Arachnophobia

[Zhukov]

I'm mildly freaked out by spiders.

Basically, if there's one in the room then I'm fine. I'll just be very, very aware of it.

However, if one of them conspires to touch me in some manner, well, that's when the bellowing and frantic flailing begins.

I don't have any issue with them in games. A virtual spider can't crawl on my face while I'm asleep (true story).

 

[King of Asgaard]

In games, I don't mind spiders, but IRL I'm terrified of them.
It's probably due to the fact that in games they're big and I have an even bigger means of getting rid of them, be it firearms or a great stonking broadsword.

 

[chadachada123]

I don't have a problem with spiders in games, because they are generally large and not that big of a problem.

It's the SMALL spiders that I flip shit over.

Tarantula? The bigger, the better. Most aren't poisonous and most also don't make a habit of hiding in your shows or clothing.

Small, sickly-looking spiders with thin limbs and no hair? Fuck. That.

In games, though, they don't bother me, because they can't harm me and usually make their presence known. Even if they made small spiders that needed to be searched for (like their real-life counterparts), it wouldn't freak me out. It'd seem more like a chore than anything else.

 

[ecoho]

I don't mind spiders in a game.

I do cringe a bit when I see real ones or realistic ones on TV/film.

I despise them in real life.

It's a relatively recent thing as well. To cut a long story short, out on ops when I was in the army (I was 23 at the time) and we had 45 minutes to kill. I decided to take a nap in the shade under the 4 tonner that was transporting us.

Woke up from a thud on my chest, looked down and very nearly emptied my bowels in terror.

Fucking Camel Spider staring right fucking at me.

Ugliest bastard thing i've ever seen.

Haven't liked Spiders since.

dear god i hate those thing, though they do provide funny scenes, such as watching a LT empty his pistal at one

 

[Rose and Thorn]

I used to find them horrible as a child, I would call on my mother to come kill it if I saw one. One day I was at an out door car show for old classic muscle cars. There was this booth type area where they had all these strange/uncommon pets for people to look at, hold or perhapes buy. One of the creatures they had was a tarantula. A lady asked if I wanted to hold it, and I said no of course, but she insisted and practically through the thing in my hand. That was the last day I was afraid of spiders.

Now I have grown a liking to them. I now live in a place that has quite a few spiders and I will let them be or even hold them once in awhile. Tarantula's are my favorite, I find them very cute. I get how someone can find them terrifying, all those legs and eyes.

I have a lot of Zebra Spiders/Jumping Spider where I live *they live outside* and I find them just ADORABLE. They are known for reacting around humans more then most any other spider. They not only stare at you and follow your movement with their bodies, but they also play hide and seek! Also they are very pretty, some are shiny blue and green, but most are black and white.

Spoiler: Here is a picture of some cute zebra/jumping spiders, they are sooooooo adorable.

 

[Nouw]

I find spiders more terrifying in videogames to be honest. They're fucking massive and turn me off enough to kill them with magic or something long-ranged. My first encounter? I yelled out in real life .

 

[DustyDrB]

In real life seeing a spider will trigger panic, at least momentarily (though more hysterical in the case of a really nasty looking one or surprising ones. I ran out of a lake house one summer in terror when I opened a closet door, bent over to set down my bags, and a group of spiders fell on me. Then I was all jittery and had to change my clothes just because I couldn't be sure one wasn't still in there...).

In games, though, they are no big deal. That's not the kind of thing that will freak me out in games. Two things get to me in games: (1) Jump scares. I'm a very jumpy person (just ask the people I've swung at when they decided to surprise me). And (2) Normal people who are demented in some way. Like they've lost their humanity. That's a different kind of scare. It's like seeing something horrible that makes your heart break, or that scares you into thinking that that kind of depravity is potentially in everyone. The people of Rapture in the first BioShock accomplished both of these scare types and succeeded in making me quit that game an hour in. Zombies actually get me in the second way, which is why I stay the hell away from things with zombies. It bums me out...and creeps me out.

 

[RedRuby185]

I am terrified of spiders in real life but i have no problem with them being in video games. also why is it almost every medieval game has giant spiders to fight in it?

