Phobias
Phobias, what are they? Well thefreedictionary.com explains:
A persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation
that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is
not dangerous. This part of the definition, ‘despite the awareness and
reassurance that is not dangerous’ applies especially with video games since it’s
a virtual world, nothing can harm you and yes ‘phobias can be found in video
games. Below is a few examples of phobias that could be found in video games as
well as real life:
- The fear of water – Hydrophobia (the fear of liquids), Ombrophobia (the fear of rain), Potamophobia (the fear of rivers)
- The fear of heights - Acrophobia
- The fear of falling - Basophobia or Basiphobia
- The fear of buildings - Batophobia
- The fear of bridges – Gephyrophobia, Gephydrophobia, Gephysrophobia
- The fear of the dark - Lygophobia
- The fear of the unknown - Xenophobia
The fear of heights, a common phobia and surprisingly also a
phobia in video games:
‘I'm not a fan of
levels in games with extreme heights. It's not "heights" per-se. It's
how I'm situated in the. For example, air combat? No problem. Mirror's Edge?
Not much of a problem. But a few levels in Quake III and a couple areas of
Uncharted 2? I wasn't digging those so much. Essentially, any extreme height
where it enhances the sense of "oh shit, I'm going to fall off" kind
of freaks me out.’ – (Giant Bomb, User – Branthog)
For some even it can be a way of conquering there fear of
heights by playing games in which require you to be at a tall height, ‘I’ve
been playing Prince of Persia on my PS3 lately. The other day I joked with my
wife that it’s therapeutic, not because the fighting is cathartic (it’s not –
the boss fights annoy and frustrate me), but because it forces me to face my
fear of heights. It’s a little oddity of my experience with computer games that
my fear of heights frequently transfers over to them. More after the fold …’ – (Jonathan
Grey, Extratextual)
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| Image link:http://www.extratextual.tv/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/prince-300x169.jpg |
How does this in particular relate to my scene? Well, it may
not point straight to the viewer being involved with heights but maybe more the
heights of buildings and the position, if I can create the buildings and
position them in the right way it may trigger this fear, this still needs more research
but even so, it’s evident that this fear of heights does exist when it comes to
video games.
The fear of water
or more specifically deep water tends to pop up a lot and now even more
specific in a game called ‘Shadow of the Colossus’. A screenshot of said water
scene:
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| The image above can be found at: http://www.destructoid.com/let-s-go-swimming-top-10-underwater-levels-202095.phtml |
This phobia example
can found at a couple of places on the internet:
and here: http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/do-you-have-any-video-game-related-phobia-384827/
(This one is a forum and some of the users mention about having a fear of deep
waters)
So, how can
this relate to my work? Well, for one I am having a river in my scene, although
it’s not a big deep lake or the middle of the ocean, the broke bridge combined
with erosion in the scene might help to make the viewer nervous is they can’t
see through the water. The fear of the unknown. Now of course I accept that this
won’t be the same type of fear found in Shadow of the Colossus but if I design
the scene right then maybe I can employ some sort of similar effect within my
scene.
The fear of
the unknown is a tricky one but a good example can always be found in H. R.
Giger’s ‘Alien’ or as it otherwise known; Xenomorph. Xeno meaning foreigner,
strange or in this case alien and morph meaning shape. Xenomorph (Alien) can be
found also in video games as well as films so it stands to show that phobias
and fear can be found within video games.
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| Image can be found at: http://www.hrgiger.com/alien.htm |
Fear of the
dark. A good example of this can be found in Bioshock. When set into the
darkness you don’t know what lies ahead, almost referring back the fear of the
unknown in a way but for any that has a phobia with the dark then this may well
play on their fear. Below is an extract from themarriedgamers.net in which writer
‘Kelly Brown’ discusses some exmaples of peoples fears within video games and
this one on Bioshock:
Bioshock
exploits Loren Nikkel’s Nyctophobia (fear of the dark)
When it
comes to real life, nothing scares me more than the dark. What am I, 3 years
old? Ok, so maybe it’s not the darkness itself, but instead the uncertainty of
what is hiding in that darkness. Video games affect us all, and nothing has
scared me more than Bioshock. Now it’s not because of the violent nature of the
game, or the fact that the Little Sisters look like demented Girl Scouts, but
instead because of how the game messes with my head.
At the very
beginning of the game you crash land into the ocean and must swim to a
lighthouse that is eerily placed in the middle of nowhere. The setting is dark
and there is fiery plane rubble falling all around you. I was nervous enough as
it was and as soon as I looked through the lighthouse door I panicked. I
couldn’t see anything inside, but a great darkness which a number of things
could have been waiting to kill me in. As much as I wanted to swim away from
this place, I knew I had to enter. I walked through the door and SLAM! The door
closed behind me plunging me into darkness. Then after a few seconds of black,
which seemed like moments, the lights flashed on and there before was a big
statue of Andrew Ryan’s head looking down at me as if it was about to come to
life and end my mortal existence. I was scared shitless. I even screamed. Yes,
me, the 24 year old married man screamed like a girl. This wasn’t the only time
the lights were extinguished around me though. At least a dozen other times
throughout the game I would be walking through a dark hall or room only to have
the lights go out, then flicker ominously as I see shadows move around me.
Bioshock is a dark shadowy game that scares the crap out of me. When it comes
to making scary game, Irrational Games, you win.
Phobias,
they can found throughout real life through fears of just about almost
everything and they can also be found in video games, however how do these ‘fears’
relate to my work? Within my scene I want to create small assets or big ones
(buildings) that have certain design aspects that could trigger a phobia within
the phobia, of course this won’t be a big trigger as the scene will be static
but still if the viewer imagined that they were there then they might fear the
buildings, how they look, the height or even just the angle at which they sit. Another
fear might come from the bridge, maybe just a simple fear of walking over it or
maybe they might feel uneasy and a bit anxious about it since I want the bridge
to partly broken, unstable. These small design elements are those of which can
be found in real life and so I want to try and design these into a static
render through my assets.
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