Fraidy Cat Gamer

Allen Cook, over at Gamers With Jobs, talks about the problems of being a 'fraidy cat gamer'. Horror games are awesome, no doubt about it, but it's really hard to actually play through one if your fear takes hold of you. From the article: "I can watch most horror movies without any problem. The trick has nothing to do with my horror movie constitution but simply knowing the formula. At the beginning of any horror movie, I subconsciously pick out which characters are going to die. It's like a stupidity test. You watch the characters being introduced and whenever a character passes below a certain stupidity threshold you know they will end up dead. Probably at the hands of some supernatural force, a mask-wearing psychopath or some otherworldly parasitic infestation. It's a given part of the formula that most of these characters will die. When it happens, I may be surprised by how they die, but it doesn't emotionally scar me. With horror games though, there's no switch I can pull to stop caring about my character. That's me in there in the inexplicably short mini skirt and tall boots, surrounded by flesh eating zombies. Why the hell did I wear that anyway? Is that standard issue zombie hunting gear where I'm from? It doesn't matter, a zombie just tore a chunk out of my skull."

Comments

Following one's own advice

[Dachannien]

At the beginning of any horror movie, I subconsciously pick out which characters are going to die. It's like a stupidity test. You watch the characters being introduced and whenever a character passes below a certain stupidity threshold you know they will end up dead.

Simple solution:

Realize from the outset that you suck at this game and you're going to die.

Re:Following one's own advice

[kfg]

Realize from the outset that you suck at this game and you're going to die.

Ok, now that you've disposed of his real life problems, how about doing the same for his problems as a gamer?

KFG

Dissassociation

[MrSquishy]

I find that breaking the connection from Player to Character helps.
If the character in the game is wearing a short skirt and tall boots, I wear a tutu and clown shoes.

Also, the lines at the arcade seem to be quite short in this attire.

Re:F.E.A.R. is a misnomer

[F1_Fan]

Doom 3 stopped being scary as soon as I learned to walk into rooms backwards.

Not the type of "fraidy cat gamer I was expecting.

[LoudMusic]

I was expecting this to be more of an article about people who were afraid to play games the way they were intended. (intention in the eye of the beholder)

I have several friends who play StarCraft completely defensively. On team games a couple of us will completely destroy the enemy while these RTS campers build base defenses the entire time. Highly frustrating.

Speaking of campers, what's with people who hide under the stairs in FPS and wait for someone to walk around the corner? Are you afraid of real combat?

I also play Travian, a stupid web based RTS, and people constantly bitch and moan about being attacked. Hello! It's a war game.

As far as the subject, I don't really understand horror in any medium. But why seek out the best horror game and then try to find ways to get through it? You're just watering it down! Take it like a man, you pussies! (:

Re:Not the type of "fraidy cat gamer I was expecti

[SpacePunk]

"Speaking of campers, what's with people who hide under the stairs in FPS and wait for someone to walk around the corner? Are you afraid of real combat?"

That IS real combat. It's sneaky, it's underhanded, and you never, ever, give your opponent an even break. Unless you think of combat being the way the British fought the revolutionaries, or how the Civil war was fought where people just stand out in the open blatantly shooting each other.

If you can't handle real (simulated) combat then take you noob ass to another game... I suggest something involving Barbie dolls.