For me, It's anything to do with the unknown. In real life I am terrified of swimming in water when I cannot see the bottom, and anything else of the like. If anything like this is in a game I am very hesitant to tackle it, and I ususally move slowly and tactfully through it, even when unecessary. In a game like FEAR or Half Life, I usually creep very slowly forward. At least it drags out gameplay time!
What do you find scary?
- Thread starter GenHellspawn
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I'll never forget playing Doom when I was 9 or 10. It's the only game to date that gave me chills down my spine. Granted, I was just a kid. Nowadays, I love the classic Resident Evil stuff. I need to give Call of Cthulu a shot at some point.
I second Facehuggers, they must be the single most creepy thing someone ever invented. I'd rather face a fully grown Alien than being mouth-raped by a facehugger any day.
Two other things are:
- Being stuck in a deathtrap. Someone mentioned the Apeture Science Testing Grounds, other instances would be the Cube from the Cube Movies, or the deathtraps from Saw, although i find them much more scary when they have some sort of morbid logic behind it and seem to serve a scientific purpose, rather than some sort of punishment by a psychopath.
- Being alone, knowing something is out there to get you. I for myself find the build up to a "jump scare" much more scary than the scare itself. You know it will happen, you know you don't want to be scared, and you don't know when to expect it. I guess that makes Silent Hill so scary (the Games, not the Movie)
Two other things are:
- Being stuck in a deathtrap. Someone mentioned the Apeture Science Testing Grounds, other instances would be the Cube from the Cube Movies, or the deathtraps from Saw, although i find them much more scary when they have some sort of morbid logic behind it and seem to serve a scientific purpose, rather than some sort of punishment by a psychopath.
- Being alone, knowing something is out there to get you. I for myself find the build up to a "jump scare" much more scary than the scare itself. You know it will happen, you know you don't want to be scared, and you don't know when to expect it. I guess that makes Silent Hill so scary (the Games, not the Movie)
In real life, my biggest fears are:
1) Living things under the skin, especially if they move. Worms was terrifying.
2) Anything with a poisonous bite. I can't explain why on this one. They just are. I can sit through most horror movies laughing my ass off, but what makes me cringe? Snakes on a Plane.... god that's sad.
In a game, I'm not really sure if I've ever been really "scared". Mostly when games try to scare me, I tend to think it's cool.
A bonus to whomever said facehuggers. They basically combine my two big phobias.
- J
1) Living things under the skin, especially if they move. Worms was terrifying.
2) Anything with a poisonous bite. I can't explain why on this one. They just are. I can sit through most horror movies laughing my ass off, but what makes me cringe? Snakes on a Plane.... god that's sad.
In a game, I'm not really sure if I've ever been really "scared". Mostly when games try to scare me, I tend to think it's cool.
A bonus to whomever said facehuggers. They basically combine my two big phobias.
- J
Dude, you're not even trying.The Negotiator said:
Back to the facehugger, it manages to combine some of the basic fears; asphyxiation (buried alive, drowning, smothering); spiders, scorpions, rats; the unknown; the unbeatable; sex (Yeh...there's an oral side to that completely) and also predator behaviour.
I was once playing AvP in the Alien Lair when I heard a scuttling. This is the moment my cat decided to wrap round my legs.
She doesn't come near me when I'm on the computer now.
(There are videos on Youtube but I'm afraid I chickened out)
I second that. That's my biggest fear in a game.zen5887 said:
I also fear ninja clown chickens(don't want to mess with them!).
Since playing half-life when I was little, and combined with my natural fear of jellyfish, squid and octupi, as well as the fact I was once nearly swept out to sea... I'm now terrified of water in any game. And not exactly comfortable in real life. Stoopid water-monsters that you can only feasably kill with the crossbow but you always miss and then it comes to eat you. Grr. S'why playing through bioshock the first time scared the willies out of me. TOO MUCH WATER!
Same here. It got worse in the last levels of the game, because you always excpect a human encounter when you walk "behind the scenes". It was a weird feeling, because you wanted company, but not the wrong kind. So you searched for some, but always excpecting the wrong kind of company. It's a bit like the Stockholm-syndrome, I guess.Thunderhorse said:
Like a few other people around here my big fear is deep water. I had some bad experiences and now I rarely ever go swimming. Games that force you into deep water or have aquatic enemies always piss me off.
In games? Water. In reality I can go into lakes, rivers and the sea no problem. In games I don't like the water. I blame Morrowind mostly. It trained me to be wary of slaughterfish. Strange that I'm not afraid of mountains really; Cliffracers are another thing that have scarred me in ways I didn't think were possible.
A highly ironic Video-Gaming related fear when you consider how much I enjoy swimming in RL, and I haven't even seen any of the Jaws movies- BUBs. Big Underwater Beasties! Many of which can eat you whole in one go. Big Bubba in Mario 64. The Dianogas and Water Cycs in the Star Wars games. The eyeless pirahna (sp?) in the Turok games. Even the little bitty pirahna in Zelda's Lakebed Temple make me think twice before diving in, to say nothing of Gyorg.
None of these BUBs have ever prevented me from finishing a level though. That honor belongs solely to another creation of Star Wars- the Drugon. Like most protagonists, poor Kyle Katarn is helpless as a newborn kitten while in water, whereas these things are Lightsaber-proof, can eat him whole, and actually move pretty darn fast for their size. Glad they're only in one level. Translated into RL, this probably just a general fear of being eaten alive by underwater wildlife regardless of size- some of the things I've heard about Pirahna swarms creep me out, and humans by definition are a hundred times more vulnerable in water than on land.
