What terrifies you?

[FalloutJack]

Being attacked by a giant squid that's staring at you with uncomprehending lidless eyes as it snaps you in half.

To explain: Other animals in life glare at you with some sort of recognition. They acknowledge you. Even the predator who's either wary of your presence or about to strike is looking angry or hungry at you. Even sharks look anxious, whales sort of impassive. A squid glares open wide like there's nobody home, and that is the most unnerving look for something that's about to kill you to have. And since they have the biggest eyeball in the world and being in their environment means that you are fucked makes it a terrifying situation from the inherent danger to the emotional shock that squid's just looking right through you as you die.

Yes! I've always been scared of giant squids. Especially since they actually fit the bill as a huge "sea monster." If someone ever catches one and puts it in an aquarium, there is no way I would want to get close to one. It also fits well with my fear of dark, large bodies of water. Their environment fits the description perfectly.

OT: Spiders, rotting corpse zombies, disturbing ghosts/demons, that kind of imagery would scare me in a game if done right.

I also have a real life fear of being blind, in a game or real life, not being able to see would be torturous. I don't think I need to explain a fear of cancer either, not sure how they could translate that into a game. The prospect of getting it scares me to death.

I wouldn't want one in an Aquarium. They might be as smart as octopi, who demonstrate learning behavior through observation. What's to say this squid doesn't hold its 'breath' long enough to sneak outside and grab one of the workers in the late hours of the night?

 

[Hero of Lime]

I wouldn't want one in an Aquarium. They might be as smart as octopi, who demonstrate learning behavior through observation. What's to say this squid doesn't hold its 'breath' long enough to sneak outside and grab one of the workers in the late hours of the night?

I don't even want to think about it, so creepy. Good thing it's almost impossible to capture one on a camera alive, let alone capture one physically that can escape and snack on someone. ;__;

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Blindness. I just can't imagine how I would cope (clearly its possible to exist as a blind person, because blind people manage it, I just think that I personally would struggle to adapt) and it doesn't help that my shockingly bad eyesight means I'm most of the way there already

 

[Thaluikhain]

I wouldn't want one in an Aquarium. They might be as smart as octopi, who demonstrate learning behavior through observation. What's to say this squid doesn't hold its 'breath' long enough to sneak outside and grab one of the workers in the late hours of the night?

As I understand it, they are strictly deep sea creatures. The tank would have to be kept at high pressure, to get out, it'd have to breach the tank (which be a problem), and them suffer decompression.

Of course, if it was a zombie giant squid, might not be a problem.

 

[FalloutJack]

I wouldn't want one in an Aquarium. They might be as smart as octopi, who demonstrate learning behavior through observation. What's to say this squid doesn't hold its 'breath' long enough to sneak outside and grab one of the workers in the late hours of the night?

As I understand it, they are strictly deep sea creatures. The tank would have to be kept at high pressure, to get out, it'd have to breach the tank (which be a problem), and them suffer decompression.

Of course, if it was a zombie giant squid, might not be a problem.

There is some debate on their requirement of pressure, especially because they can't seem to catch one to study it (aside from dead ones that yield limited results). There have been live findings closer to the surface. They're just so damn elusive.

 

[Thaluikhain]

There is some debate on their requirement of pressure, especially because they can't seem to catch one to study it (aside from dead ones that yield limited results). There have been live findings closer to the surface. They're just so damn elusive.

Yeah...there's one behind you! It snuck away when you looked, it's around somewhere.

 

[Hawkeye21]

I am scared of heights to the point that playing AC4 gave me a few dizzy spells. I would get a strong sinking sensation in my stomach when I would misjudge a jump and see Edward plummeting to the ground. I wonder how falling in games would work out for me after I get Oculus rift, hehe...

I was scared of the dark when I was wee, but that was a long time ago.

 

[Headsprouter]

What if I lost my hands, or if I went blind? Even deafness, how could I live after such a thing?

Also, pain that can't be escaped. Torture. Anything inevitable, really...but just plain old death isn't so bad, it's just bleak. But the thought of having to suffer...awful.

Madness is also really scary. Imagine losing your mental capability. Brain damage, is terrible, too. Basically, all you have after you get old is your memories, and to lose those...it's all pointless.


Yup. Did I mention growing old? That sucks.

