How do you deal with your Fears when playing a Video Game?

[shadyh8er]

The things that the zealots in Resident Evil 4 were saying sent shivers down my spine. How did I deal with it? Why, by looking up translations of course! I've actually died less times because of that. As it turns out, sometimes they say "behind you imbecile!"

 

[NickKuroshi0]

run like hell and stab them in the back

 

[Brainsaw]

Can't remember the game's name but it was an rpg and it featured the one thing guaranteed to creep me the hell out, which is being underwater when something big is trying to eat you. The murkier the water is the worst it is for me. Anyway tried to zap the thing and ended up frying myself as in my panic to see it dead I foolishly used a lightning spell in water.

 

[nklshaz]

I'll reference a specific game: Dark Souls. The game tends to give me a fear of pushing forward, because of the possibility of losing my precious souls, and the fact that the monster and boss designs get more disturbing and depraved as the game goes on. That, combined with the difficulty, make me not so much scared, but very apprehensive about moving forward. Not to mention the bleak vibe this game gives me, especially when I play at night. I usually counter this by grinding some low level areas. It lets me feel at least a little less helpless.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Yeah I also have major arachnophobia and I've had trouble finishing several games because of it. I can only hope that spider enemy isn't seen a lot. It really interests me though how our irrational fears can still be experienced in an environment that isn't real.

 

[thelonewolf266]

Generally when I'm playing games like dead space or more often F.E.A.R and I'm scared I hold down the trigger with whatever weapon I have till it starts clicking.It doesn't really help especially in F.E.A.R where scary child is invincible but it sure makes me feel better.

 

[Feylynn]

Mine's a little specific, deep water, but it needs to have certain qualities.
Like swimming around Vashj'ir in WoW is fine, the water world in Folklore had no effect, in real life I enjoy being underwater and my only fears are ocean level and the fact I'm a weak swimmer (which is less a fear and more an intelligence to stay away from deep water in that case).
But some places, Fatigue water in WoW, Deep places in Minecraft, looking over the edges of world, staring into voids, under water in Oblivion...

That monochrome, featureless, dark, and endless space just robs me of my senses.
I can't feel it, my hearing is all muddled, and my sight has been taken, my movement slowed, my life draining, my sense of gravity non existent for my Avatar's orientation.

It feels like death and alone.
Like being left, forgotten, imprisoned, and defeated.

I do not deal with this fear.
I take a deep breath and clear my mind, I focus my will and dive in, then I panic and choke and want to cry and do everything in my power to accomplish my objective within seconds or I leave.

It's not always that bad, sometimes I don't feel as effected by it, but others? No, just... No.

One great story where this improved a game for me though is Oblivion in "Through a Nightmare you are trapped in Henantier's dreams where you need to overcome challenges related to his psyche to assemble his mind so you may both escape his head.
Perception? Easy.
Patience? No problem.
Resolve? Of course.
...Courage? I initially thought I had it until I stepped up newly restored weapons in hand and opened that urn with quest related item for this challenge.

"Water Breathing Potion"

My heart stopped, courage faltered, and I had infinitely more respect for the challenges I was facing.
I did take a deep breath and dive through the black channel to mine, and my new friends saftey.
But I'll be damned if it was easy.

 

[dancinginfernal]

How common spiders were in Dark Messiah: Heroes of Might and Magic made it nearly impossible for me to finish. Until I realized fire completely ravaged their spiderbums.

God, that's a horrifying image.

 

[Politi]

Really, the only fear I've ever encountered in a video game is in Shadow of the Colossus where you have to fight the fish/electric eel Colossus. I got freaked in a way that I hadn't experienced before, when he was coming up from the depths and all I could do was flounder about in the water and wait for him to swim really closely so I could grab his back and stab it. There was something about that giant eel just ascending from the blackness to devour me that I found totally terrifying.

In that instance, I just gritted my teeth and pushed through it. My fear channeled directly into a cold fury and determination that I afterwards realized came from wanting to shake off the feeling of helplessness in the water and the prick to my pride that something could exert such control over my emotions. Needless to say, that particular Colossus was the most rewarding to kill. The feeling of triumph was palpable.

 

[Quaidis]

My fear in games is random and unexpected. Like when I reach the castle of Alex Kid in the Miracle World, and the same with the ghost house in Super Mario World. They're dumb 2d games, but the environment, rushing feel of it, and the music above all freak me out.

Clocktower played on my fears of being caught and stabbed to death from a psycho, and I couldn't beat it because of the avid heavy silence involved.

Really it all comes down to the damned music and my imagination.



But being afraid of something in a game is what ultimately makes it a great game. You're going to remember those games, the ones that actually make you feel something, even if it's fear. You should embrace them and play through the levels anyway. They'll end up being some of the greatest games in your life once beaten.




Speaking of spiders (if you think pixel ones are scary): I was driving the other day and this moderately-sized spider showed up on the rim of the window glass mere inches away from me. I saw its hairy rotund body and little beady eyes and shouted, "SPIDER!" as I tried to roll the window up as fast as humanly possible, telling it repeatedly to go outside... All while my vehicle was swerving back and forth. It's a wonder I wasn't pulled over or hit something, those little eight-legged bastards.

 

[ManInRed]

Giant Spiders

I am not by any measure a squeamish person. The first time a bat got into the house, I calmly grabbed it with my hand, walked over to a door, and tossed it out. A normal spider or bug is obviously not going to be an issue for me. Heck, taranchulas are almost cute. But I think I can say without anyone one thinking less of me, that I am afraid of giant spiders.

