Have you played a video game in 3D? What are some of the advantages/disadvantages to 3D gaming? What are some of the changes you experience (physically, emotionally, etc) when playing a 3D versus a 2D game?
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I have played an unfathomable amount of games in my days(which ironically isn’t very long, god I feel old) most of them have been 3D games. I generally do not put 3d over 2d as I can find both to be very enjoyable quite easily, but there’s certain advantages to 3d which often brings me back to a 3d game much faster than a 2d game.
One of these advantages for me at least would be that since a game is in 3D, it technically has far more room to flesh out it’s world and the characters within it, both graphically and artistically. One disadvantage though is that 3D games are harder to make. There’s a reason most indie developers often resort to 2D, not because it’s better or worse, not even necessarily because it’s cheaper though that is a factor, but mainly because it’s easier to program. Having made two 3D video games and two 2D video games in my day, I can say that 2D was a less painful experience.
When I’m playing a 3D game, it generally is easier for me to become attached to the world itself and feel more like I’m taking advance action in the fate of a universe so to speak. 2D games can do this for me too, but they have to rely on amazing visuals and art styles and extreme creativity to capture me the same way. Now I’m sure many will disagree with me on that. But I want to state that it’s not that I believe that a 3D game is by default superior. A good example of a 2D game that captures me would be Rayman origins and Legends. Both of these games have great artwork and I love their backgrounds, thought it also helps that I am a rayman fan.
I play 3D games quite frequently. Too me it is a different experience with the games. When playing 3D games it is easier for me to connect with the protagonist as well as lose my self in the game. I enjoy these games and I choose different types of 3D games based on “who I want to be” if you will. On days that I want to feel adventurous, I will play games such as “Assassin’s Creed” or “Skyrim”. Even though the chapter mentioned a lack of “connection” to third person perspective games, I rarely even notice my characters presence outside of a “cursor” if you will. When I want to feel competitive and less imaginative I play the online multiplayer FPS. I do get a certain sensory connection to this type of games I don’t really get with third person perspective games, yet I still feel a connection with that character. I do still play 2D games, “Mario” and “Zelda, Link to Past”. I find enjoyment with these games, but my experience with the character isn’t the same. I don’t really feel like I become Mario or Link when I play these games. My imagination isn’t stimulated the same, nor do I get the same sensory experience I get with FPS. The experience I do get though is a challenge, one I don’t find very much among today’s games. Today’s games are challenging but not to the degree of early games, where level mastery was vital. A Dungeon Boss killing Link sends Link back to the begging of the dungeon, forcing the player to make his/her way back through the dungeon to get to the Boss. I switch back and forth freely between these different types of games based on the experience I wish to receive.
I honestly have never played a video game in 3d because it just never interested me. Personally, I am not a fan of anything 3d because I think it just ruins the quality of whatever is being made 3d. Some advantages could be that it is more realistic and life like while as a disadvantage is that it can be broken or not used/seen correctly very easily. It all depends on the persons opinion and taste in gaming.
It’s interesting to hear this because I feel the complete opposite. 2-D gaming to me automatically puts me in a non-realistic environment because you can only go two directions the entire time.
I am a huge purporter of an extra dimension in both video games and in film, but only if they’re for the right reasons. I, like many others, accept that 3D can be a gimmick but also that it can be especially useful in adding not just a physical depth to a scene but also emotional as well. I read once online a metaphor for 3D as well as 48 fps when the Hobbit was coming out: 3D is like looking through a window, and 48fps is like removing the glass. While I cannot speak for 48fps, I think that REAL 3D (not that fake shit that studios add to a film like Clash of the Titans for a few extra bucks out of your wallet) helps to engross the viewer more in a scene. Same goes for 3D video games. I only watch 3D films if it was filmed natively in 3D, and not post converted like I just mentioned above. I once went to a specialized Home Theater store back home, and they let me preview one of their 3D TV’s while my father attended to business. And the movie they chose to showcase was Green Lantern. WTF. It was altered in post, and quite poorly at that. I don’t understand the technology that goes into it that well, but I know they curve and throw certain portions of the screen to create a certain false depth for movies like that. And it shows. Sometimes the characters appear flat, and light is especially jarring. The 3D effects I assume are easier to manipulate being that they are created within a “virtual camera”, and there are technologies that can duplicate that camera to show it from two perspectives and therefor create depth. It is because of this that I often see animated movies in 3D, like the latest pixar, dreamworks, or 3D animated disney film. It works because they “create” a second perspective that makes 3D easier within the modeled environment. The same goes for games, as those are technically animated.
I have a 3DS, so I’ve played a plethora of 3D games such as Super Mario 3D Land, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Pokemon X, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, and Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater. All work INCREDIBLY well on the glasses less system, as long as your head is in the right spot. It’s not hard to alter either. There’s even a dial on the side that changes the depth if it hurts your eyes too much (it is a tiny screen). But the added effect greatly increases the immersive qualities of the games, especially in Pokemon, where I couldn’t go back to the flat screen, 2 Dimensional games as easily. It’s the next step in filmmaking and in gaming, especially with the Oculus Rift coming soon. The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that has already been utilized and testing with some games, creating an even more engrossing world for the player to inhabit.
