Games & the Uncanny Valley: yet ANOTHER lecture by me

[sephfire]

Just finished the fourth in my little series of game-related video lectures! Today's topic: the Uncanny Valley.

This should show up on Edge.com in the next week or so joining James Portnow's article on the issue. I'm sure most of you already have a pretty good grasp on this topic, but I always like hearing OCR feedback.

Extra special thanks to Joshua Morse for unwittingly providing outro music, and to CarboHydroM for providing me with an intro theme.

Enjoy!

[SwordBreaker]

Very, very nice. I really enjoyed that "lecture". And yes, I must be living under a rock 'cause I have not heard of the "Uncanny Valley" theory before, but once you started explaining it in the introduction, I understood where you were going with it games-wise. I've dabbled in this subject before without knowing there was an actual theory around it.

Enjoyed your helium voice and humor as well. Keep it up.

[Overflow]

"You may have noticed: It's very brown looking over there."

QFT. Man, this is so true.

Great vid, as usual; very funny and informative. Keep it up!

Personally, I like the stylized characters more, because they just stand out more. You can have more fun with cartoonish characters who can become flattened or change costume in a second. When you try to go for the super realism, any minor problem stands out like a big fat pimple on a super model. But I digress: there are obviously games where the realism is needed in the graphics, i.e. war games and sports games. But really, gaming is about fun, and when the experience can be ruined by a little graphical error, what's the point?

[Zephyr]

I'm really enjoying and actually learning from these videos, I still love the Yahtzee style too. Keep up the good work, and for the record I hadn't heard of the valley either.

[Dhsu]

Very nice, much easier to follow than the last one, possibly because you have a considerable amount of experience in this area yourself. I started to drift at the end, but that was probably my ADD kicking in.

[sephfire]

... much easier to follow than the last one ...

I had you in mind.

[big giant circles]

5 stars, per usual man

[Drack]

Excellent video lectures (all of them).

Most of it I already knew about, but this is a great way to get the word out in a way gamers and nongamers alike can understand.

[relyanCe]

Finally, I can tack a theory onto why Oblivion irked me so much! Thanks for yet another awesome video! Keep em comin

[Nohbody]

Finally, I can tack a theory onto why Oblivion irked me so much! Thanks for yet another awesome video! Keep em comin

I had it figured out when i realized that most characters were a different color from the neck down.

Daniel Floyd, your reviews, or whatever they are, are awesome. Very informative and cohesive, do more.

[Zombie]

You are awesome sephire. Good job on these.

[Broken]

Very nice presentation. I've never heard of the "uncanny valley" theory before, but I understood what you were getting at pretty quickly. I thought you used great examples to describe both sides of the "valley."

edit: Ironically enough I saw this not a minute after I watched your video.

[The Coop]

The funny part of all this, is that once people do make an engine that allows for a glimpse of that oh so tough to get to other side of the valley, it'll still likely have women with size double F tits, men with muscles that can't be achieved without steroids, and soulless eyes that whisper dark secrets into your mind late at night.

[Thalzon]

Finally went and looked through your videos. Nice! This recent one was definitely the best, but your arguments in all of them are solid.

[Aninymouse]

Sephire, your voice still is made of ether cooties.

[sephfire]

Sephire, your voice still is made of ether cooties.

My real voice is in there for one line near the end. You can see why I speed it up.

The funny part of all this, is that once people do make an engine that allows for a glimpse of that oh so tough to get to other side of the valley, it'll still likely have women with size double F tits, men with muscles that can't be achieved without steroids, and soulless eyes that whisper dark secrets into your mind late at night.

Haha, I wish I could put this line in the movie retroactively.

Although, I guess we're used to seeing over-beautiful people in TV and film, so that wouldn't be too disorienting. And the "soulless eyes" thing is just one of the uncanny issues that animator's will sort out eventually. Still, funny line.

[Dhsu]

I had you in mind.

Heh, I'm flattered.

This might be just my opinion, but I think "wrap it up" voice was fine. Yahtzee doesn't exactly have the most stimulating tone either, but his humor manages to keep his videos interesting. I guess it'd be hard to go to your normal voice at this point though, as you've got a bit of a precedent now.

[JCvgluvr]

Always a pleasure to view your work. I wasn't able to wrap my head around this concept until now. It's much easier for me to understand.

I suggest you refer to a certain nefarious character's advice: "If you're good at something, never do it for free."

[Stargem]

As ever, I find these videos to be interesting and funny. The stuff you do is definitely different from Yahtzee because of what you are doing. Sure, he is sarcastic and is essentially the Black Knight of videogame reviews, but I learn new things and how to express ideas from your videos - something that is much more valuable to me. Thank you.

[Incronaut]

wow that was a sweet lecture, gotta get one of those things going at my school haha

[Blue123]

Excellent work, there.

Any chance you'll be letting us know what your next video will be on?

[sephfire]

I'd like to do one on copyright protection and DRM eventually, but I'm not really sure what my next one will be. Portnow might have some ideas.

[Crazyonr1]

Excellent stuff man, just watched all 4 of your "lecture" videos, and they were both humorous and informative. A+ work, can't wait to see more.

[The Pezman]

3:38 - 3:44.

Fantastic.

I still need to have that conversation with you about educational games.

And then make a couple of these myself.

[SynthesizedStampede]

Awesome vid, and very timely on my part. In my Gaming Theory class we just finished comparing Shrek to Final Fantasy: Spirits Within and The Uncanny Valley was brought up. If I didn't have to go to work in the next five minutes I'd watch all your vids...heh maybe when I get back.