As in-game character models become more photorealistic, their artificialness becomes more obvious. James Portnow explores the phenomenon known as "The Uncanny Valley" in this week's design column.

The Uncanny Valley...some of you may not have heard of it, many of you may not know it by this name, but it’s one of the most important concepts in character design today.

Over the course of this article we’ll explore the Uncanny Valley, plumb its depths, and discuss it’s ramifications for the industry.

What is the Uncanny Valley?

"I have noticed that, as robots appear more humanlike, our sense of their familiarity increases until we come to a valley. I call this relation the "uncanny valley." - Mori, Masahiro (1970). Bukimi no tani (or The Uncanny Valley)

These words came from a famous Japanese roboticist way back in the 1970s.  He had noticed a strange trend.  At first, as he made better and better robots, people liked them more.  The new robots hinted at human characteristic, they were like big, bolted, awkward children and everyone loved them.   But as he continued to make improvements, as he added synthetic skin and rudimentary facial expressions, he found to his surprise that people no longer liked his robots.  Oh, other members of his field were impressed with these new robots and everyone acknowledged they were an “advance”, but being around these new robots made people uneasy.  No one “bonded” with these increasingly realistic androids in the way that they did with his earlier more primitive designs.  

This observation led Masahiro Mori (the robotisicist in question) to come up with the theory of the Uncanny Valley.  The premise is simple:  if something is clearly not human but has human qualities, we find those qualities endearing, but if that something becomes an imperfect simulacrum we find it disquieting and revolting.

So, How Does This Apply to Videogames?

Graphically, modern “next-gen” games have advanced to the point where we have to address the problem of the Uncanny Valley.  Many proponents of high end graphics say we have already crossed the valley and are firmly on the other side.  This is a myth.  It’s much easier to say that the problem is behind us, that we solved it accidentally at some unnoticed time in the past, than to address the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars spent on graphics have not brought us to a solution.

I’ll give the counter argument:  we have not yet crossed the Uncanny Valley. “Photorealism” alone will not break down the empathetic wall.  

moscalloutMany proponents of high end graphics say we have already crossed the valley and are firmly on the other side. This is a myth./moscalloutLet’s look at some characters:  Mario (human caricature), Master Chief (devoid of facial features and expressions) and Final Fantasy characters (stylized humans).  These are some of the most recognizable characters in gaming today, yet none of them are photorealistic.  In fact, if you make a quick mental list of videogame characters, say the first ten that come to mind…how many of them are photorealistic humans?  

When a character is clearly not human their human characteristics stand out.  Mario becomes more cute and funny, Master Chief becomes more stalwart and heroic, Final Fantasy characters become more earnest and expressive, because those are their most human characteristics.  

We forgive these characters much because we don’t expect them to live up to our experience of human beings.  We don’t require them to move perfectly or to react to danger like a human being and, when they get stuck on a two foot wall we’re willing to excuse it as an annoying idiosyncrasy of the medium rather than being torn out of the experience.  Most importantly: these characters invite us into the fantasy which they exist in by requiring us to use our imagination.