Ex-BioWare developer explains why everyone in Mass Effect & Dragon Age does the 'BioWare Turn' animation

You may not know the name but you will recognize the animation. You remember how in so many BioWare titles, such as your Mass Effects and Dragon Ages, everyone seemed to have the same physical tics. There's the 'rubbing of the forehead worriedly', the 'rubbing of hands together while looking nervously side to sides', and the 'ambling aimlessly off to one side of the screen before returning to where they started speaking'.

It's called "the BioWare turn," and it turns out that there's more to it than just being charming, familiar and probably close at hand in the animators arsenal. In a post on X "The Everything App" (via GamesRadar), former BioWare developer Violet McVinnie explained why the animation is used so frequently.

McVinnie wrote: "This anim is a part of a series called 'Posebreakers,' which are meant to move characters around if a scene feels too static." "We'd combine these with the infamous Exit Left/Right between cuts." This is the classic Commander Shepard "I should go" followed by wandering away from the screen.

The animations are the videogame equivalent to "business," which is the theatrical term used for actors doing things with their body while they are dialoguing or soliloquizing. Imagine the small council playing with the strange marbles in House of the Dragon or an actor fiddling around with a prop as he delivers a speech in Hamlet. It would be boring to watch two actors or two character models stand and just deliver dialogue. Adding a dash of physicality can make the scene more exciting.

Theoretically, at least. The BioWare Turn is that it was so prevalent in the studio's titles that it took you out of the game rather than putting it into it. It's pretty much what you would expect: "Many Animations propagate throughout many BioWare Franchises," writes McVinnie. "ME3's Thane/Kai Leng combat cutscene has a number of Jade Empire Combat animations stitched into it."

Character models cannot improvise on the spot, so creating new movements takes time and effort. This could be better spent somewhere else. It's easier and better to just throw in a BioWare game and call it a night. It's not personal, players.