 

[CityofTreez]

I used to find them horrible as a child, I would call on my mother to come kill it if I saw one. One day I was at an out door car show for old classic muscle cars. There was this booth type area where they had all these strange/uncommon pets for people to look at, hold or perhapes buy. One of the creatures they had was a tarantula. A lady asked if I wanted to hold it, and I said no of course, but she insisted and practically through the thing in my hand. That was the last day I was afraid of spiders.

Now I have grown a liking to them. I now live in a place that has quite a few spiders and I will let them be or even hold them once in awhile. Tarantula's are my favorite, I find them very cute. I get how someone can find them terrifying, all those legs and eyes.

I have a lot of Zebra Spiders/Jumping Spider where I live *they live outside* and I find them just ADORABLE. They are known for reacting around humans more then most any other spider. They not only stare at you and follow your movement with their bodies, but they also play hide and seek! Also they are very pretty, some are shiny blue and green, but most are black and white.

Spoiler: Here is a picture of some cute zebra/jumping spiders, they are sooooooo adorable.

Wait.

Did I...I...just think a spider is "cute"? As in, adorable pet cute? I need to lay down.

 

[WWmelb]

Just a brief guess on why so many people are afraid of spiders.

I guess it would be because as most people are fairly ignorant of WHICH spiders are dangerous, they instinctively fear all of them, as they are all potentially dangerous to them.

The more informed you become about which spiders are actually dangerous, the less frightened most people will become. WARNING: If you live in an area dense with extremely dangerous spiders, this may have the opposite effect.

For me, i'm cautious around spiders who's species is unknown to me. If i know a spider is very dangerous for a fact, ie: Redback Spiders, then i will deal with them in an appropriate manner. Which is catch and release to me. Daddy Long Legs, Hunstman, Australian Wolf Spiders... they can all sit pretty where they are. They keep the mozzie population down for one thing.

I'm cautious around White Tails though, because it is still in debate as to how dangerous they are. It was once feared that a white tail bite will cause flesh deterioration much like a flesh eating bacteria, but is lately believe that to most people a white tail bite is basically painless and with no symptoms apart from mild itching, and it is a severe genetic allergy to the venom that causes the other complications. Either way, the evidence is still inconclusive, so i remain wary, and i catch and release far far away.

Overall i like spiders, and most insects. I find them fascinating.

 

[legend forge]

I have minor arachnophobia, in real life they leave me paralyzed but not panicking or screaming. For me, the part that freaks me out is the way they move.

Games do not get it quite right, so games with good graphics with spiders tend not to freak me out as much (at least no more then a shudder and irrational hatred).

However, Limbo gave me nightmares. Something about the abstract graphics and the noises combined with that the damn thing does to you freaked me out so much.

 

[Shadow flame master]

I'm fine with spiders as long as I don't pay too much attention to them or they come too close to me. Otherwise, I'll just release it outside or kill it on the spot.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

I can actually pinpoint the exact second I became afraid of Spiders. I won't go into too many details. Suffice it to say it involved a Mini Golf Course, my hand, a large garden spider and what I must assume to be a relatively freshly hatched brood.

Suffice it to say I hate the little fuckers like poison and I'm none too fond of mini golf either.

However I'm not completely irrational about it. I'm fine with most spiders in video games and movies, largely because they're intentionally designed to be monstrous and usually comically large to the point where I can acknowledge that they are fake and avoid the paralysis that usually comes from being face to face with the rotten beasts.

 

[hewhocommunes]

I am an arachnaphobe, that in real life translates to a need for me to kill any spider that I see inside a building. I can more or less ignore them if I'm outside. That is their home. thats fine. However as soon as I see them inside I have to be sure that I killed them, or I just know theyll be back to do awful things to me later.

As spiders in video games, its more managable, but still gives me the willies. But there is a level of pleasure that I get from destroying them in games without the actual danger of contact with them. I do wish I saw different critters instead of spiders in games at least some of the time.

As an unrelated comment, I think I have pinpointed the starting point for my loathing of spiders back to first grade, when I was reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. I had nightmares, and have hated them ever since.

Most recent encounter with a spider was at my place of work, where a spider was hanging from a doorframe, right in my walking path. I went to try to crush it with a paper towel, and missed. then it dropped to the floor, and I ended up jumping around squeeling as I stamped my feet in front of my customers.

