Youre a wild child! No really, you were partially raised by wolves It seems, at least in video games but probably in the real world too, that the unknown is more scary than the known. I think that the reason for this is that although snakes are a real fear for humans, they are too common a fear that is, they are all too real, Professor Rakison said, Scary video games try to go beyond this real fear to pit gamers against unreal fears, those that we cant even conceive of. Yes, yes Limbo has a spider or two, but horror games? One doesnt come to mind. Actually snakes are the number one fear of Americans (followed by public speaking)? But interestingly these two intense fears arent featured in many horror games. Get any goosebumps? If so, its because the number one and two animal phobias among humans are snakes and spiders. And dont move your keyboard, because under it is a black widow that will skitter right for your hands when you do. No love for spiders and snakes?įeel that on your leg? Its the pricking sensation of a daddy long legs crawling through your hair. Indeed it does, especially if you grew up Catholic. Messing with religious practices goes against many peoples beliefs about what is good and holy. People lived and died by these teachings, and so it makes sense for us to be wary of when powers greater than us seem to meddled with. Ever since human history began there have been accounts of divine power causing events beyond our understanding (volcanic eruptions, the changing of the seasons, etc). Humans have evolved responses for many threats-the classic flee, flight, or freeze concepts-but these will not work with supernatural beings, Rakison said. It all goes back to our inability to deal with higher powers. But religion is comparatively pretty recent compared to, say, our fear of spiders, so why does it still affect us so much? And while we can poke fun at it, you have to admit that walking into a room smeared with goat blood with people chanting Hail Marys isnt the most comforting thing. Los Iluminados in Resident Evil 4, The Order in Silent Hill, The Saturnine in Bioshock: Need a bunch of humans to throw themselves as the protagonist for no apparent reason? Make them really, really love Jesus. Aka theyre psycho? And down will come baby, cradle and allĬults are pretty par for the course in most games by now. The second is all about self infliction, and that the person may live outside the bounds of typical human behavior according to Rakison. Because a pretty and symmetrical face tells us that the person is well enough to withstand the thousands of parasites that we encounter on a day to day basis, a denatured face tells us just the opposite: that theyre really sick. Our resident Psychology Professor said there are two different reasons for why we react so negatively to physical deformation in the face. Pop out an eye, paralyze the muscles, scar the cheek, let the mouth hang, do whatever you want because all of it is sending a message. The nurse in Silent Hill, everyone in Amnesia, this tactic is the go-to attribute to almost any horror game villain or monster. Thats how the song goes right? Maybe not because extreme facial deformation is not only sexually unappealing, but it clues us in that there is something very, very wrong with that individual. I saw your face, in a crowded place and now Im terrified because it looked nasty. And that anxiety will only get worse when you realize that the stranger youre talking to is carrying a knife You're beautiful, it's true If you cant guess what a stranger will do next, you will begin to feel a bit of anxiety. They are unpredictable, and unpredictable is very, very scary to humans who based their everyday expectations about others on this reciprocal behavior. So why did we know that one dude in Tomb Raider so obviously the bad guy when we first met him? Insane, crazed, and sociopathic individuals are social contract 'cheaters'. In layman terms, that means we have expectations on how a normal person will act, and when they fulfill our expectations, were happy. Human interaction is often based on reciprocity and social contracts such that we have strong expectations about the way others behave, says David Rakison. But we would never expect The Joker, The Baron from Amnesia, Vaas, or any other absolutely insane video game character to respond with that vanilla script. At this point that interaction has nothing to do with actually understanding how someone is doing and more to do with saying hey look Im just like you! Its a social contract that healthy, functioning individuals follow. How many times have you had this conversation: Hi.
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