The Matrix is coming.
I’ve only really played one 3-D game, and that was Dark Forces, which is a first-person shooter Star Wars game. I’m not very much into shooting games, so the 3-D really didn’t do anything positive for my gaming experience. It did do something negative, though. I remember feeling very anxious while playing it. It could have been the mood the settings in the game conveyed, but I had a feeling that I was actually being hunted down while playing this game. I realize that sounds strange, but I think when a game employs a certain color scheme, music, and settings, they can really mess with your mind and your emotions!
An advantage of 3-D games (besides getting into the player’s mind a little more than maybe some 2-D games) is the believability factor. Especially now, with technology constantly evolving, 3-D games have come a long way since those blocky geometric shapes. Even then, walking toward the horizon from your character’s POV was definitely a lot cooler than playing a platform game. Now with texture mapping and all the new technology out there, everything is so hyper-realistic, I sometimes think I’m watching a movie instead of watching someone play a video game.
One disadvantage of 3-D games might be the same as one of the advantages: they can cause players to feel anxious, like they did with me. I’m sure the majority of gamers enjoy the rush and realism of being shot at, but I think there are a few who share my sentiment. Maybe I’m just sensitive.
Dark Forces, great game. probably one of the first 3-d games I’ve played as well but it helped me grasp the concept of 3-D gaming a lot.
I’ve played a few games that were three dimensional rather than two dimensional. I think some of the advantages to 3D gaming are that the player can explore their environment more and the developer can put more detail and thought into how the player can react with the surroundings. Some of the disadvantages include having more bugs or problems with moving around said environment. For example, Little Big Planet has some annoying parts where your character can move back and forth, but can get stuck very easily because it is difficult to control what you want to do.
I feel like 3D games gets the player more immersed with the game, so for horror games it makes the moments scarier. 2D games can generate just as much as an emotional response, depending on the story and if it is done well, but overall, I think 3D games get the player more involved more physically and emotionally.
Since my first stem was a Nintendo 64, the majority of my gaming experience has been in 3D, or at least 3D visuals in a spatially 2D game,. The advantages is more range of movement. The closest the 2D games I have played have gotten to that range are over-head games like The Legend of Zelda and Poke’mon Red, but in those I could not jump or move diagonally. The negatives are that the controls and camera angle particularly in the N64 era, were not always reliable. Sometime by moving into something you can get stuck, particularly is you are swimming or flying, like in Banjo Kazooie or Super Mario 64. Also, while women can easily be sexually objectified in 2D games (Princess Peach being Mario’s reward) the sexually as graphic progressed into 3D, became more visually obvious, particularly in fighting games like Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur, and Tekken, where it seems they have to be stripped down to balance out their masculine purpose of fighting. For me emotionally, 3D, particularly from the N64, Playstation, and Playstation 2, are nostalgic. They are what I mostly grew up with and mostly played flaws and all. 2D, even though they predate 3D, while I won’t say is more fun, feels more new and uncharted to me. 3D for me is the nostalgic fun escape, while 2D is the new adventure, though I can eventually feel like there is not enough range of movement. That being said, 2D often needs to be over head allowing me to move around like Poke’mon Red, have a good story and beautiful visuals, like Braid, or all these things like Child of Light, which though is side scrolling allows me to fly around the screen, adding a greater range of movement. Without these things, while it may start fun, I will in the end feel unsatisfied with the lack of space to move and want to play 3D.
I have indeed played games in 3D, thank you for asking.
I feel like the advantages are that you have a more lifelike experience with the game you’re playing. Also, a lot of 3D games have more free roaming maps where you can explore, which adds a more interactive component to the game playing. I also think that it is generally more visually appealing, at least in present day 3D games where the graphics are decent. Honestly, early 3D games in the 90’s kind of looked pretty terrible, so the visually appealing aspect pertains more to now than it did then.
Disadvantages would have to be that the visual complexity increases and with it the game difficulty increases. There is so much to look at, beautiful things to appreciate, and places to explore that it’s kind of hard to stay focused. This is probably an issue that only I deal with. Also, maybe this is just because I love old school games, that I just don’t find more complex 3D games to be as fun, but that is just a preference. Overall I’d say that 3D games are a top notch creation.
I would say that physically and emotionally you are more able to put yourself in the position of the main character you are playing in a 3D game and therefore you get more absorbed by the game. This can do all sorts of things to someone’s emotional state, I think it would be a positive way to get out aggression (it’s better in a video game than doing crazy stuff in real life). I just think that all the senses are more heightened in 3D games due to the more realistic representations and this helps to keep people into playing games. It’s more of an immersive experience now-a-days.
