ShadowRatchet92 said:
With Dead Space 3 coming out, and having a more action focus, it started to make me thing. A lot of people say that not all games need to be fun, which made me think. Does a horror game(or horror show or movie) need to be scary to be called a horror game?
Oh dear. There's a lot of muddling of concepts going on here.
First of all, the "games don't have to be fun" argument exists because "fun" isn't always the most accurate word to describe how you feel when playing a game. When Aeris dies in Final Fantasy VII, Square wasn't aiming for "fun." They were aiming for "emotionally moving." This applies to movies, as well. One would think one would be wanting to have "fun" when watching a movie, but I don't really find myself having "fun" when Dumbledore dies in Harry Potter, or when Mufasa dies in the Lion King.
The most accurate blanket word that can describe those moments is
engaged. You are invested in what is going on in the movie or game at that moment. Having fun is one way to be engaged, but it's not the only way. That is what "games don't have to be fun." means.
Now, your horror question is another one entirely. Horror is a very specific genre. The most divisive thing about it is the idea that there are different types of horror. There's psychological horror like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, there are jump scares and the dread of facing impossible odds like L4D, and then there's a horror of a much more...abstract kind. For example, sethisjimmy pointed out Catherine. Catherine could be considered a "horror" game not because it gets your blood pumping, but because it's a nightmarish incarnation of how bad relationship problems can get. It's scary in that it's a scenario completely out of your control, and the stress it puts in the character is incredible.
The same thing could be said about Minecraft, in a way. Imagine--you start out in a world all by yourself with nothing to your name, and the other creatures in the world either don't do anything at all to help you, or are trying to kill you. And there isn't anything you can do it except find a way to survive. No matter how big of a monster you kill there is no way to "win," and you will never have true company. If that isn't terrifying, I don't know what is.
So it really depends on how you look at it, and what kind of horror you are talking about.