Are Ragdoll Physics Ever a Good Thing?

So I was playing Crackdown the other day and my agent died and I watched as he flayed uncontrollably about the ground, and this reminded me of my hatred of Ragdoll physics. How did this even become a thing? It is one of the worst graphical effects ever, it doesn't add anything at all to the game or contribute any "realism" to the game. In fact it takes away from the latter,. So who else hates ragdoll physics.

Some people find it funny. I just think it's interesting. Either way, I'm glad ragdoll physics exist.

I don't hate them but I will agree that they take away the realism in games. The reason why I don't hate them is that the bodies are funny to watch like the dead locust bodies in Gears.

Heh heh ragdoll physics are hilarious baby! DANCE PUPPETS DANCE! HAHA!

I think it's funny.

I like that it's there, sure some games have it implemented in the worst way possible(like flinging a dude to the moon in any Hitman game) 
But there are those who do it well like Modern Warfare 1 and 2 and the Uncharted games. 
 
So yeah, I liked it. 
Without it stuff would look reeeaally retarded

Ragdoll physics are HILARIOUS
 
Don't tell me that smashing guards under merchant shacks in Assassin's Creed didn't make you laugh. The way their bodies would FREAK THE FUCK OUT and warp infinitely along some arbitrary axis? That shit was classic.

They make me laugh, so they are good kay' :D

well, I think you need to put it in perspective. Back in 1998 when you shot someone to death in  videogame, you were treated to one of several death animations. In an effort to spice things up, ragdoll physics came about. This way, bodies would fall off of buildings, tumble down stairs, slouch over differently, etc.
 
For about a decade now, we've been seeing a ragdoll standard. Fear not, though, as it's on its way out. As physics engines grow stronger, we can see things like Euphoria/Natural Motion create substantially more lifelike and naturally behaving bodies, like in GTA IV.
 
By next generation, I predict that ragdoll physics will be a thing of the past. It will be replaced by the likes of Euphoria and other physics engines designed to simulate procedural human body movement.

They can be a good thing if done well such as in GTA IV with euphoria and fight night round 4. Games that use a combination of preset animation and ragdoll are pretty good most of the time. I don't like  ragdolls that make something big/heavy look weightless (Gears of War, a 400+pound locust flailing around like a piece of paper or like in Demon's Souls). So I actually don't hate them that much in general.

Are Ragdoll physics ever NOT a good idea?

What's the alternative? Static death animations that will be repeated a thousand times during your playthrough? 
 
Just because a few games do it poorly because of shitty physics engines or whatever the problem might be doesn't mean the whole concept is crap. 

I love ragdoll physics.  Soo much...

" I love ragdoll physics.  Soo much... "

One night a mate of mine and I had a few beers and thoroughly enjoyed the ragdollage in FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage.
 
Also, Left 4 Dead uses ragdoll combined with pre-animated death sequences to create some pretty natural (and sometimes amusing) results.

Ragdoll physics are incredibly awesome,  sooo funny

They are hialarious which is a good thing, case closed

I think they're very good. I love ragdolls, but only in the right games.

They are a good thing because canned animations at best only look good the first time you see them, and then they also become unrealistic and immersion breaking. 
 
Ragdolls that at least have some weight are always good for a chuckle.

This is the future of ragdoll physics:
 

Playing Max Payne 2, I once went into bullet time, leaped at some guy, shot him right in the face with the shotgun and that caused him to do a full backflip and land on his shins. I felt like such a badass. Other than that, not sure I've really seen it get in the way anywhere.

Ragdoll is funny as hell!

They are awesome in GTA

They are great when done right.
@Whisperkill said:

" They are awesome in GTA "

I love ragdolls, I mean if you look at a game now-a-days that doesn't have it, it makes the game seem so...Low tech? Like InFamous for example.

Guys... Euphoria is NOT a physics engine. It runs ALONGSIDE the physics engine and makes use of it. In GTA4, the physics are part of the RAGE engine unlike games that use AGEIA (PhysX) or Havok middleware physics engines (such as in NaturalMotion's own game Backbreaker).
 
Also an Euphoria influenced ragdoll kinda makes not a ragdoll anymore. But the DMS technology is still top notch when used well.
 

