Quote: "whats stopping this from evolving?"
Lack of animation state calls through gunspec, I'd imagine. If the view was fairly close in and over-the shoulder, you could get around lack of speciffic HUD states for jumping, strafing, etc.
When you switched weapons, there would likely be a noticable hitch. When you pick up items, you'd go 1st person (no biggie really).
When you get up close to an NPC it would look awkward though if they were all scaled down, it might be passable. But still, it would have the sensation of one of those dudes on a foosball table.
Expectations. People would continually find stuff to complain about because of lack of knowledge about how the animation system is limited (Why doesn't he reach out to turn on a switch, etc).
Lastly, the people with the know-how or ability are likely busy with other things.
I think FredP made an excellent design decision by going with the snowman. I think i'll even download it and give it a whirl because it looks like a fun item. Thanks for the freebie