Playing God with Isometric Perspective

This essay seeks to validate the fact that we humans yearns to be in control

and explains how isometric perspective is employed as a tool to render control.

Isometric perspective is a technique that allows us to represent 3D subjects in 2D

format visuals. This mode of rendering places the viewer at the top corner, looking

downwards diagonally – as though seeing through the eyes of a god. While this angle

of view is unnatural, it gives the viewer a sense of control, being at the top of

everything. Isometric perspective was introduced formally by Professor William

Farish in 1822 but is believed to have originated from Chinese art. In 1689, The

Chinese Emperor Kang Xi commissioned a scroll painting, The Southern Inspection

Tour (fig. 1) that depicted his boat journey through southeast China. The top-down

view in the painting gave the intended viewer, the Emperor, a perspective that allows

him to have an overall view of his kingdom. The impression of being omnipresent

immediately appends the notion of being above all. This is befitting for the Chinese

emperor who is known to be the “son of the heavenly god”.

The co-relation between isometric perspective and control are brought forward

today and implemented in many aspects of our lives. It is heavily used in real-time

strategy games such as Command & Conquer Generals (CCG) (Fig. 2) where the

player is given an empowered position to lead his troops and tanks in the game.

Referring back to the Chinese scroll painting, it is important to note that the mobile

point of view in such games could have also been imported from these paintings. The

motion of unrolling the scroll (which is usually based on a scene) reveals to the

viewer part by part, different scenes of the painting. It is similar to how the player can

move around the game scene merely by the touch of his mouse cursor – and the

control that he has over his point of view. Playing the role of a General in CCG, it is
therefore important that the player has a sense of feeling that he is in control of

everything, probably the reason why isometric perspective is here chosen over other

forms of visual representation.

In similar strategy games, the player is placed up high and almighty, instilling

a strong sense of control. The player would have gained a perspective similar to

Emperor Kang Xi when he saw the scroll painting of The Southern Inspection Tour. It

is no coincidence that in such games, the player often has to make decisions that will

affect the entire game-play. While one may argue that in Command & Conquer

Generals, the point of view may be the aerial view out of a helicopter, there’s no

disputing that in The Sims, the player is positioned to be god-like – he is able to look

into the houses, looking through the roofs as though they were invisible, controlling

the human characters to fulfill a set of requirement to complete the game.

Moving away from games, isometric perspective can also be found in other

application that elevates the user to a god-like status. Autocad - a program used by

architects and designers to create digital prototypes in 3D renderings, has many

similarities as a 3D game. It offers the user a mobile point of view that he can

navigate around his own drawings and make changes. The program may not be a form

of entertainment like the games we mentioned, it’s functional purpose is also probably

not to give the user the “control” that we human yearn to have artificially, but

subconsciously, the user of the program might feel god-like, a creator, in part due to

the sheer amount of control he has over the subject.

Centuries ago, the Chinese artists introduced isometric perspective to create a

sense of control, the fact that the same technique is applied today in the different

applications to achieve a similar effect of control is a testament to how effective

isometric perspective is.

Annex  
   

 
Fig.  1  Wang  Hui  (1632-­‐1717)  and  assistants,  The  Kangxi  Emperor's  Southern  Inspection  Tour,  
Scroll  Eleven:  Nanjing  to  Jinshan  handscroll,  colour  on  paper,  Palace  Museum,  67.8  x  2612  cm  
 
 

 
Fig.  2  Screen  capture  of  Command  &  Conquer  Generals    
  
Fig.  3  Screen  capture  of  The  Sims  
 

 
Fig.  4  Screen  capture  of  AutoCad  Program  
 
 
  
Reference

Art and visual perception: a psychology of the creative eye

Rudolf Arnheim, 2004

http://changingminds.org/explanations/needs/control.htm

http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/iiasn9/eastasia/krikke.html

J. Krikke (1996). "A Chinese perspective for cyberspace?"

International Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter, 9, Summer 1996.