Is SWG ahead of us in /dance technology?

http://www.jedi-bounty.com/Film/breakdance2.wmv

A long video showing some amazing moves in SWG. Even with our stellar animators, I don't think we have all of these in SL. Is there a /dance gap between our worlds? Can we catch up? Or should we just look at our own Thriller video and resume our superiority?

Note: I can't search here for SWG. Sorry if this is a repeat. I don't play SWG. so I don't know if this is actually a real video from there. There is no disrespect meant to Owen/Cris and the rest of the awesome SL animators.

TSO has decent dance tech too. But I think SL could easily surpass them both if we had better interface design capabilities for objects.

I don’t get Dancing. OK I can see going to a club in RL and Dancing for hr. In a game like SL you just start your dancing and you just sit there. Oh were is the fun in that? I mean why are we doing the dancing thing?? Really I am really asking.

SWG's dance moves are all motion-captured, and yeah, there are a LOT of them. I think the main difference is that they were all made by a professional developer, and most (read: not all) of SL's dances are amateur or just taken from the net.

As to why people sit in a club dancing for hours? It's more interesting than standing still for hours.

I also think if the simple thing of SWITCHING between dances could be smoothened out, then HEYO HOOO to the high heavens. Problem is right now that often, going between Dance A to Dance B requires a jittery, nervous pause, and then a sudden breaking into the next dance, as opposed to more lucid, liquid moments. I figure sometimes this has to do with the subsequence waltzes, salsas, or crunk moves not being preloaded, but all in all, consider this:

YOU HAVE A GAME CONTROLLER WITH AN ANALOGUE JOYSTICK.

Yes, that's right. and by setting a special mode and twiddling that joystick around, it fluidly morphs you between dances instead of herky-jerky "one or the other or maybe two combined but it still looks 'off'". So you could do your own blends with a dance assigned in each direction. We don't quite have the control to set up the interface that way, but I find it extremely appealing and more than a few steps in the right direction.

Also, the ability to pull off more moves like Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat with combo buttons would rock!

Having lived in SWG for the last two years, I would say any ability to create new sequences is lightyears ahead of canned sequences. Sure, sure.. SWGs are professionally designed and animated. No reason SLs dance animations can't be nearly as good (V. has but three dance animations, but they're all plenty as good as SWGs, but I'm really really pickey), with the potential for adding whatever you want in the future, rather than being force-fed rocks through a straw.

Frankly every time I go back into SWG these days I think to myself: "Damn, why the f*ck can't I change -that-?!". SWG spends more time reminding me of what I can't do than letting me enjoy myself. If you don't want to play the way SOE wants you to play, then you're screwed.

--v

Maybe I am just a fuddy duddy but I wasn't "that" impressed by the video.

Can our dance moves be improved? Sure, why not? Did theirs "wow" me and make me wish upon a star we had them in SL? No.

They didn't seem all that natural to me and there seemed like there was too much fancy footwork for my taste but hey, I just turned 40 and am now officially an old fart so what do I know right? lol

If your 40 you been one for 10 years. Never trust a person over 30 is my saying. Well not mine but hay I use it any ways.
I can’t even trust my self.

Ok I wasn't impressed, but I am hard to impress.


Cristiano's new breakdances make this look like some crap from There. Wait..

I didn't know he had breakdances - I will have to check them out! Nothing funnier than a big white av breakin'!

And I forgot to put a smiley in the original post, in case anyone thought I was at all serious about a "dance gap."

I want to see the WoW dances in SL.

Especially the Gnome male one. Good for a laugh.

Shut Up and Dance is a good compliation of all of them (minus the new Tauren male one).

I've been on SWG for a few months now...the dancing gets old real quick while trying to level as a performer. WoW has dancing as an emote...and they are for the most part hilarious...Human males do horrid "white-guy" dances, the Undead "headbang" and rock out, but the funniest are the gnomes....

Isn't it ironic that mine is "never trust a person younger than 30? hehe

I was a master Musician/Dancer/Entertainer/Politician. Indeed, the dancing and music get way old way fast. I'm much happier with SL dances and streamed music (and with SL 'government' too, for that matter).

-Ghoti