For all of you that remember the dawn of video games, or merely the rise of Nintendo and computer games, you know the different types of perspectives in digital gaming. We all remember the Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog side scrolling video game. The story behind the game was told in the third-person and the game was played in a third person view.

The third person camera angle has changed as technology has progressed. When referring to a third person video game we often think of the camera being directly behind the main character. In the earlier days of video games third person games appeared as side scrolling game due to the limitations of technology.

We all remember the first big first person hits such as Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. The main camera angle showed an arm extended out from the camera holding the main characters weapon of choice. The game made the player feel like they were more apart of the story in the game and like they were actually there.

There aren’t as many popular second person video games out there. Dungeons & Dragons, which has been made into many computer and video games started out as a board game that was played with friends. The story is based around you and your comrades in an epic adventure through dark dungeons. You play your character choosing how you want your character to act and grow through out the game. A common narration for a second person game might be, “You open the heavy wooden door and behind it you find three ugly looking monsters and a treasure chest. What do you do?”

If you wanted to find a place full of second person games, you would want to look for MUDs. These text based adventures put you at the center of the story. MUDs also allowed you to interact with other users. The first MUD servers were filled to capacity at all hours. People lived inside these things hours on end. MUDs are the ancestors to just about any online game played, specifically those like Everquest and Ultima Online.