Systems and methods for imparting dynamic and realistic movement to player-controlled avatars in video games

A computer readable non-transitory medium comprising a plurality of executable programmatic instructions wherein, when said plurality of executable programmatic instructions are executed by a processor in a computing device, a process for determining orientation of a virtual character's first-person arms and object model is performed as the virtual character is turned by a player during gameplay, said virtual character being characterized by a torso having a mass and an anchor, said object being held by said virtual character and being characterized by a mass and an anchor, the plurality of executable programmatic instructions comprising:

• calculating, using a module in at least one server, a current torso anchor orientation from the virtual character's view vector orientation and view vector angular velocity;
• calculating, using the module in the at least one server, a current torso mass orientation based on the current torso anchor orientation;
• calculating, using the module in the at least one server, a current object anchor orientation from the virtual character's view vector angular velocity and the current torso mass orientation;
• calculating, using the module in the at least one server, a current object mass orientation based on the current object anchor orientation;
• calculating, using the module in the at least one server, a first angular offset between the current torso mass orientation and the view vector orientation, wherein the first angular offset is applied as a rotation to the virtual character's first-person arms and object model at the virtual character's shoulder;
• and
• calculating, using the module in the at least one server, a second angular offset between the current object mass orientation and the view vector orientation, wherein the second angular offset is applied as a rotation to the virtual character's first-person arms and object model at a point on the object.