kinect shun
I’m still trying to figure out why I find Kinect so repulsive (Formerly Project Natal. Remember those videos?).
It’s not that I necessarily dislike Microsoft, though it’s never hard to find reasons. Take the Kinect website, for instance. It’s obnoxious that Microsoft asks you to install its proprietary Silverlight platform just to watch some commercials. Sure, this could only be the work of a boneheaded, anti-consumer company, but it doesn’t make me hate Microsoft, per se. I’m now at the point where I look at things like Silverlight or Windows 7 and just laugh. It’s easy to find the humor in such incompetencies when you have the luxury of distance.
It’s not that I necessarily dislike the Xbox 360, either. In days of yore I might have viewed Microsoft as a malevolent interloper in my living room, clawing at my door to steal the toys of my childhood and warp them into some kind of gaming stallion that only a fratboy could love. But that kind of thinking was silly, and it’s irrelevant today. While I don’t own an Xbox, there’s no denying that it’s a solid product. If nothing else, Microsoft has certainly succeeded in creating the definitive online console experience. XBox Live is a deserved triumph. Sony should be abjectly ashamed of the unpolished, disjointed experience they offer in comparison.
Kinect is an ambitious project, even when ignoring Peter Molyneux’s stage magic bullshit. Granted, the Wii has left me deeply skeptical of motion-controlled gaming, but a lot of that is due to the Wii’s pronounced limitations. A more sensitive system could do much more with motion, and I hope that Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Move succeed in the places where Nintendo has fallen short.
Given that I don’t hate Microsoft, don’t hate the Xbox, and would like motion interfaces to succeed, why would I use a word like “repulsive” to describe Kinect? I don’t think I could have given you a coherent answer until today. I’d always found Kinect/Natal vaguely unsettling, but this Kotaku article really crystallized things for me. It turns out that although the Kinect does a great job of recognizing your major joints and body language, it can only perform this miracle while you are standing. You cannot use the Kinect while sitting, at least not yet. Or as one Microsoft developer put it, “Sitting is something we’re still calibrating for.”
Sitting is still something we’re calibrating for. First of all, are you joking? The Most Advanced Motion Interface in the History of Forever, Except If Maybe You’d Like to Sit? I suppose that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. But this is a minor concern. I’m sure that they’ll figure out some kind of solution before Kinect is released, which probably won’t be for another year or two anyway. Oh, what’s that? It’s coming in November? Alright. Well, we can expect either some very Microsoftian delays or a fairly disappointing recumbent experience, as Redmond’s PR boys might say. Say what you will about the Wii’s “waggle controls,” but they work just as well sitting as standing.
Second, you might notice that the very first comment on that Kotaku article is from a person with a disability. Are the disabled destined to be shut out of the Kinect experience, he asks? Well, probably, but that’s no different from the general state of console gaming, where the button-remapping functions that would make games more accessible are rare (speaking of which, there’s a petition on exactly this issue). But this isn’t really about disability specifically. I first played video games from a hospital bed. Maybe you played them because you weren’t any good at sports, or because you were too shy to handle people directly. Whether bedridden, fat, skinny, weak, or whatever, when you pick up a controller anything beyond your fingers ceases to matter. Even your eyes are optional. Many, many people play video games specifically to forget about their bodies.
It could be argued that the entire point of gaming—not just the electronic variety, but all gaming—is about escapism. A game like chess allows us to escape the tyranny of the body, but when you’re playing chess, you’re playing chess. In a video game you’re the adventurer, the puzzle savant, the murderer, the chef, the overlord, and the master of limitless domains. Electronic gaming offers the player a unique disconnect between the game and physical reality. The Kinect consciously reverses this. The whole body is the input device, which is how things work in the real world, which negates the entire point of playing these games.
I’m not saying there isn’t a market for this kind of thing. The intuitive touch interfaces of Apple’s wildly popular iOS devices prove that there is (interestingly, I don’t think that the Wii proves anything about motion controls, but that’s another post). I’d rather have the option of a motion interface than not have it, but it’s never going to sell me a system. I will never be the sort of person who finds a constant reminder of his physicality appealing, and I suspect that I am not alone in this.
I appreciate what you’re saying here. I, too, remain unimpressed by our Wii (but that’s usually a matter of the limited quality game selection) and will not necessarily be compelled to buy a new system for it’s motion integration. It’s a true shame that these new systems will not recognize input from a seated gamer, particularly when we reflect on the value of gaming for Child’s Play and its beneficiaries who may not be able to stand and play.
However, I don’t agree with you here:
“The whole body is the input device, which is how things work in the real world, which negates the entire point of playing these games.”
If done well enough, I am quite excited to play a game that incorporates full arm and leg gestures into its play. If the point of gaming is escapism, the escapist’s experience can be enhanced by moving and imitating the physical reality of the game and its characters. Perhaps the technology will not live up to expectation (but will hopefully surpass the Wii), but I am quite eager to actually wield my avatar’s sword, cast a spell with the flourish of the game controller, and even dance my way into a sweat. All of these movements and physical expressions can help me feel the part in a fantasy or story that still allows me to escape my immediate reality. I may be able to kick, punch and jump in the real world, but these movements are disconnected from the storyline and immediate rewards (e.g., earning points, advancing to a new level, competing with a friend) found in video games and which aid in the escapist’s experience.
Of course, there’s always sport and outdoor play when I want a truly physical experience away from the television, but try as I might, the Kubb baton never turns into a lightning bolt when thrown at a knight. As many times as I have lightly side kicked the Tall One in the jaw during friendly sparring, I would also appreciate this experience in a competitive video game that tracks hit points and graphically displays my deeeezlness… though, I imagine we’re still a long way off from a game being good enough to do this. Just think of the excitement and visceral release you could feel pulling your fists apart and striking your arms to extend the Blades of Chaos. Again, it’d be better if you could do all of this from a chair, as well. Overall, it might change the experience, but I would not say using the body “negates the entire point of playing these games.”