Randin
Trakanon Raider
I'd say the principle issue isn't so much the existence of a 3rd person view as it is the ability to zoom the camera half a mile out from your character.If you think 1st person view only merit is "immersion" then you're wrong.
Limitations adds to tactics and challenge. 3rd Person View gives you too much information that your character shouldn't have unless they have a high tech radar installed.
I'd actually argue that a nice, relatively close-in, 3rd person perspective is actually more realistic in terms of situational awareness than a 1st person perspective is, as being able to see around your character to a limited degree compensates for the limitations video games have in mimicking the ability to perceive the world, such as being able to pinpoint where a sound is coming from (assuming you don't have a full surround sound system on your computer), the simple ability to quickly change what direction you're looking, and of course the complete inability to physically feel things (as a simple for-instance, if someone attacks you from behind in real life, you're going to immediately know it, because you can feel where the attack is coming from; in a 1st person game, you don't really have anything that effective).