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Fourth wall (breaking)

Started by proanim Jun 3, 2013 at 10:14 PM 2 replies 2.3k views

Original Post

proanim

Jun 3, 2013 at 10:14 PM

Is breaking of the fourth wall actually good or bad thing?

For people that are not familiar with this here are the links to the subject

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourthWall

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreakingTheFourthWall

I am in two minds about this, since there was only one moment in Dead Space 3 that used this and it completely broke the immersion for me. But there are other games which can actually benefit from this. I want to hear other peoples opinion on this, since I was thinking about doing this almost constantly through the dialog of my game. But the thing is that my game would touch on somewhat heavier subjects.

Acharis

Jun 3, 2013 at 11:09 PM

I'm a traditionalist I guess, for me it's definitely bad :)

Ludus

Jun 4, 2013 at 12:58 AM

If it's done well (and often for comedic effect in a lighthearted game) then it can be good. If it's a serious game that aims to completely immerse the player into its world, then no - it usually isn't a good thing.

Meatsack

Jun 4, 2013 at 3:00 PM

There are methods that successfully break the fourth wall without ruining immersion to include the gamer as a character in the story. The Command and Conquer: Red Alert series immediately springs to mind with the FMV clips addressing the player directly as if through a video-chat. It can be done right, but it's just not done often.

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