I have played a game in 3D though I now find the definition can be somewhat loose in that area. As far as 3D games I have played some games on Nintendo 3DS and Batman: Arkham Asylum in 3D however not on a 3D television though otherwise it seems that 3D by the book definition can be something like virtually any console game available today. If 2D is like older games then it reminds me of games available on Game Boy system. As far as how I remember the experience compared to the two I would say that true 3D that required the glasses may need some time or on 3DS between 3D and 2D I felt that 2D is something that I was more accustomed to it. I cannot say that I personally have fully been into that immersed level mentioned. However I have found that I have been able to get into the imaginative and challenge based immersion easier with playing the 3D games instead of 2D side scrolling games which usually has allowed for a greater feeling of challenged based immersion than imaginative. While I have never gone to depth mentioned in the book to obtain sensory immersion I have found physically and emotionally more can be placed in 3D games rather than 2D where in 2D the challenge is more to complete the game while 3D provides a chance for real immersion. As far as disadvantages as said earlier it seems too much may be required to support the graphics of 3D right now but an advantage is that it is another step to making things more realistic and can provide a more in depth experience
That being said, while I don’t feel the more gratuidous violence that came along with 3D made me and many a more violent individual, I think in a world that has as many issues with violence as it does, it would be neglectful to say it has no effect. I think it does impact the overall atmosphere of gaming and media in general, as well as what we vaule, with are demand, desire, and value for such violent merchandise. This even occurs to the point that people violently defensive over it, such as they were when the Feminist Frequency Tropes vs Women in Video Games. I also think the distance in media in general can allow us to dehumanize quicker without a human cae in front of us, based on all the cruel comments and remarks on the internet. Again, not everyone on the internet is like that, but many are.
I’ve played N64’s Super Mario Bros. 64 as a child all the way through. It was the first 3D game I ever played and it was quite enthralling. All of a sudden “physics” of the game was important. I recall considering shadows and the first person point of view of being able to look up into the sun (where you entered a hidden world). Not too long ago I stumbled upon a youtube video that was describing 2D, 3D, and 4D Snake which utilizing four points on a four-axis plane. This then lead me to discover a game-in-production that is rendered in 4D called Miegekure. Check it out.
2-D games have a much more classic feel to me because that was the standard platform of gaming in the past. Some of the first games I’ve ever played have been in 2-D so regardless of if the game is good or bad I always get that classic feel playing them. I feel you can get more strategic with 2-D gaming for it’s more maze-like qualities. In 2-D action games or fighting games there isn’t an option to parry to the left or right which forces the players to really learn the moves and combos instead of just dodging.
I personally enjoy 3-D games more for the fact that the environment is more open. i am a fan of adventure games and love to explore locations to the highest degree and I can do that easier if not better in 3-D games.
I have never played a 3D game, but I could imagine what the experience would be like. I assume that the experience is very interesting. The graphics of those games would have to be amazing and very detailed. It would have to be because the game would be such a realistic representation of reality. I could see some disadvantages in that there would almost be too much going on the player could almost get distracted by the volume of things presented by the game. I would be very interested to play a 3D because I believe the experience would be an exciting one.
I think there is some confusion after reading the replies as to what is being meant by 3D, so I’m going to address both.
I have never played a 3D game in the aspect that you have to wear glasses like in a movie and things “pop” out of the screen. I know people who have and they are apparently really fun and interesting to play, but I have never had the fortune to play one myself.
I have played 3D games in the aspect that you can run in all directions, or the world is “open”. You can move around objects and see the from all sides, and the game has depth, as opposed to just being able to run left/right. I most often play these types of games (like Bioshock Infinite currently) and they are my preferred style. I personally get more emotionally attached to games that are 3D because it feels more lifelike and you have more control, at times feeling like you are the character. With 2D games I don’t feel as attached. The story lines can be just as good in one as the other, but I think you lose that “lifelike” quality with 2D. I still thoroughly enjoy all kinds of 2D games, but most 2D games I play because they are fun or challenging, not for the story. Every Mario Brothers game I have ever played has been in 2D, and I love them all, but not because they have a great story, they are just really fun to play.
The 3D game functions in a very similar way to the invention of sound in film: There is no longer that constant reminder that what you are looking at is a fiction, is false, is lying to you. No one would ever mistake the 2D world of Super Mario Bros. for the real one. But interestingly, there is a certain tension in this world where people, because of the rhetoric that pervades our society about narrative works inventing a world surrounding it, where the characters are autonomous and so forth, want to make sense of the 2D world and make it into something more I can mostly see this tension in Mario games, specifically: Super Paper Mario, where the camera could be rotated 90 degrees to see the other plane of 3D life hiding behind the 2D one, or the 3DS Mario games, where the apparently 2D world had 3D protuberances towards the camera.
As someone who – not is against, and it’s difficult to speak about this meaningfully, because it does so pervade our understanding of narrative, to the degree of essentially being the ground for it – but distrusts the “cohesive world” understanding of narrative, there’s some fondness for 2D games, but gin the modern ironic stage, the 2D game is self-consciously retro, having an ironic distance from itself, which can in turn lead to the same narrative structure of the (attempted) dissolution of self into the protagonist and characters, with the gap of the plain un-reality of the world being papered over by a fetishistic, ironic relationship with it. (In other words, all effects that remind one of the artificiality of the world can be brushed aside with, “Oh, I know it’s an obviously false world, but…”
This is all tied up with an aesthetics that is much bigger than the specific issue of 2D and 3D, however.