Game not as scary as it used to be

[Hampamatta]

dont know why, but game isnt as scary as when it first came out. me and my friends picked it up for the first time in about 2 years and then we used to run around screaming, scared and brown pants. but now the ghost interactions seem so meh, and too far inbetween.

[Shurenai]

This is a post I made to someone else awhile back on the subject, With a little bit added on, Dont mind the odd phrasing and references :)

=====
Unfortunately, you're running up against one of the failings/successes of the human psyche.

We naturally acclimate to conditions, horrific or otherwise. By which I mean, Through continued exposure to a stimulus, We gradually become numb to it.

Through continued exposure to a horror game, you will eventually get to a point where it's just not scary anymore- You can't feel fear of it even if you want to. Phasmophobia has hit that point for a large percentage of it's playerbase- People are no longer playing to feel scared or enjoy the horror- Because they can't even if they want to. So now they're playing for the social aspects, or to speed run, or to learn the ins and outs and prove how good they are.

The more you play, the more it isn't scary, the stronger a grasp you have on mechanics, the less scary it is too.

And.. Really, there's nothing that can be done about it. Even the scariest games will after enough play become something the player simply can't be afraid of.

Even if you changed it up to the proposed point system, it wouldn't really have the effect you're after- Because it wouldn't make it any scarier than it already is, the only result would be that players still have a system to run up against and try to prove they can do it the best- Get 100 out of 100 points every time, and then as fast as possible to boot, the exact same issue you're perceiving of how it is now.

This is a post I made to another user who was up in airs about the unity asset models that I think says what I meant a little better, particularly the third paragraph:

Originally posted by Shurenai:

Unfortunately, One of the problems with the human psyche is that we become numb to scary things the more we see and experience them- It doesn't matter that it's just unity store assets, what matters is how often you're exposed to the supposedly 'scary' model.

It probably was scary for you and many others- At first. But the more you're exposed, the more that fear fades and once the fear is gone you start to be able to see it for what it really is, you start to nitpick and examine and pluck apart the model and find humor or absurdity in it.

And you instinctively want to point at something, some reason it's no longer scary- Because it's more fun and enjoyable when it gets your heart racing and fingers trembling. And the thing you're pointing at is that it's 'just unity store assets'. But, in actuality, even if it were fully custom in-house assets, if you play enough, you're going to reach the point where it's no longer scary again. The novelty will wear off, you'll build that numbness up again.


This isn't to say they shouldn't revamp the models- They should, and I'm sure it's on the way in the future with, for example, the coming Horror 2.0 update. But far more important than replacing some models is ensuring the Atmosphere and Sound design of the game is such that it continues to be scary- Long after you start finding absurdity in the visual design, good sound design can still catch you off guard, and amazing atmosphere will still keep you on edge even when you feel 'safe'.

And more important than the visual model itself is what it's doing; Right now there's not a whole lot the models do that we're actually looking at them for, Horror 2.0 again is likely to change this- Lots of potential to make even a plain boring model do things that set your heart pumping.

TL;DR: The human psyche is frighteningly adaptable, and through continued exposure, scary things cease to be scary- Changing the primary goal of investigation wouldn't really have the result you think/hope it will because the game will be no more scary than it already is, and so the fear people no longer have for the game would not be rekindled by that change.

The game was more fun during the early days because everyone still had a healthy fear of it- A fear that is no more.

I'd also like to note that a very similar phenomenon is the cause for adrenaline junkies who gradually seek more and more insane stunts to be a part of- Because the stunt they're doing no longer excites them and gives them that rush of adrenaline (because they acclimated), they seek something that will give them that rush again, till it can't anymore and they find something else- repeat, repeat, repeat.
=====
New comment after here:

In short, You played it in the past and your brain was in the middle of that adaptation- It didnt stop adapting during the break because it 'knew' you might be exposed again in the future, And now it's just not quite what you remember. The game has the same amount of interactions if not more, more ghost events, more ghosts with unique abilities since back then- But it seems bland and boring and your brain figured out a way to keep you from being scared in this game.. You dont have that fear and panic and hurried running from the room taking up the time inbetween anymore, so it's 'too far in between' interactions now, etc.


TL;DR: Our brains adapt to stressful stimuli like fear/adrenaline surges/etc, because its stressful on our body and brain and not an ideal response to a situation.

[tdiz1837]

Wow, it is almost like after seeing the same scary thing 100 times, it gets less scary, woooooooaaaaah

[Hampamatta]

Originally posted by tdiz1837:

Wow, it is almost like after seeing the same scary thing 100 times, it gets less scary, woooooooaaaaah

wow its almost like they didnt make much changes to the scary parts of this horror game the last 2 years.

[Maya-Neko]

Originally posted by Hampamatta:

wow its almost like they didnt make much changes to the scary parts of this horror game the last 2 years.

Do you want to have horror 2.0 with ♥♥♥♥♥♥ lighting and slow, non-threatening ghosts on boring maps or do you rather want to wait for better lighting, more atmospheric maps and the ghosts actually being able to hunt you down in a dangerous way, so that the scary parts of the horror 2.0 update hit even harder?

The devs have simply choosen the way, that enhances the horror, once it comes, but that obviously needs tons of time and this is also the main reason, why this game is still in early access.

[HyruleWanderer]

Yeah, they changed a lot of the stuff and this is hella sad. Unfortunately, the devs don't give a sh#% for the playerbase.

[KingKickAss]

They went down the path of trying to make the game deliberately scary/horrifying which ironically takes away from it.