The Uncanny Valley

It's a creepy picture, isnt' it?

But why?

Apart from its obviously unsettling elements (a weeping woman holding a gun is likely the definition of unsettling), there is something more at work here - something more subtle and instinctive is turning you against the image.

It's called the uncanny valley.

At least, that's what robotocist Masahiro Mori called the effect he observed in his research studying human response to near-human androids.

Apparently, people respond with increasing comfort and fondness to humanlike robots the more those robots begin to look and act human. However, there is a steep drop into discomfort and uneasiness reported once the humanlike robot reaches a point of resembling humans almost exactly.

Hence, the uncanny valley.

This phenomenon is being studied more and more as the video game industry pushes the limits of photo-real game characters. There's a delicate balance between creating the most believable game actors possible and alienating the gaming audience because of this instinctive behavior.

Some excellent examples of our disaffinity for near-human CGI are the movies Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and The Polar Express. Apart from actual plot content, many reviewers reported that they disliked the "creepiness" of the characters. They were almost doll-like.

And everyone knows that nothing is creepier than nasty, nasty dolls.

Anyhow, the uncanny valley phenomenon is something that will play an ever-increasing role in our relationship with movies and video games in the coming years. How it's overcome will be an interesting evolution.

By the way, the screenshot above is from a technical demo of the upcoming PS3 game, Heavy Rain (working title). You can watch the full tech demo video below, but let me warn you: it's creepy and contains a little NSFW language.