None of these BUBs have ever prevented me from finishing a level though. That honor belongs solely to another creation of Star Wars- the Drugon. Like most protagonists, poor Kyle Katarn is helpless as a newborn kitten while in water, whereas these things are Lightsaber-proof, can eat him whole, and actually move pretty darn fast for their size. Glad they're only in one level. Translated into RL, this probably just a general fear of being eaten alive by underwater wildlife regardless of size- some of the things I've heard about Pirahna swarms creep me out, and humans by definition are a hundred times more vulnerable in water than on land.
I have a six year old, so I'm not allowed to be afraid of anything... well at least not when she is around.
When she's not, however, I have.. unreasonable issues with heights. We just don't get on well. Also, I have been (in my younger days) a manly-manly-MMA fighter. I've faced down people that would make the fighters of today cough and suddenly remember that they left their ovens on. (I even won a few!). I have lived in a pretty rough ghetto area, been shot *at* (not hit.. w00t!), stabbed twice, been hit by speeding cars and lived to post here...and I am *still* really freaked out by spiders. I wouldn't call it fear per se... well my fiancé might, but I wouldn't... but they freak the hell right out of me. Also, I have a really weird fear of asphyxiation.
[EDIT]
In games/movies, the facehuggers hell the aliens too... and that motion sensor thing.. screw that thing! Sure it's nice to know where your enemies are but to me, the toll of doom is that weird ping/beep of that damned device.
When she's not, however, I have.. unreasonable issues with heights. We just don't get on well. Also, I have been (in my younger days) a manly-manly-MMA fighter. I've faced down people that would make the fighters of today cough and suddenly remember that they left their ovens on. (I even won a few!). I have lived in a pretty rough ghetto area, been shot *at* (not hit.. w00t!), stabbed twice, been hit by speeding cars and lived to post here...and I am *still* really freaked out by spiders. I wouldn't call it fear per se... well my fiancé might, but I wouldn't... but they freak the hell right out of me. Also, I have a really weird fear of asphyxiation.
[EDIT]
In games/movies, the facehuggers hell the aliens too... and that motion sensor thing.. screw that thing! Sure it's nice to know where your enemies are but to me, the toll of doom is that weird ping/beep of that damned device.
(not necessarily in order)
1. Rape. One in four women get raped.
2. Deep murky water. Somehow I only realised that AFTER I was sitting there in the middle of a cloudy lake, about to try wakeboarding.
3. Pixelated things. {(DOOM+Heretic+Quake+Duke Nukem)+young, impressionable little girl}x main time spent with father = Nightmares, phobias, and a phycologically imbedded "Games are an important part of your life" mentality.
4. something graphic happening to my eyes/ losing my sight.
5. zombies
6. being impaled (through the intestines in particular)
7. The martyrdom of St. Bart.
8. Joints being hyperextended to the point of breaking
9. The death of those I love. (I hate to even put it here, the thought hurts so)
10.Regretting being an artist.
1. Rape. One in four women get raped.
2. Deep murky water. Somehow I only realised that AFTER I was sitting there in the middle of a cloudy lake, about to try wakeboarding.
3. Pixelated things. {(DOOM+Heretic+Quake+Duke Nukem)+young, impressionable little girl}x main time spent with father = Nightmares, phobias, and a phycologically imbedded "Games are an important part of your life" mentality.
4. something graphic happening to my eyes/ losing my sight.
5. zombies
6. being impaled (through the intestines in particular)
7. The martyrdom of St. Bart.
8. Joints being hyperextended to the point of breaking
9. The death of those I love. (I hate to even put it here, the thought hurts so)
10.Regretting being an artist.
Well, I suppose I could be all manly and say i'm not afraid of anything. But thats not necessarily true. Sure, I don't think I have any phobia's, but I guess i have the same basic fears as everyone else. Being eaten alive. Thats a pretty scary prospect, no matter how you look at it. Well, being conscious and eaten alive. Knowing that that animal is eating YOU. Not just a random piece of meat, but you. A part of you. And you're powerless to do anything, feeling every piece of yourflesh rip, hearing the crunch of your bones.. Christ, that ain't something I'd wanna wish on anyone.
Being burned alive too. And everyone has a fear of the unknown. Depending on the situation, usually. "If you look long into the Abyss, the Abyss looks into you."
I can't say a game has ever "Scared" me though, sure, they make you jump and such, but I've never been scared to walk round that corner, face that beasty etc.
Remember kids, courage is not the absence of fear.
Being burned alive too. And everyone has a fear of the unknown. Depending on the situation, usually. "If you look long into the Abyss, the Abyss looks into you."
I can't say a game has ever "Scared" me though, sure, they make you jump and such, but I've never been scared to walk round that corner, face that beasty etc.
Remember kids, courage is not the absence of fear.
I'd have to agree with many in this thread and say, in games, deep dark murky water scares me. Yet in reality I can go scuba diving, boating, water skiing, what have you all over dark deep waters and not be scared of it. I think it's because in games things tend to want to eat you in the deep murky waters, and you're in their domain. But in reality short of a rare shark attack, nothing really wants to eat you. Unless maybe you go real deep.
Also the prospect of something/someone chasing you that wants to kill and harm you, and you have no way to fight back. Like that part in Call of Cthulu. Or in portal when GLaDOS tries to dump you in a pit of fire. And after that once you escape and you find remnants of human activity everywhere but no one to be found, sent chills down my spine..
Also the prospect of something/someone chasing you that wants to kill and harm you, and you have no way to fight back. Like that part in Call of Cthulu. Or in portal when GLaDOS tries to dump you in a pit of fire. And after that once you escape and you find remnants of human activity everywhere but no one to be found, sent chills down my spine..