 

[Mnixos]

I have no problem with spiders in games, love to kill them in skyrim ^^

In real life this is another matter. I can't let one of those thing alive. I'm not afraid to kill one...except if I miss it and that the f***ing thing disapears in a dark corner of the room. Because of that I almost died once...

I was driving with my girlfriend sitting next to me. I think I'm a borderline arachnophobic, but she's a full blown one, this is important for the next part.
So I was on the highway, going quite fast, when suddenly I spot a big spider on my door's window, like 10cm from my face, my GF didn't see it. It was decision time!

As I said, I'm on the highway, so I have no way to stop the car easily and I can't stand tolet that thing so close to my face. If I tell my GF there is a big spider in the car with us, she's going to scream, I'm going to panic, we are both going to die. If I try to kill the spider and miss it without telling my GF, she's going to think I'm crazy for suddenly hitting my window and I'm going to panic, same result as before.
Finally I calmly told my GF that I needed her to stay calm while I kill the thing. I didn't have a clear shot, it was too close to me and there was not enough room around me in the car...but I guess it was a lucky day (in one way ^^). I one-shot the damn thing and went on my way.

To this day, I can't get on a car without first checking all the windows.

 

[Broderick]

I used to find them horrible as a child, I would call on my mother to come kill it if I saw one. One day I was at an out door car show for old classic muscle cars. There was this booth type area where they had all these strange/uncommon pets for people to look at, hold or perhapes buy. One of the creatures they had was a tarantula. A lady asked if I wanted to hold it, and I said no of course, but she insisted and practically through the thing in my hand. That was the last day I was afraid of spiders.

Now I have grown a liking to them. I now live in a place that has quite a few spiders and I will let them be or even hold them once in awhile. Tarantula's are my favorite, I find them very cute. I get how someone can find them terrifying, all those legs and eyes.

I have a lot of Zebra Spiders/Jumping Spider where I live *they live outside* and I find them just ADORABLE. They are known for reacting around humans more then most any other spider. They not only stare at you and follow your movement with their bodies, but they also play hide and seek! Also they are very pretty, some are shiny blue and green, but most are black and white.

Spoiler: Here is a picture of some cute zebra/jumping spiders, they are sooooooo adorable.

All of those are fucking adorable. Personally I love spiders, doesn't really matter the kind. It is kind of odd, but I never really found them to be scary; heck, as said above, I find some to be quite cute. I think people over exaggerate the aggressiveness of spiders somewhat, as most will leave you alone if you leave them alone. Funny thing, around the house, and at friends houses, I am the guy who gets spiders out of the house, as most of my friends and family don't wanna touch them. I find them to be interesting, and it tickles a bit when they move on your hand.

As for video game versions of spiders? Well, if they are hostile, I tend to treat them like any other enemy really. I do tend to feel bad when I kill them though, as it feels like they are only attacking me because I invaded their territory. I feel much the same way with wolves as well.

 

[Lord Doomhammer]

I really kinda like the itty bitty jumping spiders :3
I also kind of like outside garden spiders, all grey and yellow. As long as they stay in the garden I'm fine with them.

Every other spiders is to be considered an enemy of the state and summarily executed on site.

Edit: I went looking for a picture of one of the garden spiders... 5 minutes later and I'm sorry I tried :C

 

[Shockolate]

Copy/pasta from another thread:

How I deal with Arachnophobia has changed.

Instead of flailing away screaming "Don't let it get me" like I used to, now I move into a slight crouch and get really pissed off, like, "If you take one more fucking step near me I will FUCKING KILL YOU!". My fight or flight response changed from flight to fight.

Which is funny because I find it cruel and try not to kill things, except flies and mosquitoes, because fuck those guys. I mean, they eat insects that might otherwise annoy me. I understand and accept thier usefulness.

I JUST WISH THEY WEREN'T SO FUCKING CREEPY! :'C

 

[Nazulu]

Wow. I had no idea people were so scared of spiders in video games, and that there were mods to remove them. I'll have to remember that in future.

You see, I love spiders. I find almost every thing about them facinating and I was planning on making some games where you even play as a spider, trying to catch some of their realistic movements and what not. The purpose isn't to scare any one though, so I'll try to make it obvious which games they are.