Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
"Scientists who study the evolution of visual signaling have identified a wide and
still expanding assortment of features and behaviors that make something look
cute: bright forward-facing eyes set low on a big round face, a pair of big round
ears, floppy limbs and a side-to-side, teeter-totter gait, among many others."
All listed features are general descriptions of one class of creatures on Earth: little
babies and cubs. They are small, their heads are noticeably bigger than their body,
their limbs are short, eyes are large, and so on. When we see something like that, a
special system inside us tends to react commonly. It says that probably in front of us
is a defenseless young creature that needs protection, care, and tenderness; a list
of positive senses is switched on. Figuratively, we are filled with light.
By introducing a cute character in a game or other media, the authors simply exploits
one of the natural human reactions. This is possible because it is pretty uncondition-
al, the brain only needs some basic patterns, and the factual meaning of an object is
totally irrelevant in this case. Thus, we consider something as cute despite the fact
it is not a baby at all. Kittens are super cute, but adult cats can be cute too because
they are small, have round and smooth bodies, and big eyes. Another popular ex-
ample is owls, they have big round heads and large expressive eyes, making them
one of the cutest birds on the planet.
Moreover, some mechanical objects are cute as well: majority European compact
cars from the 1950s are adorable, remember the BMW Isetta, Fiat 500, original Mini,
and VW Beetle? All of them look so nice and sweet, that you want to hug them, cover
them with a plaid, and give some milk in a plate, as though they are small mech-
anical babies of bigger adult cars. The industrial design in that period was inclined
toward cuteness (may be it correlated with the baby boom). Even utility vehicle such
as buses and trucks were cute, in addition to household devices such as radio sets
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