Experience Points is an opinion piece series by Ben Bayliss, all opinions are in fact, my own, and though they may be published on the website, they do not speak for the website. Feel free to discuss the piece in the comments below.
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Two scenarios.
Scenario one: Slouched back into the cushions of your sofa, your mouth slightly open and your gaze fixed to a TV. Both hands cupping your mobile phone that hangs nearby your face, being held motionless and calling out to you to check your latest social media feed. You’re unable to pay it attention, you focus on nothing but the TV. BAM! A door slams open in the film. You don’t even flinch. You watch a horrifying scene unfold. Once the action stops, you glance back at your device.
Scenario two: One hand clutching a mouse and the other clawing at the keyboard. Your upper body lurching over the desk with your face at least a foot away from the monitor. You’re controlling a character through a corridor that’s draped in shadows. BAM! An unidentified sound resonates through the corridor. Your palms are sweaty, knees weak, eyes are darting to each corner of the monitor. You’re terrified. Your heart is racing and you think about quitting the game only to go and sit somewhere to recollect yourself.
When comparing the two scenarios, even if you use your own comparisons, as in, perhaps you’re a console gamer rather than the PC reference above, you’ll most likely find yourself coming to the same conclusion. Games scare you more than films.
Immersion.
That’s the reason why.
Films tend to be more about you as a viewer, watching events happen. They do this with the aid of non-diegetic music, tense cuts, freaky camera movements, colour correction, and mise-en-scene to tell you a story. They warn you, even subtly, that something is coming. These are conventions that film makers have been using all through the years.
Games however, are in a totally different ball park. You are, instead of watching something happen to someone else, actually experiencing the true horrors your character faces. Why? Because you’re controlling the character, you have become an extension of them, and therefore have immersed yourself within the games world, characters situation, and the lingering atmosphere. You’re not observing the world, you are living it.
Let’s take Outlast for example, the horror game in which you go around a mental hospital with some rather interesting patients, and some rather f***** up ones too. They chase you, and you panic, you jump at crashes, and you launch yourself away from the desk when someone jumps out to attack. And then there are those games with no evil characters lurking around, the ones people tend to call, “Walking Simulators” such as, Gone Home, INFRA, or Pineview Drive. They can still excel at forcing you to take a break from playing the game. The atmospherical elements, such as the lingering fog, the creaking of a door behind you, the pattering of feet above, the breathing of your character increasing…all these elements help to grasp you and draw you in.
Interestingly too, sure, most games sport a soundtrack. but games have this wonderful method of being able to scare you without a soundtrack needing to be audible. I once got too scared playing, Penumbra with the sound on that I removed my headphones and tried playing it in silence. The thought I was missing out on creaks, or footsteps to warn me of oncoming doom was enough to scare me even more and drive goosebumps along my skin.
I will forever hold the opinion that games are scarier than films, purely for the immersion aspect. Films dwell far to much on visual cues, and swelling atmospherical music to indicate danger is about to occur. Whereas games are harsh, they purposely lure you into a false sense of security, by ensuring your surroundings seem to have ended up in a calming area, then they trick you, the world isn’t what you thought, the monster hasn’t gone, or there’s just a general jump scare. Games make you feel pathetic for getting scared at nothing and then WHOA A FREAKING CREATURE OH NO WAIT…it’s just a barrel rolling down the corriOHMYGAWDTHERE’SAPERSON.
There’s also a new element that has come into play, and that’s the introduction of VR. Virtual Reality headsets are the new way to experience games, in fact, when I first heard of the Oculus, all I saw were demos of horror games coming out, mostly those I saw were demo’d by Pewdiepie. The horror genre seems to still be thriving today with more appearing on the Steam store for the HTC Vive, and now the PSVR. Something about literally walking around a horror game appeals to people…I’m not sure I’d enjoy it…ahh who am I kidding? of course I will. Just need to get a headset now!
Do you agree? Are horrors better in video game world? Comment below and let’s have a chat!
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