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Those that can relate to negative emotions in others such as fear may seek to avoid feeling those negative emotions in fear-induced games.
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Lynch and Martins found that overall, players with low empathy were more likely to play and enjoy horror games than those with high empathy levels. This allows us to sympathise with others and be compassionate. The study is a fascinating enquiry as to why we play video games, and how they make us feel and what they make us feel.Įmpathy is when we share the thoughts and feelings of others when we see someone scared or upset that evokes the same emotional response in us. Over half of the gamers experienced fear during play and just over forty percent reported that they enjoyed this fear. Participants were asked questions about the games they played and how often, their perception of survival horror games, and how sound, image and presence influenced the fear they felt. They applied a method used to measure viewer perception of fear in film and television to survival horror games.
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Researchers Teresa Lynch and Nicole Martins from Indiana University published a study of fear response in 269 college students playing popular survival horror games such as Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead, the Dead Space and Silent Hill series, and the formidable Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Until now there had been no investigation into how the immersive nature of survival horror games frightens us, and how our individual traits can affect the degree to which they scare us. Freakish, monstrous characters programmed to challenge and destroy the player gratifies the fear-induced thrill-seeking that drives gamers to immerse themselves in such virtual worlds. Why play horror-themed videogames designed to shock and scare? As with horror films or novels, they provide a means to indulge in the pleasure of frightening ourselves.