In games foes, like Arachnid Armogohma or Phantom don't really scare me, as I'm in the battle and in control. But those spiders in Ocarina of Time, even the bonus gold ones, those freaked me out. The idea of actually searching around for them whenever you hear the scratching sound is just unsettling. In fact, just hearing that scratching sound that indicates that they are near makes my hair stand on end.

So it is no small irony that I have encountered real life giant spiders. The ones big enough to catch bird in their webs. You know zoos don't even put a cage around them, they just assume any spider that big isn't going to go anywhere. Alas, one time it did. At a place not far from where I walk by every day. I found this out when I noticed that on the sidewalk I was on, between two signs was a giant spider sitting on a web it made. A web on a sidewalk, damn, their hunting us now!

Probably the thing that really gets me, is that despite it being a GIANT spider I just barely noticed it. That and the fact that I often walk between those signs. Spiders are too quiet. I have pretty ridiculous hearing, so I'm often not scared of something sneaking up on me. The real world lacks the sound track to allow monsters to sneak up on me, like characters in video games. But a spider doesn't sneak up on you, it sits their quietly, waiting for you to bump into it. I find that unsettling. The idea that it's been there this whole time.

As for fears in video games, I say, embrace it. Feeling something is part of the fun of immersion, you're lucky when a game can reach out and touch a personal phobia like that. Tons of people play horror games searching for that experience, and why I can't explain why people would try to feel that way, I some how understand that the experience is worth the struggle. Maybe my tale of actually encountering a giant spider while I was walking down the street with give you courage, or maybe this will just freak you out even more. Good luck, and watch where you're going.

 

[Zhukov]

It took me a long while to play Bioshock after that spider splicer gutted the man outside of the bathysphere,...and then tried to get in! I hate them. They skitter, howl, and some make weird giggly noises. I remember just going for it one day. At first I yelped a lot when they'd just pop up. I still got weird feelings in my stomach when I could see them crawling, upside-down on the ceiling, right towards me. But then I knew I'd get the satisfaction of setting them on fire and pummeling them to death with a wrench. But nothing creeped me out more, then the singing spider splicer. I had to get away from that singing, and fast.

Poor Rose, she just wanted some company.

Anyway, just out of curiosity, how did you go with the plaster-covered spider splicers?

Spoiler: These bastards.

 

[Vuavu]

For anyone who knows what I'm talking about... The spiders in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic are the scariest video game enemies I've ever fought. And I'm not even afraid of spiders. Fighting them is the only time I get real adrenaline from video games; like I used to when I was little. And to respond: No. I can't make it any easier to deal with, I just fight until they are dead. Getting scared won't save the world, boy!

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

I used to be absolutely terrified of going underwater in games, who knows what creepy thing is lurking down there! I had to get my dad to play parts of Ape Escape because there were sharks in the water and a big as fish that would shock you if you went in the water.

I remember that. Took me a while to work up the nerve to jump in. To this day I still dislike going underwater in a video game. I remember parts of games in which I knew nothing would go wrong, having played certain underwater parts loads, but still expected something bad to happen.

I've played a lot of games in which the character goes underwater, played them many, many times (not to overcome my dislike of being underwater, just to play the games again), and even gone scuba diving in real life.

Still don't really like it.

 

[Fidelias]

Well, I do also hate spiders, but I've gotten over being scared in games.
...
Okay, not completely.

Look, YOU try playing Stalker without resorting to randomly firing in every direction while screaming curse words at the computer!

"Huh, look, that chair is floating... That's kind of cool. It's not doing anything... Alright, I'll just walk on by an- HOLY SHIT, IT'S TRYING TO KILL ME! WHAT THE FU- THERE'S MORE CHAIRS! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE! THEY WON'T DIE! WHY WON'T YOU DIE!"
...
"Ooooh, there's invisible ghosts in the room... Because that's good to know, and not creepy at all..."

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

As a kid a lot of things scared me, but I went back and beat them all. Pointless violence doesn't scare me but it bothers me a lot. I'm not talking about games were it actually happened or deathes from zombies and war not even gta. Things like mortal combat and the mw2 level bothered me. Death of women bother me too, just does.

 

[Shockolate]

I deal with fears in games the same way I deal with all fears.

I get angry and swear a lot until I succeed.

Nothing kills fear faster than yelling "FUCK YOU!" and kicking ass.

 

[liquidsolid]

Amnesia The Dark Descent. I couldn't just play I had to think up a clever strategy. I remember at the very beginning *SPOILER* a voice says "Don't be afraid" and it made me feel better thinking of that voice and I kept going till I beat the demo.

 

[Lerasai]

I'm pretty sure I've already talked about this in a similar thread, but I have a ridiculous fear of water. Or, well, water that's deep and murky where anything could be lurking inside. It's from a combination of almost drowning when I was young and watching way too many horror films involving water (seriously, why are there so many?!). Plus, half the real-life creatures in the ocean are pulled straight from my fricking nightmares.

To get OT, I usually deal with it by switching to third person if it's not already and generally trying to get as detached from the gameverse as I can. I usually love immersion in games, but in that situation it's the last thing I want.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Buy the PC version. Mod the spiders out. I modded the spiders in DA2 to look like Darkspawn.