Video game designers are starting to catch on to a phenomenon known to robotics designers since 1978 --- that there is an "
uncanny valley" in human emotional response to artificial anthropomorphic figures, such that creations with 10% apparent human characteristics (say, your dog) get more-humanized in our perceptions, while things with 99% apparent human characteristics (say, Not Me) get de-humanized in our perceptions.
This Slate article explains why movie, television and game designers should be careful about sophisticated CGI characters: your Roomba is "cute" but Haley Joel Osment is "creepy."
Sadly, this means I probably shouldn't go forward with my project to create CGI pornos featuring the chick I had a crush on in 8th grade.
etfg
