Probably most of us don't pay it much mind, but if you take the time to really observe the characters in Skyrim, you might think you've been transported to the uncanny valley. Their faces are a bit too rough and blurry, their features both too distinct and too generic. It only gets worse with mods, which add detail but no realism. I needn't even mention the lip-syncing.

You get a creepy, uncomfortable feeling, too, when you stop to watch characters, or is it just me?

Mass Effect doesn't have this effect on me, so why does Skyrim?

Do..you even know what the uncanny valley is/means? Because Skyrim is nowhere near the uncanny valley lol..

I can honestly say that I have never felt any of the effects of the Uncanny Valley in Skyrim. If anything I would argue that the world is too "real". People see the world and expect more realism than they should and get "repulsed" when it doesn't live up to expectations. That's why we have so many threads about how unbelievable some aspects of Skyrim are, because while they don't work that way in the real world, they work perfectly in Nirn.

This is not an uncanny valley discussion.

The game is not shooting for verisimilitude, but artistic description. It isn't trying to depict reality, it's shooting more for a painting or a film, or better said, it's describing the world like a painting or a film. I think it does it quite well.

No...not really. Oblivion was closer to uncanny valley.

I really don't think you can compare the uncanny valley to a video game. At least not yet.

Until the game gets so immersive and draws you in so well that you cannot tell you are looking at a screen (or are not looking at one at all), it will always be blatantly obvious that they are not real, and not even close to human.

I'm not talking about the rest of the game. I'm talking about the characters. No, they don't look "Real" yet, but Bethesda was obviously going for realism with the characters and architecture, if nothing else.

But thats not what the Uncanny Valley is.

It might help if in your original post you didnt assume everyone was 'in the know' and actually explained what the term meant.
Are Skyrim's npc's awful? oh wow no doubt.
Worse than Daggerfall.

I'm not sure why he isn't talking about the Uncanny Valley? It certainly applies to the way characters look. However, I don't think that the characters are there in this or any other computer generated modeling

I'm sixually aroused instead of repulsed by the uncanny valley... is this bad?

Huh? Not even close to the "uncanny valley".

For those wondering what the uncanny valley refers to... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

that may be the literal translation, but he referring to the generally speaking extra derp that seem to be standard TES from Oblivion.

Well it's still there for some NPC but I'd say they did worlds better then they had in Oblivion. Some of the NPC's are actually attractive.

BF3 and some parts or farcry 2 are the closest ive seen games come to the "uncanny valley" sort of like those CGI movies that pretend to portray real life but you can always tell, that final fantasy movie for example, and definitely avatar.

I was pretty sure the uncanny valley refers to nearly or completely photo-realistic representations of people that act with inhuman behavior and as such, trigger a psychological response in the human brain to detest said representations due to faculties existent for the sake of us being able to identify possibly dangerously erratic human behavior ahead of time and protect ourselves.

Skyrim's NPCs are far from the uncanny valley as they do not even remotely look realistic enough. TC probably just means they don't look realistic, thus, ironically (?) stating the opposite of what (s)he said.

When I play I see a videogame, with videogame people

All y'all are getting a little out there, like Pluto

Que?

it hasn't appeared on my map yet..

so no.

the last time i had a "creepy" and "uncomfortable feeling" while playing a video game... was when my X wife stuck her tongue in my ear to distract me from playing.. one of the many things that led to X.

cheers
d

Llamaskull,

Your use of the word 'verisimilitude' is the first, and probably only, thing I've seen here that has caused me to want to reply, which I have now done.

Thank you.

Iullus Cornelius Smegmus Magnus Pantocrator

There seems to be some confusion. The uncanny valley describes a hypothesis that if you represent something realistically enough, people will be repulsed by your representation. How does this apply to Skyrim?

I think Skyrim's hit the first uncanny valley with its characters. They don't look realistic enough, but they have enough detail in them that they should, except it's all done wrong. There's too much of this or that detail, but not enough of another, and so you get this irked feeling. It represents a barrier to really 'immersing' oneself in the world, because the art is neither stylistic enough, so that we can clearly distance ourselves from the work, nor is it realistic enough to allay our aversion. Just like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley would probably freak out a lot of people because she's realistic but not realistic enough, Skyrim's characters freak me out because they're trying to be realistic in the wrong ways.

I sometimes play at fov 30 because I like the disjointed feel of things, except I hate interacting so closely with characters because they creep me out. Now when I'm outside of holds I play at fov 30 and when I'm in towns I play at fov 85.

Nobody else? Huh. Guess I'm just weird.