Poll: MineCraft? Scary?

[theevilsanta]

The very idea of Minecraft is terrifying if you think about it. The world you explore is huge, unpredictable and relentlessly hostile, and you're alone and always will be, so you gradually go insane, building pointlessly monumental structures that noone else will ever see and brooding in your fortress every night like Chuck Heston in The Omega Man.

If it had guns instead of bows and the world generator built cities it would be the greatest zombie apocalypse game ever made.

Heh, well said.

Minecraft is scary for me in a way that no other game is. It effectively pulls off claustrophobia. Other games try to, but the worlds are scripted and have a general path. But Minecraft is different because the world is alterable and therefore tangible. I can feel the miles and miles of dirt and stone above my head like a terrible weight on my soul. And when I'm desperately lost in the dark deep in an unexplored cave with my diamond pick and a load of diamond ore on my person and I have only a couple hearts left and there are skeles around every corner while I search desperately for the way out .... Yeah. That's pretty damn scary.

 

[thenoblitt]

hearing the tsssss sound of an exploding zombie is terrifying to me cause it means im about to blow up and lose my stuff

 

[WOPR]

Minecraft recently made me jump out of my skin.

I was working on a mine just below my bunker. You know how it is. You make a bunker to stay alive through the night. Then you need something to do at night, so you begin mining. As I went down, I found a nice vein of coal. I get in and begin digging, and then do the stupid thing of digging directly below me.

Woosh.

Suddenly I've dropped a heart-stopping distance. It is pitch black. I am likely to be eaten by a grue. And there are monster noises everywhere.

Yup, I'm getting torches out quick smart. Turns out I'm in a vast underground cavern. There's even an underground river here. Oh... darn.

The thing about Minecraft is that, being emergent and unscripted, it can creep the heck out of you no matter how long you've been playing it. And, also, since there's no saving or reloading, doing things like building on high ledges becomes quite tense, as do bad situations if you accidentally get lost and night is falling. (I can't wait for 'hardcore' mode; an optional mode that will enforce permadeath. I can only imagine how tense that will make the game.)

Eternal Darkness

See, here's where I'm baffled in turn. You were scared by Eternal Darkness? I thought it was a fun pulpy Lovecraftian romp, but it was barely scary at all.

(Silent Hill, Fatal Frame and Ravenholme in Half-Life 2 also scared me.)

I should explain that; My computer and TV share a screen, and Eternal Darkness did that Blue-screen thing

that made me flip out

...that and when I was little and played it it wouldn't pause and that freaked me out too (I was like what? 11?)

anyways
none of the things you listed scared me, but I did get a thrill from Fatal Frame (2)

 

[Sephychu]

From what you mention about Dead Space, it's not what you'd define as scary. It can sure as hell make you jump, and when you're attached to the things you've slaved over building, it can add fear to the mix.

I think it can be.

I mean, being alone, in the dark, in some cave in the middle of nowhere and hearing familiar sounds would scare the hell out of me.

Also, if you don"t find it scary enough, there's always

Spoiler: Please, no clicking if you're easily scared and are enjoying Minecraft, I know people who have stopped playing because of this

the legend of Herobrine. Even though it's sort of proved to be fake, it's still creepy as hell.

Oh, by the way, Notch has considered actually putting that in in a later patch.
How terrifying would that be?

 

[Internet Kraken]

Oh, by the way, Notch has considered actually putting that in in a later patch.
How terrifying would that be?

Yes, the horror of an NPC that just walks away and does nothing. Terrifying!

 

[GothmogII]

Oh, by the way, Notch has considered actually putting that in in a later patch.
How terrifying would that be?

Yes, the horror of an NPC that just walks away and does nothing. Terrifying!

Spoiler: What was that, Mr.Freeeeman?

 

[Sephychu]

Oh, by the way, Notch has considered actually putting that in in a later patch.
How terrifying would that be?

Yes, the horror of an NPC that just walks away and does nothing. Terrifying!

Hey, I'm easily terrified!

 

[Internet Kraken]

Oh, by the way, Notch has considered actually putting that in in a later patch.
How terrifying would that be?

Yes, the horror of an NPC that just walks away and does nothing. Terrifying!

Spoiler: What was that, Mr.Freeeeman?

That's completley different though. First of all, the Gman isn't just a random NPC. He's one the important characters in the Half-Life series. The plyaer interacts with him multiple times, and you know that he's using you. Yet you don't know why. Which is why seeing him casually watching you can be unsettling. This guy is always monitroing you, keeping tabs on your progress, but for what purpose? It's the unkown that surrounds the Gman that makes him creepy.

But in Minecraft it would just be a competley random NPC. There's nothing creepy about that. Though I get the feeling that Notch would probably do more with it than just that. Maybe have the NPC lure players into an ambush, or something similar. But if all it did was stare at you and then run away, it would at worst be a petty annoyance.

 

[Sixcess]

An unexplained human NPC could be quite terrifying in Minecraft. I remember the first time I stumbled into a base camp I'd set up and entirely forgotten about...

