> Part of the problem here is that real humans don't bash into walls. So how do you realistically represent that, when in fact it's just Johnny pressing forward on his controller?
That doesn't seem like much of a theoretical obstacle to me. The primitive controls only signal intent - you don't have to animate the human shuffling against the wall, you can just not move. The controller should be like whispering into the avatar's ear, not QWOP.
Or if you do want to grant the player lower-level physical control, you can have the human actually collide realistically with the wall. After all, people do bash into walls, just not commonly. You can even make them bump their head, and take damage.
That doesn't seem like much of a theoretical obstacle to me. The primitive controls only signal intent - you don't have to animate the human shuffling against the wall, you can just not move. The controller should be like whispering into the avatar's ear, not QWOP.
Or if you do want to grant the player lower-level physical control, you can have the human actually collide realistically with the wall. After all, people do bash into walls, just not commonly. You can even make them bump their head, and take damage.