I love that the article mentions Battlezone. That used to be one of my favorite games. At the time, I had no idea that it was probably the first first-person game, probably because at that point, there were so many other first person games that existed.  Lunar lander was another of my favorites. Interestingly, though, I had found a version with updated graphics that a friend and I used to play online.

I like the idea of presence derived from social interactions within a game. I think that in this era of gaming, the internet and the communications between people within the game environment play a huge role in creating each individual’s presence in the game.  When events take place within that game environment, the fact that people can interact with those causing/taking part in those events allows the game to really bring every user into the game. It’s not just a simulation anymore, in the way that most games are, it’s partly simulation and largely interaction. The interaction, I believe, plays a huge role when considering the concept of “Presence” within games.

The discussion on realism is another that I find really interesting.  Largely because it’s one of the main factors I consider when buying a game. I’ll often look up a game online to make sure that graphically, there aren’t any problems with it. One of my favorite things to do in any game is to just walk around the environment, exploring the artists’ world and enjoying the adventure. I absolutely hate it when things pop up that don’t make sense, such as the end of the world, or models that are placed in such a way that I can tell that they are a model, and not a “real” environment (like when poor camera scripting reveals an empty rock, or things collide and pass through each other etc).  I’d say that one game (though I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of it) that did this well is Crysis. The leaves moved when you walked through them, the environments deformed flawlessly, the lighting was magnificent and the world was pretty vast.

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