Playing scary games to become harder to frighten

[syndros]

I agree with about the other ten people on this topic, you have great enthusiasm. Kudos for you my friend :P. I remember the time I was afraid of the dark. Well, not afraid, but more of had a phobia of the dark. But I learned to live with it, and eventually it became a normal thing, you know? Well, back last summer in about July I heard of a game called Alan Wake. I was board and had nothing to do so I decided to look get information about it and maybe purchase it. I asked one of my friends about the game and he just said that it was awesome. And that he couldn't tell me what it was about because it was complicated. So I believed him, but ended up looking it up on the internet. I could not find ANYTHING about it. All I could find was about one sentance saying somethin along the lines of "A dark presence has taken over the town of Bright Falls." and I'm like what the hell! so I went out and bought the game, not knowing that it was a horror game. When i got home and started playing it, remember I was afraid of the dark and Alan Wake is all about the fear of the dark, I was terrified. I was litterally up all that nightscared out of my mind. I was up for probably two days straight (I honestly don't remember how long it was). I didn't eat, and I didn't sleep. But I was still playing the game, because the storytelling and plot was so incredible. I didn't stop playing it until I beat it. And once I beat it, i told myself that I wanted to stop being afraid of the dark; that I wanted to kick that fear in the balls. So, the day after I had beaten it, I bought Dead Space. And let me tell you this: nothing will ever surprise me again. After those games, my fear was completely behind me and I feel good. Now that's my story, and I completely think you should do that, hell, it worked for me. But like Maafia said: it all depends on the person. So wheather or wheather not it works for you, is up to you. But one word of advise: follow through with it (the game, or the whole thing itsself) until the end. Becaise nothing good can happen if you quit in the middle.

[AncientCircle]

Will playing games I find scary, make me harder to scare on a general basis? Could playing Doom 3, FEAR, Amnesia etc, make me less frightened in real life?

 

 

I'm trying to always push my boundaries, and have recently found out that I should try to become harder to scare, less afraid of the dark etc.

 

 

I'm guessing at a bare minimum that I would at least get less scared, playing games with similar themes. (Able to spot patterns)

 

 

 

What's your opinion on this?

 

Hell no. Real life is a very different platform to video games, and your subconscious mind knows it.

[dreckish]

I'll play Dead Space or Alan Wake today then :) Have Dead Space 1, 2 and Alan Wake waiting for me to play ;) Just gotta do some math first.

[dreckish]

I have to say, I really enjoy playing Dead Space!

 

Currently on chapter 3 :) But have to cook some dinner, then I'll play some more :D

[syndros]

yeah, Dead Space was awesome. I loved it :P my favorite part was when you fight the-monster-you-cannot-kill. I was running around the room like HELP ME GOD!!!!! Then I stopped and was all like "Wait! I've seen this movie before!" and defeated it. I'm not gonna spoil it for anybody who hasn't played the game, but the movie had Arnold Schwartzenegger in it :D

[Vagrant0]

Part of it is that many scary games rely on having things suddenly jump out at you for a bit of fright. While this is fine for the occasional bit, in games, as well as movies, it can be over-used just like other horror elements (eg. excessive gore). This in many cases can lead to desensitization or even pre-anticipation of "scary" events which makes them less scary. It doesn't mean that you're harder to frighten, just that you're less susceptible to the variety of horror that is most common in those games.

[antonkr]

Part of it is that many scary games rely on having things suddenly jump out at you for a bit of fright. While this is fine for the occasional bit, in games, as well as movies, it can be over-used just like other horror elements (eg. excessive gore). This in many cases can lead to desensitization or even pre-anticipation of "scary" events which makes them less scary. It doesn't mean that you're harder to frighten, just that you're less susceptible to the variety of horror that is most common in those games.

Have you ever exactly been wrong because I never in any posts would think of you less then a professor at Harvard university :P

I agree 100 %. When it pops up without you ever expecting it or having to experience it before indeed it would be frighting.

[Vagrant0]

Have you ever exactly been wrong because I never in any posts would think of you less then a professor at Harvard university :P

Hah... I wish... The sorts of destruction I could unleash upon the world by corrupting the hearts and minds of the elite and future leaders of the world... MUHAHAhahaha!.. Erm, I mean... I've been wrong a few times, I've even admitted that I was wrong most of those times... I guess the difference is that even when I'm wrong I occasionally have the rest of it right so its hard to notice.

 

I think the big part here, one that I should really emphasize is not that people are becoming desensitized to gore, violence or even the act of causing harm, but that they are becoming desensitized to the formulaic and usually misrepresented forms that these things take in games and film. Even the most hardened horror fanatic would be scared shitless if they saw real blood coming from a real act of violence. People know it's fake going into it, so will always attribute most things learned in that context as being fantasy.

[dreckish]

That is pretty much what I feared would be the result. Any ideas on desensitizing myself in real life then?

 

 

Walking through dark forests/areas would be one.

[Vagrant0]

That is pretty much what I feared would be the result. Any ideas on desensitizing myself in real life then?

 

 

Walking through dark forests/areas would be one.

Well, that depends on what it is that you are afraid of. Sometimes it is a simple matter of learning about that thing and understanding that there isn't anything to be afraid of.