Analysis of charisma, comfort and realism in CG characters from a gender perspective

Abstract

Realistic characters from movies, games and simulations can make viewers feel strange (discomfort), an effect known as the Uncanny Valley (UV) theory. However, can the genders of CG characters and the genders of viewers change perceived comfort? In addition, can the genders (both characters and viewers) also influence the perceived charisma? Can the realism of a character also influence these aspects? This work aims to evaluate the perception of women and men about female and male characters, created using Computer Graphics (CG), presented in various media (movies, games, computer simulations, among others). Our goal is to answer the following questions: (i) How does the comfort perceived by people of both tested genders (female and male) relate to the genders of the characters? and (ii) Is the charisma influenced by the realism of the characters, considering the subjects and genders of the characters? We conducted perceptual studies on characters created using CG in images and videos through questionnaires. Our results indicated that the gender of the subjects and characters affected comfort, charisma and perceived realism. In addition, we also revisited the aspect of the UV theory (perception of comfort and human likeness) and found coherent curves compared to many works in the literature.