Video Game Characters of the Near Future: Will They Walk like People?

Billions of people everyday take the ability to walk for granted not realizing just how many joints there are in the body and the multiple directions in which they can move to make a wide variety of poses and "styles" of walking possible. Those of us who have watched cartoons or video game characters know that when they walk or run, they have that "cartoony," unrealistic way of moving. That might be on the brink of changing as computer animation and biomechanics researchers continue to study how walking robots work.

The article, "Virtual Walkers Lead The Way For Robots," by MacGregor Campbell, explains that although motion capture technology enables the recording of real-life motion which can be copied or mimicked by robots, cartoon and video game characters, not every variation of movement needed to simulate real walking can be provided. Therefore, the use of a special type of software is proposed--overarching controllers. Basically, the controllers would allow for a type of movement "on-the-fly" instead of attempting to capture ahead of time all of the movement of the joints necessary to simulate real-world walking.

Controllers would specify when the cartoon or video game characters should, for example, have a little bounce in their stride. Calculations would then be made to serve as formulas or instructions needed for the character's "joints" to have all of the range of motion that a man has as he walks. Is there anything harmful in this technology? Those who are gamers will almost always answer that question in the negative while those who have followed the studies that show the harm that exposure to violent video games causes tend to respond in the affirmative. Although some have pointed out that playing these games doesn't necessarily make a person violent, harm has still been done if nothing but desensitization to killing and violence takes place. The fact that such harm has already taken place in virtual reality that, at present, is still lacking in the reality "department," many are concerned that as researchers continue to work to make video game characters even more realistic, the harm done will be even more intense. It's known that a person can tell a lie for so long that it eventually become truth to him or her. Will virtual reality in cyberspace eventually become so "real" and common that it will be difficult to discern reality from virtual reality?

The study of how walking robots work, computer animation, and biomechanics is one of the driving forces behind man's hunger for creation power and immortality. He would essentially become a virtual god who, in cyberspace, could create a virtual world in which he could plant a virtual garden of Eden, create animals that look, move, and behave like those who existed before the great Deluge. He could even compute into being a virtual Adam and Eve as video game characters with the ability to walk like the people God created.