"Hey, a torch, cool. Wait... I didn't put that there. Oh shit... who's out there?"

Imagine an intelligent enemy that can do the same things you can. Something that could open your doors, loot your chests or - worst of all - dig through your walls.

 

[nippynips]

Well the game itself isn't scary, but when you've just finished building an epic masterpiece and turn around only to see a creeper pop out of nowhere and take over an hours work to hell and back, is truly terrifying.

That and the GODDAMNED SPIDERS!

*Edit* Actually, the surreal sounds you hear in unexplored caves are creepy as all hell.

This a million times

Also, ghasts

 

[Amphoteric]

I can tell you, going through a cave 100 meters under with no torches is TERRIFYING

 

[Jonieye]

I'm voting in the yes direction purely based on the feeling gained while actually playing the game. It isn't the sort of fear that leaves long term scars or causes bad dreams, since it is easy after stopping playing to remember it is just a game and other than losing some items and walking there isn't much penalty for dieing. The feeling that causes me to vote yes is that it is scary, while you are still playing. It becomes extremely tense when walking around a randomly generated cavern, with only one small entrance and you don't know where it was, run out of torches then you fall down a pit yet survive.
It does have a lot of startling moments, such as things sneaking up behind or from above you, but I'm talking about primordial fear. Yes there is an initial jump when you notice the spider in the distance, but the as it and several of it's other friends start to chase you it can get pretty heart pumping.
That is just my opinion, and I have found myself unable to play it at times due to both annoyance of dieing and other times just because I need a break from the tension, so I will log out while just watching a spider that is watching me.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

It's the music that does it for me. Walking in a cave then it's brilliant soundtrack comes up. I found it made me sad because of how lonely I feel. God, the timing sometimes is awesome.

Next time you're on YouTube, instead of looking up Blops frag videos or of a person dressing up a cat, look up Minecraft's music.

Here, one out of the thirteen songs.

 

[Archemetis]

This whole threads reeks a little of:

'I don't find Minecraft scary because I have gigantic steel testicles that know no fear and anyone who does find Minecraft scary in any sense of the word is wrong because I don't find it scary'

Seriously, we get it you don't find it scary, some people do, it's a personal experience which means to them it's genuinely scary. Because your experience of the game differs doesn't mean they're wrong.

Some people find it a scary thought that their creations could suddenly be destroyed by an unseen entity, that's genuine

Some people find the noises they hear in unlit dungeons to be scary, they're designed to be as such.

I personally have never been a fan of dark places, I have an irrational fear that things are living in the dark... Minecraft works with that and puts monsters in it.

I personally jumped right out of my seat when a spider jumped on my face from a pitch black hole without warning.

But I suppose that means I'm some kind of spineless cretin that wouldn't know scary if it jumped on my face from a dark hole without warning.

 

[nofear220]

It could be scary only if your a complete minecraft nerd.

Troll alert

Horror games and I don't even bat an eyelid. Minecraft? Sometimes I refuse to go into caves if it looks too scary >_>.

Same here, minecraft makes me jump it is so scary, especially when youre underground scouting for diamond or just exploring and then BAM creeper... or skeleton... or spider...

What happens when I see a creeper (with more screaming):

creeper mentality:

 

[Generic_Username]

It's a very special feeling when you're scanning your surroundings in the darkness just so a spider can appear behind you out of nowhere. That's why I voted yes.

 

[PurplePlatypus]

Because Minecraft is the game where a green thing creeps up to you and from behind gently whispers into your ear, that sure is a nice everything you have there.

 

[Tmuney32]

Haha I'm laying in bed right now because of it... It is true it is jumpy. But thats not what makesbit scary or creepy. That just gets you blood pumping for more mining haha. But the solemn feel. The aloneness in the world you dropped in to, .oh and the white noise. I've played minecraft since beta 1.1 so nearly 6 months and never really found it creepy until tonight. I was playing on a survival map with a friend and the grass is a weird color (swamp biome I think) and we are trying to stay underground basically the whole thing, and I started feeling claustrophobic so I made the ceiling taller, and then parts seemed too tall. There's a super long hallway that I can't see the end of. I think my friend made a reference to the shining which didn't help. And then he got off. And I was all alone, making some glass before I got off, just sitting there. No noise at all except for a slight water trickle far off. After a minute I hear the white noise. It sounds like when I place a block or when one gets destroyed. Every minute or so. It scared me because those sounds are heard from me or a friend usually. So I put in /list and it's only me. But it sounds like someone is building on top of me. My mind got too freaked out and I left and shut it down. Sorry I wrote so much but traditionally scary events need detail. I find minecraft is starting to get a little creepy.

 

[nbamaniac]

It isn't a horror game, yet it freaks out many gamers.. Sounds like a fun and successful game to me.

 

[jpoon]

It can get a little freaky down in those dark passages, when a zombie or a creeper might just happen to be down there. Also when you come out to a stormy night, when lightning and creepers are out and about, yeah it can be a bit unnerving. Not really full-on scary but could make you sweat a little.