Does an uncanny valley exist for Open Worlds/Sandboxes?

[Spectrum_Prez]

I think we're all familiar with the term uncanny valley here, right? I'll pass on summarizing the concept, and will point you instead to [a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley]Wikipedia[/a], or [a href=http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-uncanny-valley]Extra Credits[/a].

Open worlds have long been stuck in a trap where "better", more realistic, more dynamic, doesn't always mean more like an actual world. Whether its recycled dialogue and NPCs, empty shell buildings, impossible economics or demographics, or geographical quirks designed to limit the player, there are so many limitations to how far a developer can go in creating a living, breathing world.

Do you think that trap is something open world games can eventually overcome? Or is pursuing perfect models of functioning societies in-game a dead-end?

 

[skywolfblue]

Open worlds have long been stuck in a trap where "better", more realistic, more dynamic, doesn't always mean more like an actual world. Whether its recycled dialogue and NPCs, empty shell buildings, impossible economics or demographics, or geographical quirks designed to limit the player, there are so many limitations to how far a developer can go in creating a living, breathing world.

Mechanically, no.

Open world games are (or at least "can be") better today then they were in the past. Soaring budget costs are a massive hindrance, but that's not an "uncanny valley" problem.

Socially, people don't want a world that mimics the real one (or at least I don't). Real life has many boring tedious things which would be terrible in a game. Again this doesn't compare to an uncanny valley situation. Because people want characters to look like real people, but they don't want open worlds to behave like real life.

 

[DustyDrB]

I'm gonna be honest and say I haven't ever actually experienced the uncanny valley effect in games personally. In other ways (like those Japanese "robots"), yes. In games, no.

There's always enough of a disconnect between me the player and the in-game world that I don't reach that level of aversion.

This is likely a person-to-person thing, though. So technically if even one person has had this sort of reaction in a sandbox game, then the answer to your question is yes (regardless of my own experience).