Where Is the Horror?
Keith Stuart on The Guardian misses real, scary horror in games – even though this medium should be ideally suited for it.
Horror should be a key facet in the video game armoury – the unique element of interaction is seemingly purpose-built to drag us into nightmarish experiences. But, mostly, horror games are merely blood-soaked adventures or shooters, which borrow the clothes of successful horror movies without ever occupying the body of terror within.
The problem, according to him? Convincing horror is done by auteurs – a vision of a single person, perfectly honed to tap into people's fears.
In video game development, it is very rare for this sort of singular creative input to make it through the rigorously structured and often painstakingly democratic production process. Within the average 150-person dev team there will be various strata of producers, creative directors, designers and marketers each jostling to impose their own conceptual foibles, while ironing out idiosyncratic design quirks. [...]
Within these production constraints it's hardly surprising that horror games are mostly about cheap shocks and even cheaper gore: these are the systematic elements of horror most easily producible in a largely egalitarian, highly technical team environment. The ingredients required to make a gamer jump are fairly easily reproducible – you just need sudden unexpected movement and a loud noise.
Of course, that is selling the horror genre terribly short. Psychological horror is more frightening than just cheap thrills, but it requires a more mature audience just to get the references.
The sad truth is of course that a "mature audience" is exactly what the games industry is struggling with ... might be the reason why only indie developers tackled the psycho-horror genre until now (and succeeded).
[1]: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/dec/01/splatterhouse-horror-games[Keith Stuart on The Guardian][1] misses real, scary horror in games – even though this medium should be ideally suited for it.> Horror should be a key facet in the video game armoury – the unique element of interaction is seemingly purpose-built to drag us into nightmarish experiences. But, mostly, horror games are merely blood-soaked adventures or shooters, which borrow the clothes of successful horror movies without ever occupying the body of terror within.The problem, according to him? Convincing horror is done by *auteurs* – a vision of a single person, perfectly honed to tap into people's fears.> In video game development, it is very rare for this sort of singular creative input to make it through the rigorously structured and often painstakingly democratic production process. Within the average 150-person dev team there will be various strata of producers, creative directors, designers and marketers each jostling to impose their own conceptual foibles, while ironing out idiosyncratic design quirks. [...]> Within these production constraints it's hardly surprising that horror games are mostly about cheap shocks and even cheaper gore: these are the systematic elements of horror most easily producible in a largely egalitarian, highly technical team environment. The ingredients required to make a gamer jump are fairly easily reproducible – you just need sudden unexpected movement and a loud noise.Of course, that is selling the horror genre terribly short.
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