I had one of those "ah ha" moments while playing Skyrim. It had to do with a personal struggle of "when or if you should I play in 1st person perspective vs. 3rd person. Sounds trivial I know, but then again the concept has a place and purpose to enjoying the game and elevating that feeling of immersion. I started to realize that I felt more immersed in the world when I use 3rd person in the open environment and use 1st person when inside structures/dungeons/caves. How do you use these two perspectives to better enjoy the game's world?

1st person in combat and while conversing with an NPC and 3rd for traveling and occasionally combat.

I'm almost the same, 3rd for wandering and 1st for fighting and dungeon diving. I won't bother switching to 1st for fighting weaker enemies like wolves and crabs but everything else is more engaging when fighting in 1st person.

I only use 1st person for archery

I don't have a method. If the mood strikes me, I'll switch, but usually, I'm in 1st person most of the time.

I am not my characters. I do not wish to see the game through my character's eyes. So I play in third-person.

I roleplay stories. My character's are the protagonists in these stories. And just as I would not put myself, the author, into a work of literary fiction, so I do not put myself, the player, into my video game stories. My fiction is nearly always in third-person and so is my roleplaying.

I pretty much play solely in first person. I only use third person to look at my character.

First person can work for exploring if you're on PC and can expand your FOV. Then I'd say it's even better since you don't have your character blocking a part of the screen

I use first person all the time unless I just want to check out the area or look at my character.

Third person, always. Floating hands feel just... too boring for me.

I only go 1st person if I happen to wanna see a npc's face closer while listening to the dialogue.

As a thief, i use both. I can actually seem to, to an extent, grab around corners while hidden while in 3rd person. 1st person for everything else.

I used to play in first person [Doom/Quake/Halflife] so I was used to it. In Morrowind I got tired of instant death from above, below, side, behind. It is also a crippling/handicap/claustrophobic way of playing this kind of game, plus the sword bobbing up and down in the corner or hands sticking up looks so cheesy, silly. The only time I use 1st person is for precision shots.

You want to know what first person is like. Take an IPod or any telescreen phone and a box. Cut the box to fit the shoulders. Cut a small hole for the phone camera. Tape the ipod sideways. Walk around your house using only the ipod as your view of the world.

With third person I have full motion control, combat control, I can Spin around like a top. I have full awareness around me, no more sudden death. Lots of interesting things happen in game that you don't see in first person, especially in combat. I can also watch my companions fight. How else do

i get to see my handsome PC avatar in action.

I can't use 3rd person in these games. It gives me motion sickness and after a while starts triggering vertigo. As such, Ive never really used a horse or a werewolf.

what I hate about 1st person-
You do a spin attack and your arms flip over the screen.
lots of clothes have different colours in 1st person.
bracers/Gauntlets become too small and in a different position to 3rd person.

what I do to make it better-
Never wear bracers/gauntlets in 1st person.
high sensetivity and rotate camera 360° when spin attacking
when climbing I move the camera to look like I am climbing properly
when jumping I move the camera
when landing from a fall I move the camera
HUD off
Headphones on

I preffer 3rd person because-
When playing as a woman
I can see my surroundings But I am usually distracted by my female character in ancient nord armour
I like seeing the apparel my character is wearing
I love the combat
I play without crosshairs in 3rd and 1st and I love archery in 3rd person.


3rd person is my choice.

I don't use third person unless I'm just looking at my gear while an NPC is rambling at me or something.

That includes not bothering with anything that puts me in third person - no vampire lord, no horse riding, and all kill cams modded out(I hate the first person ones too).

I play an archer without using the crosshair though so first person is pretty mandatory for my combat style, but regardless I prefer it for immersion + I'd simply rather look at the landscape without my character's bum in the middle of the screen going through awkward running animations.