Looks of limbs

L.A. Noire demonstrates a wonderful technology that makes faces almost perfect. Yes almost, we still aren't there yet. Making faces look good in 3D stuff is incredibly hard. Skin in general isn't an easy task, but the face, that's the holy grail. If you could make faces in games that are indistinguishable from real ones, that would be awesome. With sauce.

Looking at the rest though, we pretty much are good on metals, cloth, wood, hair and in general the human anatomy. There are some 3D renders where you have to do a double take to see it's not real. I seen a picture where the modeler cleverly added a mask, that looks fake, so you couldn't even see the face and the rest looked just perfect. I was thinking of trying to find out who the model was, before I read in detail how it was all just 3D trickery.

So why do the characters in games still look like they either have a rather bad case of caustic armpit sweat or like a marionette with the strings coated in sticky glue? I'm not talking cut scenes, where carefully animated and motion captured movies are presented to you, but the normal game play, where the problem compounds on an MMO scale.
Watch people walk on the street, or in movies. You instantly see if there is something not "normal" going on, like someone is limping, has one shoe and one sandal on, uses a stick, or is stricken with a deformity. The brain is very good at ignoring the norm and catching the things that stick out. So if you watch closely, you will notice how people move their arms and hands when they walk. Or how differently they walk and move their body when they have their hands in their pockets.

Still, those don't trigger the "it's off" response. When you watch people walk or just stand around in MMO's you feel that it's either a wax figure show or a comedy. Pumping the arms while running like a crazy person, or stoicly stand there, possibly glued to the spot, with no motion whatsoever.

Of course I over draw the issue a little. NPC's usually get some idle animations, where the look around, shuffle their feet, scratch the back of their necks, that kind of thing. But then they move into dialog mode and all stops. Elderscrolls 4 and the new Fallouts are prime examples. The entire world falls into stasis and the person you talk to looks up or down at you, no matter the awkwardness of the angle. In a normal situation, a sitting person 2 feet from you would stand up and look straight at you. That alone would give you a realistic feeling.

But also very important is the look of limbs. When people talk, they move. Watch it in series, where they seldom sit still and talk to someone, but mostly they move about while they do. Or a late night show where they use hand gestures, limbs or even their entire body (like Conan O'Brien) to make a point or add some comedic effect. Of course the face is important, but we already know we aren't going to convince anyone that they are real (yet). So why ignore the rest of the body language entirely until then? The fantastic faces would be set apart even more by a comparatively stiff body.

To create the illusion of  NPC's as well as players to seem more alive, you have to give them gestures to use. NPC's greet you in different fashions. Just think of the many ways someone can greet you with a gesture alone. If it's always the same over enthusiastic arm wave, it get's old very fast. If an NPC likes you, he smiles at you, waves or gives you a pat on the back. If they don't like you they might grit their teeth and give you a curt nod, if they acknowledge you at all. Imagine how much information you just gained by these two very different and rather small things about the NPC or player you stand next to.

Create a large pallet of gestures that players can use. Then let the NPC's use them as well, in specific contexts. Suddenly the limbs start to show things that you won't have to tell the user anymore in some text.