@CL60

" They are great when done right.

@Whisperkill

said:

" They are awesome in GTA "

That's not ragdoll. "

Ragdoll Kung-Fu and Flatout. 
 
But, as it's been said in earlier posts, Euphoria will be the next generation of ragdoll. I say ragdoll because I'm having difficulty describing it(bodily physics?), but Euphoria is obviously more than that. The point is that it's inevitable that developers will utilize this new tech as much as they did with ragdoll this generation. It's just taking longer to become the standard than I originally hoped after first seeing that tech demo, as well as seeing how awesome it is in GTA4 and Force Unleashed. Get on it guys!

" well, I think you need to put it in perspective. Back in 1998 when you shot someone to death in  videogame, you were treated to one of several death animations. In an effort to spice things up, ragdoll physics came about. This way, bodies would fall off of buildings, tumble down stairs, slouch over differently, etc.  For about a decade now, we've been seeing a ragdoll standard. Fear not, though, as it's on its way out. As physics engines grow stronger, we can see things like Euphoria/Natural Motion create substantially more lifelike and naturally behaving bodies, like in GTA IV.  By next generation, I predict that ragdoll physics will be a thing of the past. It will be replaced by the likes of Euphoria and other physics engines designed to simulate procedural human body movement. "

ragdoll are great for games. they are funny to watch an explosion and see a lot of guys go flying into the air. they are a great thing to have in games. sometimes the funny thing is, is when one part of a body just twitches so fast.

" well, I think you need to put it in perspective. Back in 1998 when you shot someone to death in  videogame, you were treated to one of several death animations. In an effort to spice things up, ragdoll physics came about. This way, bodies would fall off of buildings, tumble down stairs, slouch over differently, etc.  For about a decade now, we've been seeing a ragdoll standard. Fear not, though, as it's on its way out. As physics engines grow stronger, we can see things like Euphoria/Natural Motion create substantially more lifelike and naturally behaving bodies, like in GTA IV.  By next generation, I predict that ragdoll physics will be a thing of the past. It will be replaced by the likes of Euphoria and other physics engines designed to simulate procedural human body movement. "

If your game sucks, you need ragdoll physics. You need it. Because then your glitchy piece of shit game could be fun to play for reasons you didn't count on, thanks to the ragdolls.

I take "ragdolls" to mean "bodies that are affected by actual in-game physics rather than use static animations". In other words: If I shoot someone in the left shoulder, he will behave in such a way that implies I shot him in the left shoulder, rather than grab his balls and fall over.  

Euphoria is a combination of pre defined animations, ragdoll, and dynamic physics driven animation.
 
The problem with ragdoll is it can be really bad.  Between poorly rigged models, physics engines which don't update often enough or aren't accurate enough (which leads to the most crazy ragdoll glitches), and just the fact that the human body can be ripped to pieces, as opposed to being hit by a rocket and flying in a silly posture for thousands of feet...
 
@fuzzyponken said:

" I take "ragdolls" to mean "bodies that are affected by actual in-game physics rather than use static animations". In other words: If I shoot someone in the left shoulder, he will behave in such a way that implies I shot him in the left shoulder, rather than grab his balls and fall over.   "

" Euphoria is a combination of pre defined animations, ragdoll, and dynamic physics driven animation.  The problem with ragdoll is it can be really bad.  Between poorly rigged models, physics engines which don't update often enough or aren't accurate enough (which leads to the most crazy ragdoll glitches), and just the fact that the human body can be ripped to pieces, as opposed to being hit by a rocket and flying in a silly posture for thousands of feet... "

Best ragdoll physics I've seen is Half-Life 2

" @FunExplosions: Yeah, GTA IV uses that physics engine in the video. Star wars Force unleashed as well. "

" @torus: Animating a ragdoll excludes it from the definition of ragdoll. "

I love ragdoll physics. Mmmmm so funny and entertaining.

Ragdolls are better than nothing, and the tech is improving like people have said with Euphoria.  Look at GTA IV, that technology is amazing there and it really adds a lot.

op hates fun

Well you could either have it in the game or have none at all, If you had no kind of physics then it would be back to the old days with silly scripted death animations. Think your self lucky on that one.