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Acutally, this isn't a post about how swell it is that Joe Paterno got Penn State back to National prominence and a Big Bowl. I hate Penn State. Besides which, that's "Happy Valley".
I was more interested to see the "Uncanny Valley" concept come up on ESPN's page 2, in a column initially about Madden 06 for the XBox 360.
Reality Bytes by Patrick Hruby
The term for this, from robotics, is the Uncanny Valley. Basically - the idea is this - that as a robot gets more and more "humanlike", the more positive an emotional response it elicits. Up until some point, where emotional response suddenly becomes strongly negative - whereas before we celebrated the humanlike qualities in what we thought was a robot, we now start nitpicking the imperfections that seperate the increasingly human robot from a true human. Or at least until some hypothetical point of verisimilitude where the robot has attained near perfection in "human-ness" and we can't tell the difference.
of course, this is all very much an unscientific way to look at our emotions. Hruby's column goes on about the specific case of the video game, but also the experience of a fan, and of perfectionism... particularly the way high expectations and hopes correlate with negative emotions related to the frustrations of those expectations and hopes. Exhibit A - See Boston Red Sox fans...
Or, as another case - the difference between how I feel about the Maryland Basketball teams and Football teams. And it's quite different. Maryland has had some very good football teams, although I was pretty young for the Bobby Ross era. For most of my fandom experience, Maryland has been a second-rate (at best) team in a second-rate conference. Even now, having experienced three straight ten win seasons in the not-too-distant past, I'm fairly positive even about the possiblity of playing in that dopey bowl in Boise on their dopey blue field.
But the basketball team... I grew up watching Len Bias play against Michael Jordan. I grew up with Lefty Driesell bemoaning Carolina Refs. (ACC Motto: Team in Blue Gets all the Calls...) I grew up with a premier team in a premier conference. Hearing stories about playing in one of the greatest basketball games of all time, and losing. Of having the second-best team in the country and not even making the NCAA tournament. Of being a team that was supposed to be the UCLA of the East... Of being the Best Team to ever not be ranked #1, get a #1 seed, or Make the Final Four. (Until 2001-2) yada yada. Suffice to say, there are expectations.
When the Football team loses to Clemson, blows a win it should have had... that sucks and I'm bummed for a day. When the Basketball team loses to Clemson, it's another matter. I've been to enough great wins and losses for both teams. But for all the pain that every football loss ever had... even adding them all up, it doesn't come close to how much it sucked when Maryland blew that 10-point lead in the last minute against Duke in 2001. It was like the suckiest fandom suck that ever sucked.
So how is this related to fandom. I have no idea. But it reminds me of the folks who felts "traumatized" when some story hadn't worked out to match their expectations. It reminds me of how little Spike's "bad deeds" of S2-4 looked to me when he was just being a monster (eh. it doesn't suck so much when the football team loses to Ohio U at home) compared to how much Spike's poor behavior in S5-7 bugged me when he was aiming to be seen as a man. (Gah... how can the Basketball team lose to Virginia Tech and not even make the tourney!!!)
Or how harshly some folks will judge one character while exculpating another character engaging in the same behavior. Our expectations. Our hopes. Our biases. The insane negativity of Maryland Basketball and Red Sox fans. Because, virulence of 'shipper wars, I still think I've seen worse from the crowds at the Duke games...
So. Anyone have any thoughts or random comments to share? Crazy fandom. The Iron-Bowl. Michigan-Ohio State. Character X vs. Y debates? Video games that left you cold, despite the technical advances. (Says the guy more likely to play Tecmo Bowl than Madden 06) Floor's open...
I was more interested to see the "Uncanny Valley" concept come up on ESPN's page 2, in a column initially about Madden 06 for the XBox 360.
Reality Bytes by Patrick Hruby
I feel like an ingrate. A decade ago, football games didn't have players with faces, let alone moving lips. The first time I saw the "Madden 92" ambulance roll onto the field to pick up the fuzzy blob of pixels that was my injured quarterback -- running over a half-dozen other players en route, of course -- I nearly wet myself in quivering awe. OMG! It doesn't get any more true to the actual NFL! That was then. Today, there's something about the new, vastly improved Vick that leaves me cold. Unsatisfied. Drives me nuts, really. And it's the same general principal that explains why, as a sports fan, the only thing worse than rooting for a lousy team is pulling for a good team that isn't quite good enough. |
The term for this, from robotics, is the Uncanny Valley. Basically - the idea is this - that as a robot gets more and more "humanlike", the more positive an emotional response it elicits. Up until some point, where emotional response suddenly becomes strongly negative - whereas before we celebrated the humanlike qualities in what we thought was a robot, we now start nitpicking the imperfections that seperate the increasingly human robot from a true human. Or at least until some hypothetical point of verisimilitude where the robot has attained near perfection in "human-ness" and we can't tell the difference.
of course, this is all very much an unscientific way to look at our emotions. Hruby's column goes on about the specific case of the video game, but also the experience of a fan, and of perfectionism... particularly the way high expectations and hopes correlate with negative emotions related to the frustrations of those expectations and hopes. Exhibit A - See Boston Red Sox fans...
Or, as another case - the difference between how I feel about the Maryland Basketball teams and Football teams. And it's quite different. Maryland has had some very good football teams, although I was pretty young for the Bobby Ross era. For most of my fandom experience, Maryland has been a second-rate (at best) team in a second-rate conference. Even now, having experienced three straight ten win seasons in the not-too-distant past, I'm fairly positive even about the possiblity of playing in that dopey bowl in Boise on their dopey blue field.
But the basketball team... I grew up watching Len Bias play against Michael Jordan. I grew up with Lefty Driesell bemoaning Carolina Refs. (ACC Motto: Team in Blue Gets all the Calls...) I grew up with a premier team in a premier conference. Hearing stories about playing in one of the greatest basketball games of all time, and losing. Of having the second-best team in the country and not even making the NCAA tournament. Of being a team that was supposed to be the UCLA of the East... Of being the Best Team to ever not be ranked #1, get a #1 seed, or Make the Final Four. (Until 2001-2) yada yada. Suffice to say, there are expectations.
When the Football team loses to Clemson, blows a win it should have had... that sucks and I'm bummed for a day. When the Basketball team loses to Clemson, it's another matter. I've been to enough great wins and losses for both teams. But for all the pain that every football loss ever had... even adding them all up, it doesn't come close to how much it sucked when Maryland blew that 10-point lead in the last minute against Duke in 2001. It was like the suckiest fandom suck that ever sucked.
So how is this related to fandom. I have no idea. But it reminds me of the folks who felts "traumatized" when some story hadn't worked out to match their expectations. It reminds me of how little Spike's "bad deeds" of S2-4 looked to me when he was just being a monster (eh. it doesn't suck so much when the football team loses to Ohio U at home) compared to how much Spike's poor behavior in S5-7 bugged me when he was aiming to be seen as a man. (Gah... how can the Basketball team lose to Virginia Tech and not even make the tourney!!!)
Or how harshly some folks will judge one character while exculpating another character engaging in the same behavior. Our expectations. Our hopes. Our biases. The insane negativity of Maryland Basketball and Red Sox fans. Because, virulence of 'shipper wars, I still think I've seen worse from the crowds at the Duke games...
So. Anyone have any thoughts or random comments to share? Crazy fandom. The Iron-Bowl. Michigan-Ohio State. Character X vs. Y debates? Video games that left you cold, despite the technical advances. (Says the guy more likely to play Tecmo Bowl than Madden 06) Floor's open...