 

[FalloutJack]

There is some debate on their requirement of pressure, especially because they can't seem to catch one to study it (aside from dead ones that yield limited results). There have been live findings closer to the surface. They're just so damn elusive.

Yeah...there's one behind you! It snuck away when you looked, it's around somewhere.

No no, that was Cthulhu. He's cool. He just wanted another beer.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Deep sea creatures. They are ancient, they are blind, they don't need the light and they are terrifying.

Spoiler: The frilled shark

Spoiler: The giant spider crab

Spoiler: The Atlantic wolffish

Spoiler: The fangtooth fish

Spoiler: The vampire squid

Spoiler: The Pacific viperfish

Spoiler: And of course the angler fish

 

[Strain42]

Balloons.

I know that seems like such a minor phobia but I just hate being around them. They squeak, they pop, they feel uncomfortable. Just being near them makes me cringe.

 

[Hebby]

Hmm not especially afraid of anything. Perhaps wasps, but I will do battle with them if needs be.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

Deep water - I'm not very good at swimming, even with lessons. Never know what will wanna pull me under and keep me there. I'm not talking about pools, I mean lakes, oceans and the like, where the water tends to be really dark and murky, making visibility even with goggles close to impossible.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

I'm afraid of the dark and cramped places (as in, not being to move as I might wish). Pretty common things, sure, but it even happens in games (in Minecraft, for example, when digging down, I have to make corridor that are at least 2 blocks wide and 3 high). As for the dark, it mostly comes from a fear of being/going blind, as I rely on my eyes, however bad they are, for nearly everything.

 

[The Night Angel]

Bearing in mind that I live in Australia... spiders.

I don't freak out if I see one sitting on the wall or whatever, but I find it nearly impossible to relax if I know there's one in the room. If I look down and see one touching me or crawling on me, that's when I freak out. Well, actually, that's not quite right. First I get really calm in a very brittle sort of way, flick the bugger off, then I freak the fuck out.

Also, the prospect of living a stagnant life devoid of merit and dying alone and unloved. But I think that would be harder to put in a game.

Pretty much exactly this entire post, except that I don't have the excuse of living in Australia where the spiders are all mental, devil-spawned, multi-eyed freaks.... I'm just a big ole scaredy cat, so any spider that is half the size of my palm or bigger is just.... no.
Side note: First post since April, I have to stop disappearing!

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Adam Sandler. Nuff said. Or maybe not nuff said depending on the limitations of minimal characters needed to avoid bein told off

 

[Storm Dragon]

Large bugs. The smaller ones I'm okay with, but once they start approaching the size of my thumb, we've got a problem. I can't help but imagine them leaping onto my face to tear out my eyeballs and lay their eggs in the sockets, or burrowing into my ear to take control of my nervous system. I think I can blame this on my reading/watching/playing a lot of sci-fi and fantasy.

EDIT:

Spiders usually creep me out. The dark also scares me, really badly. I can't stand being in darkness unless it's falling asleep. Otherwise I will avoid it as much as possible. What I would see in a game is being in a hallway then all the lights going out one by one. That would really do it. Also if there were spiders in the hallway too. That would make me turn the game off completely.

This too. I am of the opinion that if you're not at least a little afraid of the dark, then you've probably got a shitty imagination.

 

[Raikas]

Snakes. Even though I live in an area with zero venomous ones, I still jump whenever I see them (and I do quite a bit of hiking, so I see them a lot). I keep my friends entertained by jumping around whenever the beasts show up on trail somewhere - I try not to react, but there's just something instinctual that happens when one slithers across my path.

 

[DanielBrown]

I guess deep waters. There's nothing dangerous in the seas of Sweden as far as I know, but it's still scary to me. Assuming it comes from when I was young, at the familys old summer house. The waters there went from shallow to real-fucking-deep in just a few meters and there were cables(I hope) in the water that made eerie clonking noises. Also almost drowned due to the heavy currents in Tenerife when I was 12.
Freaked me out quite a bit.

 

[Phantom Kat]

Centipedes can fuck off back to whatever demonic hell hole spawned them. People think cockroaches would survive a nuclear holocaust but centipedes are evil fucking hellspawn that would survive, eat the cockroaches, then mutate into giant venomous death machines. They'd then do evil shit like kick puppies and not pay taxes.

I also hate deepish water. It's cold and makes me feel like I'm suffocating. I also don't float very well which makes swimming a *****.