Camera and Genre research: First Person

Camera position: First person

Genres: First Person Shooter, RPG, Simulation

The first person camera is used when the gameplay requires accuracy and/or immersion.

The camera is placed as if it is the point of view of the player character, which can help with immersion in military simulations or games where atmosphere and a feeling of actually being the character is important. The camera helps the player with aiming their weapon as the view directly relates to where the gun will point, which is important for competitive  games.

Game uses of the First Person camera:

Used for high weapon accuracy in games such as Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, etc.

Used for high impact horror immersion in Amnesia, Alien Isolation.

Used for story immersion in story driven FPS games and 'walking simulator' type games, e.g. Half Life, Dear Estha, Stanley Parable

Used in high immersion simulations such as Military, Flight Simulators and Racing Games, placing the player right in the cockpit or driving seat, e.g. ArmA, Digital Combat Simulatir (DCS), Project CARS.

The in-engine setup for the FPS has the camera positioned directly on the player character with 3D meshes representing the player character's arms, weapons, or surrounding cockpit positioned so that they appear to be part of or in use by the character the user is playing as. The camera rotates to look where the controlling player moves and looks using the controller and in turn this is also where the character's weapon will point (if present).