Steven Brust's LJ (RSS Feed)
02-10-2008, 07:26 AM
As I said in my last post, I’ve been playing Morrowind a lot recently. The team at Bethesda Softworks did an excellent job creating an entertaining and engaging world and I hope this does not come across as criticism of them or their game; in fact, I bet a lot of what I mention here has been fixed in the sequel which I have not yet played. However, playing brought up some interesting thoughts on world building which I think apply equally well to imaginary worlds in writing as in game design.
A theory exists called the Uncanny Valley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley). It’s an interesting and thought-provoking theory, although my understanding is that it is based largely on conjecture and very little on scientific research. The theory suggests that as an artificial representation of a human (such as an android or computer-animated human) grows more humanlike there is a stage where it becomes actually jarring in a negative way — an object which is almost but not quite human is actually repulsive in a way that something that is (or seems) fully human, or very unlike a human, is not.
I want to suggest that there is also an ‘Uncanny Valley’ of sorts in world-building, that when creating imaginary worlds which feel real to us there is a point where something is uncomfortably almost-but-not-quite real.
For those unfamiliar with the game, Morrowind has an extremely detailed world, complete with flora and fauna, various competing religions, guilds, and factions, law and law enforcement. Unlike many fantasy RPG video game worlds, you can’t just wander into a person’s home and rob them blind — you have to make some attempt to be sneaky, perhaps even by picking the lock on their door. If you get caught you must pay a fine, go to jail, or try (foolhardedly, at least for my character) to fight the police. The world is immersive enough to pull me in until I reach the uncanny valley.
My character, Caspar the Aragonian (a lizard-like ‘beast race’) was exploring the countryside (actually, looking for a place to hole up after a disastrous battle with some bandits) when I encountered a farmer and his farmhouse. I snuck into his farmhouse to lick my wounds. When I emerged, I tried to engage the good farmer in a little conversation. He gave me a cold shoulder, being rather hostile to foreigners like so many in this land. Rebuffed, I set off across his land. Only a few feet from from his farmhouse I encountered a bizarre jellyfish-like creature floating overhead. Since everything else I’d encountered in the wild so far had tried to eat me, I poked it with my spear till it died.
‘Zounds, I said to myself a moment later, as I realized simultaneously that I didn’t know any Morrowind-appropriate curses and that the strange creature was actually one of many in the farmer’s field and that they were actually some kind of domestic animal called a netch. I had just killed this farmer’s cow!
I ran back over to the stalwart rancher to see his reaction. Should I pay a fine? Would he challenge me to a duel?
Actually, he had no reaction at all.
So much for immersiveness and welcome to the uncanny valley. The world of Morrowind is just real enough for me to expect a farmer to be upset when I kill a cow in front of him, but still artificial enough for me to be disturbed from my enjoyment when he doesn’t. In other fantasy games I would have been totally unsurprised, and it would probably not have interfered with my enjoyment at all — I’d have cracked a joke about it and moved on.
I think most SF readers have seen something similar in a book — a world where the characters are delightfully human, regardless of how removed from our own world, until they do something that is just wrong. If it’s a science fiction book, perhaps they start calling their futuristic fridge a Chillofoodfreeze, or their high-tech TV a holovidoviewer.
I’m still reflecting on how to apply this knowledge to my own writing — where I like to think I’ve either been admirably restrained or deliberately unrestrained when it comes to technobabble and world-building — but I did think it was a thought worth sharing.
Where have you encountered the uncanny valley?
(Originally posted at Words Words Words (http://dreamcafe.com/words/2008/02/10/the-uncanny-valley-of-world-building/) by kit. Please leave any comments (http://dreamcafe.com/words/2008/02/10/the-uncanny-valley-of-world-building/#comments) there.)
(Original Post) (http://skzbrust.livejournal.com/75578.html)
A theory exists called the Uncanny Valley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley). It’s an interesting and thought-provoking theory, although my understanding is that it is based largely on conjecture and very little on scientific research. The theory suggests that as an artificial representation of a human (such as an android or computer-animated human) grows more humanlike there is a stage where it becomes actually jarring in a negative way — an object which is almost but not quite human is actually repulsive in a way that something that is (or seems) fully human, or very unlike a human, is not.
I want to suggest that there is also an ‘Uncanny Valley’ of sorts in world-building, that when creating imaginary worlds which feel real to us there is a point where something is uncomfortably almost-but-not-quite real.
For those unfamiliar with the game, Morrowind has an extremely detailed world, complete with flora and fauna, various competing religions, guilds, and factions, law and law enforcement. Unlike many fantasy RPG video game worlds, you can’t just wander into a person’s home and rob them blind — you have to make some attempt to be sneaky, perhaps even by picking the lock on their door. If you get caught you must pay a fine, go to jail, or try (foolhardedly, at least for my character) to fight the police. The world is immersive enough to pull me in until I reach the uncanny valley.
My character, Caspar the Aragonian (a lizard-like ‘beast race’) was exploring the countryside (actually, looking for a place to hole up after a disastrous battle with some bandits) when I encountered a farmer and his farmhouse. I snuck into his farmhouse to lick my wounds. When I emerged, I tried to engage the good farmer in a little conversation. He gave me a cold shoulder, being rather hostile to foreigners like so many in this land. Rebuffed, I set off across his land. Only a few feet from from his farmhouse I encountered a bizarre jellyfish-like creature floating overhead. Since everything else I’d encountered in the wild so far had tried to eat me, I poked it with my spear till it died.
‘Zounds, I said to myself a moment later, as I realized simultaneously that I didn’t know any Morrowind-appropriate curses and that the strange creature was actually one of many in the farmer’s field and that they were actually some kind of domestic animal called a netch. I had just killed this farmer’s cow!
I ran back over to the stalwart rancher to see his reaction. Should I pay a fine? Would he challenge me to a duel?
Actually, he had no reaction at all.
So much for immersiveness and welcome to the uncanny valley. The world of Morrowind is just real enough for me to expect a farmer to be upset when I kill a cow in front of him, but still artificial enough for me to be disturbed from my enjoyment when he doesn’t. In other fantasy games I would have been totally unsurprised, and it would probably not have interfered with my enjoyment at all — I’d have cracked a joke about it and moved on.
I think most SF readers have seen something similar in a book — a world where the characters are delightfully human, regardless of how removed from our own world, until they do something that is just wrong. If it’s a science fiction book, perhaps they start calling their futuristic fridge a Chillofoodfreeze, or their high-tech TV a holovidoviewer.
I’m still reflecting on how to apply this knowledge to my own writing — where I like to think I’ve either been admirably restrained or deliberately unrestrained when it comes to technobabble and world-building — but I did think it was a thought worth sharing.
Where have you encountered the uncanny valley?
(Originally posted at Words Words Words (http://dreamcafe.com/words/2008/02/10/the-uncanny-valley-of-world-building/) by kit. Please leave any comments (http://dreamcafe.com/words/2008/02/10/the-uncanny-valley-of-world-building/#comments) there.)
(Original Post) (http://skzbrust.livejournal.com/75578.html)