What terrifies you?

[Chessrook44]

Got the idea for the topic after seeing the article about the game that responds to your fears. So let's hear it... what makes you scream? Sweat? Run? What scares you, terrifies you? What would you see in the game? What would Dr Crane make you see?

 

[Zhukov]

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.

 

[Esotera]

Snakes. Nothing with less than two legs should be allowed to live, but by some sick joke of evolution they've managed to become very successful. It's probably made worse by the fact that they can swim in water...

 

[iwinatlife]

I'm another in the spider group although mine extends to most arachnids insects and other creepy crawlies scorpions centipedes and other such things

 

[Thaluikhain]

Large bodies of water, like oceans and seas.

 

[JoJo]

Something unseen leaping out of the dark at me... monster or assassin, either is equally terrifying.

 

[sanquin]

Spiders and needles in real life. In a game they're not that scary for me though. The thing that scares me the most in games is the threat of something dangerous showing up if you continue walking forward, or open that next door or something. All while you don't have proper means to defend yourself against it. That, or the same defenselessness while something is chasing you.

Examples would be Doom 3, my first playthrough. People were panicking and screaming into the com system. Lights were flickering. And monsters kept coming from different corners or appeared behind you or just behind a door, etc. Some moments really got me close to being too scared to move on.

(SPOILERS for if you haven't played this game yet
Another one is FEAR 1. I didn't know that the little girl stalking you wouldn't do you any actual harm until very late in the game. And even then it would be more her floating minions and not her as a person. So every time I encountered her in the dark, or saw a glimpse of her somewhere my heart started racing again, knowing she was close-by and fearing that this might be the time that she would do something to you.

 

[R4ptur3]

Brussel sprouts. It's that time of year again and I am terrified I will find one yet again on my plate for Christmas. *shivers*

But seriously, wasps. I have a phobia of them ever since I got stung by one when I was really young.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Nuclear weapons. I'm serious, they completely terrify me with what they're capable of. And if taht isn't enough to convince you, go look up their effects on Youtube, and just try to tell me that doesn't scare you...

 

[Padwolf]

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.

 

[Elfgore]

Flying and heights in general.

My Dad wants to take me to Japan so I can see its tech center and my Mom wants me to go with her to see my sister in Germany, both times was a "nope".

Flying is not natural! I don't care about the statistics for plane crashes. It still terrifies the hell out of me.

 

[Frothy Gibblets]

Clowns and dolls, although they don't terrify me as much as make me extremely uncomfortable.

I'd have to second an above poster who said large bodies of water, or being in any water where I can't see what's around me down to the bottom. I can swim very well, I think it's more a lack of control thing in the sense that I can't see what's around me.

 

[Heronblade]

Nuclear weapons. I'm serious, they completely terrify me with what they're capable of. And if taht isn't enough to convince you, go look up their effects on Youtube, and just try to tell me that doesn't scare you...

No, frankly, it doesn't. Its capacity for destruction is limited when compared to other WMDs, and getting the damn things to actually work is so difficult that a lot of countries that claim nuclear capability probably have nothing more than a couple of dirty bombs. North Korea for example, getting a two stage rocket to hit a target accurately is a much easier task than getting a fusion bomb to work properly, and they can't even manage the former. Hell, a decent last resort plan for defusing a nuclear bomb is to hit the damn thing with an axe or sledgehammer. It will probably still blow up in your face, but at only a fraction of its potential.

You want to frighten me with a WMD? Shake a test tube at me. Weaponized virii, and self replicating nanobots, the potential for widespread death and destruction either of those have is incredibly terrifying. A nuclear bomb can destroy a city, perhaps render a region inhospitable for a few years. Unleash the entire world's arsenal of nuclear bombs however, and the destruction caused is still far less than that which can be caused by a single nanite far too small to be seen.

 

[Tyelcapilu]

Vegetables. No, not those kinds of vegetables. These [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_vegetative_state] kinds of vegetables.
My cat just went through something like this yesterday because I saved his life as he was dying. Had to put him down.

It's just so surreal to see this. He was just a breathing corpse--he had no personality or anything, and his temperature was slowly falling. He couldn't smell, taste, hear, see, or even feel anything, and walked aimlessly into walls and off edges.

The idea of vegetables always scared me, but holy shit once you've actually seen one. It's the last way I'd want to die.

 

[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.

 

[Barbas]

Centipedes can fuck right off to somewhere remote and far away. When they get there, they can fuck off again. It's a shame, because they grow quite large in some of the climates I like the most. Never underestimate them, they can be very difficult to kill even if you smack them with a chair.

 

[stormeris]

Dogs... Evil vicious chihuahas! EHm i mean pitbulls!

But seriously, even the smallest dogs petrify me with fear, so Scarecrow wouldn't even need a damn fear gas, he could just carry around a pug or a tiny puppy, that would be enough to make me flee!
Also, the thought of driving a metal deathtraaa... a car.

Captcha: pepperoni pizza. Didn't know Captcha was terrified by pepperoni pizza o.o

 

[Grach]

Black holes. The epitome of a cosmic abyss, of nothingness, of a completely and utterly terrfiying unknown. It's a lovecraftian horror made reality. Bending light and gravity in the most abhorrent ways.

The worst part is that they have to exist, at least according to current models.

Also, if you post a giant picture of a black hole after reading this, I'll find you, I'll fight you and I'll kill you.

 

[Hero of Lime]

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.

 

[Frezzato]

Not much scares me, but the Snuggles Bear [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYr0GA22vGE] comes pretty close.