We now have a much greater understanding of the nature of games and how they are played than might even have been imagined in the early nineties. The time since the release of Wolfenstien 3D has seen the maturing of game studies as a discipline. As noted by Pinchbeck (Pinchbeck, 2007b) all the affordances a player has in a FPS game are provided through the avatar. Gameplay in FPS games is focused through the avatar. Given the absence of the avatar from the player’s view (except, perhaps, for a hand as in figure 1) it could be asked whether the characteristics of the avatar matter. Even more, as noted by Klevjer, (Klevjer, 2003, p.1) “Looking and targeting came together in the same movement, and the player was invited to, as it were, follow his gun”. Removing the avatar from the player’s field of view both makes these games distinctly visually different from those with a third-person perspective, but otherwise similar gameplay, such as Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment 2001), and locks the player’s and avatar’s views together. The FPS is characterized by a first-person viewpoint and a heavy emphasis on combat, typically involving firearms. Blazkowicz, in his original home of the PC? Or have other platforms and avatar types come to prominence? Yet how far has the genre come since the release of Wolfenstein 3D? Is it still dominated by the likes of B.J.
#WHAT ARE FPS GAMES PC#
FPS games have been released across a range of platforms, from its origins on the IBM PC and other home computers such as the Macintosh and Amiga to over a dozen different game consoles and now with an increasing presence on modern mobile phones. Some examples, such as the Bioshock (Irrational Games, 2007), Halo (Bungie 2001) and Half-Life (Valve, 1998) series, have sold millions of copies. In the 18 years since its release hundreds of titles have followed and the FPS is now a popular and commercially successful video game style (Cifaldi, 2006). There were earlier ancestors, and Catacomb 3-D (id software, 1991) perhaps has a better claim to being the first, but Wolfenstein 3D played a central role in promoting the style’s popularity. Wolfenstein 3D initially appeared on IBM PC compatibles and has been called the foundation of the First-person Shooter (FPS) genre (Malliet & de Meyer, 2005). This avatar is well-defined: a caucasian male, with a military background. Blazkowicz, directly in the centre of the player’s view. Keywords: First-person Shooter Avatar History Statistical survey Gender Raceįigure 1 shows Wolfenstein 3D (id Software, 1992), the face of the avatar, B.J. The analysis reveals definite trends, both historically and by platform. Characteristics of avatars within the surveyed titles are also examined, including race, gender and background, and how these vary across platform and time.
![what are fps games what are fps games](https://images.nintendolife.com/5991ad4d7a335/best-switch-fps-games.large.jpg)
The titles are compared by year of release, platform and game setting.
![what are fps games what are fps games](https://www.gamingscan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/fps.jpg)
In order to provide a wider context for such work this paper surveys 566 separate FPS titles, across a range of platforms. While there has been extensive study of the FPS genre, this has tended to focus on particular games, or at best a limited set of examples. The genre has an almost two decade history and is represented by hundreds of commercial titles. The First-Person Shooter (FPS) is a popular game form, with examples appearing on many different platforms. A Survey of First-person Shooters and their Avatars by Michael Hitchens