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Welcome to our first feature article here at DDN. Today I want to explore a tangent on a theory thats been making echo in the gaming community in the past months and recently resurfaced with The Wire’s take on the matter. I’m talking about the Uncanny Valley. Follow along as we go beyond graphics to discover a new threat to the gaming industry.

THE STORY SO FAR

The uncanny valley, for those unfamiliar with the theory, Is a theory made by Masahiro Mori in 1970 which stated that as humanoid figures become each time more lifelike the spectator becomes more and more emotionally attached and identified with it. That is until the figure reaches a point of realism where the spectator feels repelled by the mere sight of it. Apparently at this point our brains stop recognizing this figure as a fictional construct and we start to see it as an actual living being, but something’s not right, its still not quite lifelike, its un-natural.

Video game journalists and theorists have, for some time now, used the Uncanny Valley as an argument in the better graphics debate of next generation consoles. Saying we are being too hasty in reaching the so called photorealism barrier; that next generation games pushing for realism might be setting themselves up for a big mistake. Gamers might start preferring a fantastic, or cartoonish styles, they say. In his article, Shawn White went as far as to say that the Wii would have an advantage over their competitor’s consoles because of the graphical limitations of the system.

And so Wii fanboys rejoice, better more immersive gameplay seems set to triumph in the next generation console war. But, what if there’s something we’re missing? What if we are just choosing a different bullet of the same gun? What if gameplay gets too realistic?

A DIFFERENT KIND OF REALISM

Surely there’s a reason why videogames have increased in popularity over the past half century. There are many reasons, actually, why we feel so attracted to videogames. Of all these many reasons the one I want to focus on is inherent to almost every videogame, the escape from reality.

From random magical battles in an RPG to the latest rehash of Madden, we’re choosing a virtual situation over our real environment, if only for a while. Actually, sport games are the perfect example to illustrate this. Now now, lets not jump the gun and start bashing sport games just yet, hear me out. There must be a reason why people prefer to play Madden over going to the park and play football, there must be a reason why people prefer the latest tiger woods game over going to play golf. That reason is because videogames are easier you get a reasonable amount of fun for a much milder activity. Lets call it fun efficiency.

Games are for fun, we get fun by means of the experience the games provide. Graphics where once a way to enhance the experience but somewhere along the way the message was lost and the experience took the backseat to graphics. With the Wii, Nintendo has made a strong statement that the industry’s mission should be to provide more fun through new experiences, this time with the Wiimote’s features. Once again the industry gets back on track with fun as the goal and the experience over graphics. But we lost track once, and it could happen again.

What if games fight so hard to emulate reality through the means of control, as they do now with graphics, that this time the experience takes a backseat to the controlling. If this were to happen it would put the industry in much bigger trouble than they have been in recent years. The controller wouldn’t be complicated, but the games would be so realistic that fun efficiency would get destroyed. Only a select hardcore population would sustain the industry once again closing markets.

A WARNING FOR THE FUTURE

Of course this might not happen this generation, and its very unlikely that Nintendo would be one of those to loose track, but it could happen. As silly as it might appear to some of you, it already happened with graphics. As a community of gamers and developers, we must strive for a balance in games. Realism isn’t something that should be avoided but it must be used with care. We must keep our eyes in the mantra: games are for fun.

And if this were to happen, if the gaming industry found itself on the verge of a crisis, lets all hope there will be a Miyamoto and an Iwata and lets hope there will always be a company willing to take the change and shake things up, lets hope there will always be a Nintendo.