EDIT: brb while I catch up on posts made while I was typing.

Exactly, you are playing yourself, with your actions being your own, hence I would argue its second-person.

Second person is not when the player is playing themselves. In fact, it's expressly not that. For anything to be second person it has to be from the point of view of an involved party who is not the primary person. Myst is first person in all senses.

Miaghstir is correct in that it would pretty much have to be viewed from an opponent's eyes or someone else involved in the events of the game for it to be second person.

Tell me, in third person do you view yourself or your character? You don't view yourself do you, otherwise you would be watching yourself play the game, you view the character. Therefore when the perspective is first person it is not from the perspective of the player but from the character in the game. If you view the action from the perspective of another person involved you are still seeing it from a first person perspective, irrelevant of who that person is. Take, for instance, a story written from the perspective of an observer watching the main character of the story such as a sidekick: it is not from the perspective of the main character, and it may often be describing the actions of another character, yet it's still first person perspective because its from the viewpoint of one of the characters. Same thing here: it may not be the viewpoint of the main character, but it is the first person viewpoint of another character.

Second person is when you are being addressed directly. When the game/writer/whatever is speaking directly to you the player/reader. Let me put it another way: what perspective is your typical RTS? Third person? But then, whose perspective are you playing from, the man on the ground or the general leading the army? If it's the general then it could be first person as you are seeing what he sees right?

Morrowind does indeed have 2nd person view, but it's strictly a "vanity" view to look at your character. While it's possible to play in TPP, it's hideous difficult and balky. MW really is designed as a 1st person game, the other cameras are best to just look around at the gloriousness that is VVardenfell.

I disagree, in the context of a game you (the player) don't exist. The player character is you, so when you view your movements from the view of another character that is second person. But it's someone else witnessing the actions of you (the character). Yes. I didn't realise Generals could fly.

You seem to be misunderstanding what third person means.
You're not seeing it from the perspective of any character in the game. That's what makes it third person.

And I disagree that is what is meant by first person. Mario is not me, Blade from Sin is not me, yet it is first person because we are seeing the world directly through their eyes. Just because it is not the main character I am looking through does not stop it from being a first hand view.

It's another person viewing the main character, a first person perspective on the main character.

Not by your own definition.

You seem to be misunderstanding what I was getting at. If you are arguing that it is how we view the main character that defines whether something is first, second or third person then who is the 'main character' in RTSes? You are supposed to be taking on the role of general, and the viewpoint is abstract (I did not say the general was flying, no need for that please, though an RTS can justify it in fantasy settings so yes the general could be flying) and is often presented as the view from a satellite or, as in Middle-Earth RTSes, the view through that magic bally thing. The 'general' does not have a physical representation in the game, he is literally the player and the game is taking on the role of the satellite or magic bally, it is narrating the game to you as opposed to embodying you in the game or presenting the view of a first hand character.

There's no way we're ever going to agree. To me, this is all about who the camera is, not who the main character is. In a first person game, the camera is the character you're controlling. In a second person game it's a character other than the one you're controlling (but one who is still present). In a third person game the camera is either not a character at all, or is a detached character, one who isn't taking part in events.

And for the record, the flying general thing was just a joke. It wasn't meant to undermine your point or anything.

Fairy snuff, though I was enjoying the discussion. :)

My brain jammed up. ;)