The average height of a Na'vi – the blue cat-like people from James Cameron's Avatar films – is about 3 meters tall. For comparison, average human height is well under 6 meters. That's about waist height for our blue friends. I vaguely understood this disparity while watching the movies, but you guys are inescapable while playing Avatar: Borders of Pandora.
The new Avatar game puts players in the first-person perspective, just like humans always at groin level. Now I'm left wondering how, in fiction, both types don't make this super awkward.
For casual conversations between Na'vi and humans, the height difference must force both parties to make quick decisions about how to respond: the human will either strain his neck and risk a lifetime of back pain, or talk directly into the Na'vi's crotch . with a confidence that says, “I know this is weird, but let's not make it weird.”
Image: Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft via Polygon
Na'vi can hold out and wield a power foreign to a short man like myself. But this also causes, I think, an unwanted, long-term neck strain. Plus, in terms of a raw video game experience, the height difference just looks bad. Look how much screen space I give to some messy bookshelves behind my human conversation partner?
My in-game solution is the liberal use of the crouch button. When you crouch, the Na'vi and human eye lines connect – no need for ibuprofen. With their physique, the Na'vi are naturally built for a catcher's squat.
Image: Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft via Polygon
Image: Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft via Polygon
Do not confuse this leadership with Na'vi giving in to humans. I've talked at length about a relatively small corner of the game where Na'vi and humans bond over woven furniture. But this is an open-world Ubisoft game, so you do most of the talking with arrows and bullets.
Outside of the occasional squat, my blue buddy spends his free time turning living people into dead ragdolls. Having a wingspan of 10 feet means that Na'vi land with the downward impact of tank breakers. The only time I crouch on the battlefield is when I want my Na'vi to be the last thing their little human eyes see.