Do you prefer playing from a 1st person POV or 3rd person

[Sakura02]

Do you prefer playing 100% as the main character from a first person POV, or do you like seeing the person you're playing as once in a while in illustrations or are you fine playing as a character on the main screen.

I'm trying to figure out how to portray my main character in my VN. It's a bit weird because I'm making a game aimed at a male audience and usually those games never show the protagonist because they want the player to BE the character interacting with the girls.
Honestly does it even matter in the end?


What do these different POVs do for you? Which do you prefer in your own games and when you're playing? Do you want to be the character? Or be aware that you're just controlling a character's destiny in their story?

[Robert Kirkland]

Do you prefer playing 100% as the main character from a first person POV, or do you like seeing the person you're playing as once in a while in illustrations or are you fine playing as a character on the main screen.

I'm trying to figure out how to portray my main character in my VN. It's a bit weird because I'm making a game aimed at a male audience and usually those games never show the protagonist because they want the player to BE the character interacting with the girls.
Honestly does it even matter in the end?


What do these different POVs do for you? Which do you prefer in your own games and when you're playing? Do you want to be the character? Or be aware that you're just controlling a character's destiny in their story?

Unlike other people, I almost never imagine myself as the main character in a story. I prefer reading from 3rd person. First person just makes me feel weird.

[LVUER]

For Visual Novels, I prefer to play in 1st person POV.

[Auro-Cyanide]

I don't think I really have a preference, as long as it feels natural in game and I can connect with the main character. I would probably expect more art work for 3rd person POV though and the characters would have to face each other rather then the screen, It would be more like reading a book/watching a movie while 1st person gives more of a game feel... I think it makes more sense for a VN to be in 1st person, but a KN would work best as 3rd person. That is my opinion anyway.

[salis]

It’s almost a standard to write visual novels from a first person perspective, since this suggests the player visualize themselves in the protagonist’s place, and is further implied by having the main character obscurely visible in CGs, or even never shown at all. However, I personally prefer the protagonist to be shown, despite what style the game is written in, either in the window as they speak, as a sprite, or in CGs. I hardly ever imagine myself as the character themselves, and I just find it easier to connect with them if they’re visible.

But the third person POV feels the most natural to me, when playing or writing. I favor it more than the others since it gives the feeling of a game or a movie, as Auro-Cyanide stated. But because of this, I also expect to see the protagonist on screen if the game is written in third person, which means more work for the artist.

There’s also the almost never used second person style of writing in which you refer to the player as “you.” I've only ever seen it in Choose Your Own Adventure stories, but it might be interesting to play or write a visual novel in this style.

But these are just my thoughts. First person is definitely more popular in visual novels, especially ones targeted toward a male audience. But whatever you decide on, I hope it’s based on your own personal preference.

[machinist]

i really prefer 1st person POV but if the story is really good i might not mind 3rd person

[okonomiyaki]

I don't mind either, but I like to see the main character on the screen with everyone else. Otherwise I get this odd sense that I should be in the story, and I as well really dislike that idea in VNs.

[musical74]

On visual novels I like the 1st person POV, but on almost EVERYTHING else I prefer the 3rd person POV. The reason is it is usually easier to identify with the character in a VN - esp characters like Arthur Turner (GSK), who I can relate to on wanting to start fresh... but for platform games that would mess me up wayyyyyyy too much. Same is true for RPGs - I prefer a 3rd person POV, although IF it is done really well (think Elven Relations, which is a RPG/VN hybrid) I wouldn't mind too much.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Lets say you did have a 3rd person VN, how would the decisions feel? You wouldn't be making them directly, but on behalf of the character. Would that be weird?

[Nyu]

I think that this point does not affect the game that much, if it has a good story then I'll play it! But I personally prefer the first person ^_^

[PrettieAngel]

Personally, I much prefer to play a VN in first or second person. Most are written in first person, however I'd rather go for a second person POV over a third person one. The reason for this is because it gives me a greater sense of involvement in the story and game, rather than reading a preset story, within reason. I prefer a third person POV for books as well as forms of media that don't allow input but I think a VN should provide a different feeling from these. I do think, for the sake of CGs, that the player's character should be shown, but it wouldn't matter so much if there weren't any. Being female, I can't speak for a male audience, but I prefer it if the character I'm playing has a physical manifestation I can relate them to. I don't think having a sprite is not so important, though.

However, I tend to think of main characters as being able to be categorised into two different groups, ones that are given to the player to control, and ones that the player become. If you want to make the character seem more like an existing one that is given to the player to control, I think it would be more important for them to make appearances throughout the game, have a set personality, an existing name and a sprite, etc. In my opinion, characters like these are also more suitable for stories with things like 'true endings' or a 'true pairing'. On the other hand, I think a character that the players becomes would less likely have a defined physical appearance and be more suited to having the player input a name, as well as having their personality change based on decisions made.

I believe that the POV a game is written in really does have an impact on the feeling it creates during game play, so I think it'd be good it you give this some consideration when making your choice

[Poketto Kunoichi]

I agree with PrettieAngel's second paragraph above.

Personally, I prefer playing visual novels in first person, but then again the only third person POV one I've read was Narcissu and Crescendo, I believe it's called. I got bored of those two, but it was because I didn't like the characters. I don't imagine myself as the protagonist, though, but rather envision myself as a little voice telling them what to do, or just someone who controls their destiny. How can I put myself in place of the protagonist when he or she already has a name, school, past, and such? Even if you can input your own name, the whole changing your background information and such is strange, like in CLANNAD. Because of that, I'd like fully developed characters to tell the story instead of a player avatar.