I want to discuss about something. Recently, I've been bugged again about the fact Silent Hills PT may never come to be. So I've been thinking once again "how can some players play horror games more calmly than others?", etc. So I want to talk about a player's capability to play horror games, how long they can play it, what kind of horror games, etc.
To start off, I'm not a fan of horror games, I'm an RPG guy. In fact I dislike playing them, to an extent, not hate though. It's not that I'm a scaredycat or something, I mean, I can't even be scared at a horror movie unless it was a jumpscare, but the sheer tension of you being the character of a horror game just makes me go into adrenaline rush in most times, that I can't calm down easy and think what to do next. I only play them for the immersion, and to talk about it to other people. However that only applies to some horror games. I'm very calm in "survival-based horror" games. Ever since I was a kid, playing the RE series(my first game in the genre) was pretty fun. I was rarely tense, and that only happens mostly when I'm in unexpected situations, but I can quickly get my composure back up, being not an actual problem. The Silent Hill series varies my capability to play. Unlike RE, SH was pretty hard on me, maybe it stems from the game's atmosphere compared to RE, which was livelier. Other games of the genre I was able to play when I was a kid was Alone in the Dark, System Shock, Parasite Eve, Dino Crisis, and probably some more.
As time pass by, I'm becoming more incapable to play modern horror games...but I guess it's not that I can't play horror games, but rather I can't play the "harder horror games". Since I'm not a fan of the genre, I rarely check out news about them. But I have realized over the past years how the genre evolved to something more, more so that casual-slightly hard players of the genre like me might have hard time playing it. I always thought, I've overcome the horror genre 'cause I played them in my childhood, but it appears the newer games are enough to prove me wrong. Games like Amnesia, Outlast, Fatal Frame, etc., basically almost any game of the genre that renders you helpless without the capability to use weapons and such, are my number one in the list I CAN'T play easily. I have finished them, but I have not ever, hypercomplete them(eg. achievements, etc), because I don't want to play it again, even if I know what's going to come at me. Other games like Dying Light, Last of Us, Evil Within, Dead Space, etc., are the latter ones I can play calmly, to an extent, but still not as calmly when I was a kid. I can hypercomplete some of them. Btw, this all applies me playing alone.
In my family, both my cousin and I share the same traits when playing. We're nearly incapable when playing games like Amnesia, that'll take us quite some time to finish. However, both my grandfather and his son, my uncle who's around 6 years older than me can play them without any problems. I've always thought of them having balls of steel. They're not fan of the genre, but they can play it calmly. I'm not that surprised of my uncle, but my grandfather? I was impressed, and I mean really. My grandpa was the first one who played horror games, his favorite being the classic REs, SH, and Alone in the Dark 2(He loves the PS1). When he doesn't have something new to play in the genre, he'll replay the games a lot of times until he can hypercomplete it. And he'll do it again if he's bored. Newer horror games doesn't even bother him. He played Amnesia 1 and 2 in just 3 days easily, jumpscares don't affect him, and he even plays in the dark a lot. If there's one reason why I think my grandpa's tough, is probably because he grew during World War 2, and nothing scares him anymore than real people dying.
It would seem that I would never overcome my inability to play horror games calmly. More so that the genre and graphics are evolving. Now I'm thinking about them using the Oculus Rift, and other VR devices, that I might even abandon the genre.
How about you guys? Can you play horror games? What sub-genres? Do you have any problems playing?Why do you think some people are incapable/scared of playing horror games? Can people overcome their fears of playing horror games? Oh and do you play it for fun? :V
Edit: Sorry, I mean "CAN'T" easily play Amnesia, and such games