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In Defense of First Person Shooters
April 18, 2008

What do Mo Willems' Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and the often violent first person shooter video game genre have in common? Quite a bit more than you might think! The Pigeon series of books has been an instant success starting with the Caldecott Honor for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. I would argue, however, that what makes these books so popular with children are the same aspects that make first person shooters so appealing as games.

The common factor here is that the Pigeon books are actually first person reader books. Well, that may not be exactly the right term, and I am not sure if there even is a word for this concept, but if not then the literature people need to get busy and find one. Our traditional terms of first person and third person refer to the characters' point of view in a book; what makes the Pigeon books work, however, transcends that traditional limitation. As a first person reader book, the action in the book is viewed directly through the eyes of the reader. The reader, in a sense, becomes a character in the story and is acknowledged and addressed as such by the other characters. You aren't just reading Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, you are experiencing it; you are right there in the story responding to the Pigeon's pleas.

This is also the attractive power behind the first person shooter genre. When I play America's Army, I feel much more directly involved in the game as a character than when I play a top down third person point of view game like Civilization. Even though I feel a connection with the culture I am shepherding through development in Civilization, I feel a much stronger connection as I look through the eyes of my soldier character as I tackle a task with my squad in America's Army. Despite the concerns that might be raised about the typically violent content of first person shooter games (the very name of the genre certainly suggests a rather strong dose of violence), I would encourage you to take a look at some of these games. Not to condone the violence, but to appreciate the power that the game experience holds. To better understand how gaming has changed, to begin to appreciate how expectations for interaction with media are changing, and to realize how Mo Willems recognized the potential for applying the same techniques in the creation of a first person shooter book.

So on this day, the first National Gaming @ Your Library day, take a moment to try a game. America's Army is a free download and the basic training portion provides a great demonstration of the genre.

Posted by Chris Harris on April 18, 2008 | Comments (0)