Levine: First-person is the most immersive, child-like perspective

First person perspective offers the fewest barrier to a child-like sense of immersion, according to BioShock creator Ken Levine.

"I think it’s obviously, for me, the most direct way to engage. It’s one less barrier to the experience,” Levine told Industry Gamers.

Levine likened gaming to childhood imaginary play, and said it offers a sympathetic experience most adults can no longer achieve independently.

"It’s a strange thing to be in someone else’s shoes. It’s something we do very naturally as children, but it’s something that is much more difficult for adults.

"I think that games gives us enough of a nudge in the right direction to have that childhood experience of play. ... Transposing your identity onto somebody else’s, and that is something so powerful when you are a kid. You just lose that as an adult because you get so self-[conscious]."

“Games sort of allow us to break through that layer to let us go back to that space of play, which I think is really powerful," he concluded.

For those under rocks, Levine is the founder and creative director of Irrational Games; his next game is BioShock Infinite.