Sanity/Insanity in games

[The_root_of_all_evil]

They aren't here again are they, mother?

 

[Daniel Cygnus]

I haven't played anything with a sanity system other than Eternal Darkness. I think it's the best breaking of the fourth wall I've ever seen.

 

[Wolfram23]

I'd like to see it more in horror games. I guess it's somewhat reasonable that Chris Redfield is just too macho and awesome to go insane, but I loved the insanity of Eternal Darkness - only I wish they didn't show you the insanity meter.

In the Penumbra trilogy there is a mechanic where your character will "panic" if it looks at a monster for too long, which will cause them to start blathering uncontrollably and possibly lead to them screaming. Considering that this is a true survival horror game where hiding in dark corners is your only means of avoiding things, panic will blow your cover. I found it interesting since it creates this kind of behavior in the player when a creature comes around a little voice in the back of your head goes "OH GOD DON'T LOOK AT IT!"

It may sound kind of simple, but holy crap is it effective in creating tension.

Never heard of Penumbra but that sounds amazing. You can't look at the monsters... but then you don't know what they're doing... are they creeping up on you or going by? AHH!! lol

 

[AvsJoe]

I actually don't want to see games follow this path. Movies have made insanity quite the annoying cliche; I don't want games to start doing this as well.

 

[darth jacen]

Spoiler: Oh Hi There

I suppose the two worlds of MANIA and DEMENTIA don't count as insanity in games... Granted I didn't think this expansion was as good as just the original on it's own, but it does have insanity in it without a doubt.

 

[Exterminas]

There is a funny part in one of the fallout 3 dlcs, where you character sees mini-nukes and dead bodies all around him, thought that was pretty funny.

 

[Therumancer]

especially seeing as I figure after a while people are going to become jaded to this kind of thing without going insane. Such systems being based totally on the "introductory aspects" of horror and being unable to really deal with the idea of people becoming assimilated to extraordinary situations. After your third monster, I'd think you'd get past the "OMG an unnatural creature" thing, and after a couple of horribly mutilated corpses, or disturbing books you'd start to take it in stride... rather than going bug nuts, or dealing with visual hallucinations added by a programmer.

I'm sorry, but that's so stupid. That's like complaining about how the kid who lost both his parents to a car crash should be in school the next day. As for what happens in supernatural games, if you were there you're not going to get used to it for a long while, possibly never, and even after it's over there's still a high chance of going insane, even from simple paranoia. Saying that you should get used to seeing monsters after a few is like saying that after seeing someone you know die in front of you, you should be used to it if it happens again.

Not in the least, people become desensitived to certain things. What's unknown also does not remain unknown forever, as it becomes more familiar it becomes increasingly less disturbing.

Understand that these games get well beyond someone's first encounter with the supernatural. By the time you've seen this stuff a few times and (very importantly) make a desician to actively go looking for it, it becomes very stupid to assume that everyone breaks down and goes crazy when they actually find this stuff after a while.

What's more, in many cases the monsters aren't really all that. To put things into perspective people are going to get used to big shaggy things with huge claws and teeth that can rip them limb to limb. We call creatures like that "bears", and yes it can be scary to come face to face with one in the wild, you might even panic. However when you get to people who actively decide to get into a cage with a bear to train and work with it or picking up guns to go hunt one (sort of like a guy looking for monsters), it's something differant.

To put things into perspective, some tentecled Cthulhuoid monstrosity isn't really all that much scarier than a Bear when you get down to it. Okay granted, it's freaky because it's a land squid with slimy tentecles and a fanged mouth that is really vicious... however once you get to the point of saying "I'm heading out to kill these things and protect people" which is pretty much what an RPG or video game character does... how freaky is that going to remain. OMG Tentecles? Beyond a point it gets silly.

Now of course there are exceptions to this, such as cases where a creature employs some kind of innate mental abillity to shatter minds, but that's an attack rather than someone freaking out continuously to pretty much the same stuff.

Soldiers also become desensitized to violence and such as they lose people.

With the kid, that wasn't his choice, that's a key element of this that bears consideration.