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Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Never heard of that term, but the camera has been fine in my experience. Camera control via the mouse. Movement with WASD

trend in modern gaming to do a 3rd-person PoV with the camera offset to one side so the player has the center of the screen open in an attempt to be a hybrid of 3rd person (advantage for melee action, jumping, and narcissistic obsession with seeing what your character looks like during every second of gameplay) and 1st person (advantage for precision shooting, crafting placement, seeing stuff that is not your character).

It achieves this by sacrificing symmetry in a way that my OCD can't handle. It feels so wrong to be moving something on the left or right third of the screen. What if something comes at you from the left? You're missing that part of your peripheral vision! You're left-sided. Everything is off balance. It's not right, I say! Worst offender and probable source of the trend: Fortnite

If a game wants to have both, that's fine, but it should do it by allowing swapping between centered 3rd person and centered 1st person POV camera like the old Jedi Knight games did.

Never bothered me, but ya this game does have that kind of camera. Except when steering the ship. The forward mast thingy gets in the way.

Getting snuck up on isn't a thing. There is an on screen indicator when you have an enemy's attention. And the camera is zoomed out enough in melee that you always have enough reaction time between enemy on screen and enemy attacking.

Stealth on your part is also not a thing. Which is probably consider 'good' but I guess that's a more controversial opinion than some of my other "good" items.

It's not right, I say! Worst offender and probable source of the trend: Fortnite

My guess is that Gears of War was really the source of the trend. I recall it was a major splash back in ye olde Xbox 360 dayes as an exclusive (by Epic, the same devs as Fortnite, no less) that really showed off its power as well as the online functionality. Up to that point, I think almost every popular online shooter was first person (Halo, Quake, Epic's own Unreal Tournament), and Gears of War really stood out, and its success resulted in a spate of games coming out right after that aped its over-the-shoulder camera style.