say "I cave the sleeping goblin's face in with a warhammer, per its needs," and even then I may be misremembering it saying "I."

I must say thanks for sharing the video too, it's a spectacular watch. I don't have the attention span to watch all of it, but it gets its point across quickly.

 

No, that's third person again.  The story is being told from an outside perspective.  Second would be telling the story prom the perspective of the Goblin, something like "I awoke to see the him (the protagonist) standing over me with a Warhammer that he then swung into my face".  The next sentence them might be something like "I heard the sound of a Warhammer crunching some other Goblin's skull so I went to investigate.  As soon as I opened the door I caught a glimpse of him as he swung his Warhammer over my head.".  I know it's a little confusing, I think the best, and one of only very few examples of 2nd person in action is in one level of Driver: San Francisco.  In this mission you are driving away from the enemies in a another car following you, but you're doing it from the 1st person perspective of the other car:

 

 

Second person perspective that is very rarely used any media because it's very complicated difficult to write.

[Head_Hunter]

Second person's video games isn't as popular as first person and third person. I never really played a second person game often, but it could've been worthwhile seeing a second person hanging ontop of the car roof controlling the trigger, shooting the opponents, lol.