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Video Games and the Uncanny Valley

Made by Daniel Floyds

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15 Comments

Current View: 15 / Show all Comments

fattirefury : LVL 42: VP 5: said:

fattirefury

Hidden (Show Comment) -31 votes

157 days ago...

He overanalyses a bit

Venomousvole : LVL 38: VP 4.6: said:

Venomousvole

Hidden (Show Comment) -15 votes

156 days 22 hours ago...

^ no he doesn`t. It`s clear to me we should pursue photo realism in simulation style games, and stylisation in more casual recreation style games.

Vizreel : LVL 42: VP 5: said:

Vizreel

Hidden (Show Comment) -43 votes

156 days 18 hours ago...

Ok... and the point of this video was...? Most of us if not all of us have nothing to do with game development, we just play them, seriously, what`s the point of this video? It just explains a concept and that`s it.

Jimwillie : LVL 31: VP 4: said:

Jimwillie

44 votes NegativePositive

156 days 15 hours ago...

oh wow, and explaining a concept is now not a point?

Zodd_25 : LVL 28: VP 3.7: said:

Zodd_25

47 votes NegativePositive

156 days 11 hours ago...

i had never heard of the uncanny valley but i was aware of it`s effects, very interesting.

not thought provoking persay but very informative.

Onisama : LVL 36: VP 4.4: said:

Onisama

9 votes NegativePositive

155 days 7 hours ago...

It`s all about eye-candy... nothing more.

Flynn_2006 : LVL 46: VP 5: said:

Flynn_2006

2 votes NegativePositive

155 days 4 hours ago...

Which side of the valley am i?

1og0s : LVL 20: VP 2.9: said:

1og0s

-4 votes NegativePositive

155 days 3 hours ago...

I think he makes a good point when describing robots and the middleground between a believable human and a robot with human features. However, there are far more factors to consider in a videogame than having things look real or not.

He fails to tackle a fundamental element to any video-game: Gameplay. This is what makes or breaks a game. It doesn`t matter if the graphics are good or terrible. If it has amazing gameplay then the visual aspect is the least of anyone`s concern. This is why people still play old games like Starcraft and Counter-Strike. The gameplay is phenomenal yet by today`s standards the graphics are extremely poor.

You can still sit down with friends and play Mario Kart or Super Smash Brothers on your N64 and have a great time just for the sole reason that the gameplay is excellent.

The real sides to the Uncanny Valley come down to Emulation vs. Simulation. What do we want our videogames to do, do we want them to emulate life likeness, or simulate it. I think right now, we`re heading for simulation, but we still have a ways to go and as technology advances, things will become integrated and the entire way we "play" or "interact" with a video-game will change. Calling them "video-games" will not even be appropriate in the near future.

I think the general concept he`s laid out is sound, but he fails to see the bigger picture when making his distinctions between the two sides. Photo-realism and Stylization aren`t even half the battle.

Red Heaven : LVL 37: VP 4.5: said:

Red Heaven

19 votes NegativePositive

155 days ago...

^
And that`s not the point of the presentation.

He was never addressing it from a gameplay standpoint. This was a dissertation on aesthetics and human behavior within video games... which is the uncanny valley.

If anything this could be shown in a psychology class and no one would bat an eye. Both sides of the valley are trying to achieve the same thing in different ways. However, we have essentially mastered the left valley, the aesthetic one. Cartoonists have done it for years.

However, the other side of the valley creates a lot of questions. In order to cross that threshold a lot of psychological studies need to be put on the table. The primary ones are discovering what makes something "believable". We`re social animals and we`re very sensitive to facial expressions. But what markers clue us in? What aspects trigger alarm?

It`s literally an uphill battle, one concerned with unlocking our most basic thinking patterns.

Thump : LVL 25: VP 3.4: said:

Thump

0 votes NegativePositive

154 days 23 hours ago...

@ 1og0s, what you say is true but I think he steers clear of that on purpose and is just focusing on the visual side of games.

Tada : LVL 44: VP 5: said:

Tada

1 votes NegativePositive

154 days 23 hours ago...

1og0s: You kind missed the whole point which is that games like Mario Kart and Smash Bros. wouldn`t work at all if they had realistic graphics. If Mario look exactly like a real person, people would just think "But why doesn`t he bleed when I kick him in the face." when playing Smash.

The visual style has a huge impact of how a player perceived various kinds of limitations in the gameplay.

You have the same problem with movies which try to emulate the real world as much as possible, whenever they do something wrong the whole experience can suffer. Take for example historical movies. If you get something wrong about the era in which it`s set and people spot it, they usually feel less connected to the game. Like if in the middle of `Shindler`s List`, Shindler drove around dressed as a pimp driving a Ferrari the movie would be ruined, even if it was just a five second scene and the rest of the movie was perfect.

Xero7 : LVL 9: VP 1.8: said:

Xero7

2 votes NegativePositive

154 days 17 hours ago...

i had no idea what the uncanny valley was i found this very interesting

shakazzolo : LVL 16: VP 2.5: said:

shakazzolo

0 votes NegativePositive

154 days 13 hours ago...

I wish that we can make this video a sticky or something...

Cramok : LVL 26: VP 3.5: said:

Cramok

7 votes NegativePositive

154 days 13 hours ago...

OMG this voice is so annoying!!!

Enigma90 : LVL 22: VP 3.1: said:

Enigma90

2 votes NegativePositive

154 days 9 hours ago...

^ the voice kills the ears, yes. But those were some good and true points.

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