As technology improves, gaming companies try harder and harder to replicate real life by improving the graphics and making everything more realistic. The idea of games resembling real life sounds like an amazing technological achievement, however, quite often the games end up being disappointing yet simultaneously having good graphics, and consequently they end up creating the ‘uncanny valley’ effect in many people. To discuss it, the effect first needs explaining. The ‘uncanny valley’ effect happens when a humanoid being is remarkably human-like, yet there is still something not right, which results in the viewer feeling like there is something creepy or even disgusting about it. Gaming companies are constantly trying to improve their graphics to stay ahead of the competition and quite often their great efforts end up resulting in this uncanny valley effect. This is just an effect of poorly implemented technology that needs more time to be developed before it is released to the consumers; it also reflects how the gaming industry sees art and its relationship to technology.

One of the examples of games that created the uncanny valley effect in the endless pursuit of better and more innovative graphics is LA Noire. This game used MotionScan technology to make the characters. The MotionScan uses real actors that have been styled like the video game character, capturing their motions with multiple HD cameras to create realistic looking facial expressions.  This technology is not fully developed, since only the faces of the actors have been scanned and converted into 3D models, the rest of the characters had to be made by graphic designers. This disconnection between the realistic scan of the human face and the artistic interpretation of what body language would look like at a particular moment creates the uneasy feelings of uncanny valley in the viewers as something is still missing.

This oversight in how things will look highlights the problem with the gaming industry: instead of trying to produce video games that are polished and enjoyable, it tries to do things that the technology is incapable yet of doing. It delivers products that are not fully developed, in line with the goal that in the future their products will have the ability to improve and that their company will be the ‘one’ that has the best technology to increase their shareholder value.  In the end, companies exist to maximise their own profits, and their shareholder value is what they really care about, not the experiences of people who play their video games, however, this problem goes much deeper than just the technology not being there. The problem with the uncanny valley effect in video games is that we do not know what exactly causes it, apart from knowing that trying to make things human like is the problem. This illustrates another problem within the tech industry, including the gaming industry, which is the common belief that instead of using human solutions to problems, we need to invent technology that is not there to solve those problems. As mentioned, the proposed solution is to develop more technology but what if, in the constant race of trying to make things more human like, we keep going deeper and deeper into the uncanny valley?  The real solution would be to go back and see the art within games as a medium for storytelling and stop trying to make everything photo realistic, and instead look at the impact different art styles have on people.  However, this solution is not valid within the gaming industry, for it acknowledges that art is important, and currently there is no questioning of how the art style impacts the overall atmosphere in the game, instead it is there to communicate the technology available.

Another problem with this solution is that it would mean that companies stagnate in how much profit they are making. The expansion of motion capture technologies allows for more things to be captured in real life, and therefore needs less time and less people to work on the graphics. So while it might seem like motion capture is costly, masses of money is saved through being able to produce video games faster with less people. Additionally, the previously mentioned increases the shareholder profits through the ability to market innovative technology by presenting itself as revolutionary, but alas does not actually change anything for the ordinary person that plays video games. The uncanny valley is a symptom of an industry that is shifting from love of the craft to maximisation of profit.

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