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[PATV] Wednesday, April 11, 2012 - Extra Credits Season 4, Ep. 9: Kinect Disconnect
Geth
LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
Extra Credits Season 4, Ep. 9: Kinect Disconnect
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/kinect-disconnect
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/kinect-disconnect
This week, we look back on the last year and a half of Kinect and offer some new observations about the device.
Come discuss this topic in the forums!
Geth on
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So I basically came to the same conclusion that what you are doing with your body needs to be fun for it to work at all.
My experience with Kinect is minimal, but I can honestly say the most fun I had with it was dicking around in the menus. That's a bit less harsh than it sounds, because I actually had quite a bit of fun with those menus.
But I find it interesting to think about this compared to the Wii or Move. I know when I'm playing the Wii, most of the gestures I have to do are trying to merely hint at some greater gesture. In Skyward Sword, I swing that Wii-mote around, hacking and slashing my way to good times. But my hand is going through a fairly limited range of motion. Using your uncanny valley robot metaphor, it's the cute, Wall-E type motion controls, only hinting at actual human motion, while Kinect is the horrifying rubber-faced robots from hell.
I had never considered there would be such a line to be drawn with motion controls, as they're all quite gimmicky by nature, but it's absolutely true.
You learn somethin' every day.
The uncanny valley type issue sets in when you're doing something in Kinect that is removed from what you're physically doing. With a controller of some kind, your brain is able to make the distinction that you're using a tool, and make the proper association. With Kinect, your brain, subconsciously, is saying 'hey, wait a sec, this isn't matching up'.
I think the lesson to learn is that it's better to move the in-game activity closer to the actual physical activity than the other way around. Dancing in a video game by actually dancing can work. Running in a video game by running in place in the real world feels weird. I guess I just don't know how many activities that includes. Large movements of the body, while remaining in place, and probably not holding anything?
Personally, I've gotten more value from being able to yell at my TV. I've mentioned elsewhere, how one of the most compelling moments I experienced in ME3 was
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your = belonging to you
their = belonging to them
there = not here
they're = they are
Did you watch the video? The point of the uncanny valley is that a robot that looks like a robot can be cute because of human-like qualities, but a robot that looks like a human will tend to be creepy because of its robot-like qualities. Your brain sees one as obviously a robot, but the other as a human with some unsettling defects. On a less-than-conscious level, you're not thinking "Look how real that robot looks," you're thinking "What is wrong with that person?"
The analogy here is that with a controller, your brain is already very good at associating actions with unrelated results, e.g., moving a piece of plastic on your desk to make a little picture of a hand or an arrow move on a screen in front of you. When you perform that kind of action frequently enough, you don't even consciously make a distinction anymore. You get used to pushing A to jump, so that when you want to jump, you don't think "Push A," you think "jump." But with something like the Kinect, the input you provide is much closer to the desired output in the game. Instead of pushing a thumbstick forward to walk or run, you actually move your legs. It's too close for that amazing part of your brain that associates things like pushing a piece of plastic with moving a little arrow on a screen. But it's too far away to just leave it to the part of your brain that associates running with moving your legs. Just like the too-real robot is seen as a human, but messed up, running in place is seen as running, but messed up.
your = belonging to you
their = belonging to them
there = not here
they're = they are
Really, I'm saying I think the analogy was unnecessary for the point they were trying to make: That motion controls need to be fun of themselves rather than an imitation of whatever's going on onscreen. We all know what uncanny valley is and why it is bad. I don't think motion controls are anywhere near the level of fidelity where a person can have that kind of reaction. They will just have fun or be bored or frustrated. Also probably tired, but they will not be revulse'd or creep'd out.
I think they meant that it's near enough to the uncanny valley that something feels a bit weird, if not so close that it's creepy
Trying to mesh the console game experience and Kinect controls may be the wrong way to go, and I think another commonality amongst Kinect titles that are good is that they are "different" experiences. A lot of them, in fact, are arcade-style. Not all, but there's a pretty common trend here.
Dancing
Jumping
Throwing
Kara-te chopping
Things that don't work well with Kinect
Every-fucking thing else.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
http://mispeled.net/2011/02/08/video-games-abstraction-and-motion-controllers/
It talks about the interesting aspects of learning curve using motion controllers - I think eventually games will progress to the point where we don't need tutorials any more, because actions are mapped 1 to 1, rather than abstracted with a tool or a limited set of possibilities.