# Is Bioshock too scary for me? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 14, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807 "2009-10-14T17:04:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/41 "2009-10-15T18:12:34Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Gosh, I’m surprised you didn’t say I must be butthurt about something too. Still, I was probably more vehement than I needed to be. Sandy vag is one of my buttons, even if it’s not directed at me. Easy to push. > > You do contradict yourself, though. **LOUNE** was enjoying the game until it caught him off guard and got too scary for that session, at which point he…stopped playing it, just like you suggest. **So what’s up with the namecalling?** I was totally kidding and I perceived (correctly) from interacting with LOUNE in the NFL threads that he has a very agreeable sense of humor… > [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > **My vagina is packed with sand. I produce pearls hourly. You can set a clock to the intervals.** > The game was okay. The controls sucked a little bit, but I think that was a decision made to increase the tension (which I fucking hate). > > The game was fine, but I’m not going back. Thanks for the backup, **Bosstone** , but it’s cool. They didn’t mean anything by it, except to point **that my vagina produces 20-grit sandpaper**. …as evidenced here… > [@Anaamika](#): > > As for \*\*FoieGrasIsEvil \*\* I will say only this one thing, which probably would serve you well in every instance of your life. _Not everyone responds to the same stimuli the exact same way you do._ Your comment about not believing the “scare level” people get from video games - well, I don’t get that comment! I get scared from certain horror flicks, and definitely certain horror books. At all times I can shut off the movie or close the book, but I’m 33 now, and that’s old enough to know what kinds of images stay with me even after and what I should avoid. And no, I don’t really enjoy a game that’s too terrifying. But Bioshock just draws me with the awesome story. And I have already apologized to you, OP. Truly. I realized after the fact that I was jumping the gun by making that statement. I suppose I just don’t find scary things in books, movies or videogames to be all that…“scary”. Sure, I’ll jump out of my seat when I get surprised suddenly (like the feral ghouls in FO3 suddenly right in your grille), but to me, that rush of excitement and adrenalin is a rush, and not something I’m going to have nightmares over. And also it’s just “part of the gaming experience” and not something to be feared. Anyway, you’re right, everyone is different and reacts differently to different things. I find walking in my woods behind my house on a moonless night without a flashlight to be scary, maybe others don’t feel the same, so I’ll toss my sandy vag into the mix for good measure. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/42 "2009-10-15T18:18:20Z")
Pro tip: if you do your kegels while you’re packed with sand, you’ll produce nice, round pearls. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/43 "2009-10-15T18:32:11Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > I put the controller on the ground and walked away. Nobody else picked it up. No! You have to pick it up! So many games skimp on story and throw their money into graphics and “name” voice actors. Of the ones that have good story, sad stories are among the most rare. Fatal Frame 2 manages to be a good game, good graphics, and a good sad ending that you have to pick it up again! Play in the daytime! Do it in a crowd! Anything to finish that game!! ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/44 "2009-10-15T18:36:03Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > No! You have to pick it up! > > So many games skimp on story and throw their money into graphics and “name” voice actors. Of the ones that have good story, sad stories are among the most rare. Fatal Frame 2 manages to be a good game, good graphics, and a good sad ending that you have to pick it up again! Play in the daytime! Do it in a crowd! Anything to finish that game!! Nope. It’s looooong gone. It’s got my shameless Halo and Madden addiction to get through for playing time. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/45 "2009-10-15T18:36:34Z")
FoieGrasIsEvil, it’s cool. But re: the scared thing, it’s always been like that for me. I’ve grown up about it a bit, but…Put it this way. When I was a teen, Edgar Allen Poe and Aliens TERRIFIED me. Now Aliens is one of my favorite movies, and I find Poe to be kind of boring. I love suspenseful horror but I still can’t stomach certain things. I wonder if it’s just something that stays with you. Perhaps something happened when I was a child, that I never really lost my fear of the unknown. Perhaps it’s genetic. Perhaps you were braver to start with. Anyway I was never really “mad” at you or anything - just trying to portray that things do work differently for different people. I don’t want to or like to get scared! Just happens. My mind dwells on things and I see them over and over. You know how I can watch horror movies now? Because I have learned a trick - immediately after the movie is over I watch five minutes of a funny cartoon, or read a funny book, and don’t let the images gel in my mind. If I do let them sit, I do indeed dream about them, even though I don’t want to. And yet some things stay with me. I still remember scenes from Zork Nemesis and I haven’t touched that game in over twelve years! Probably worthy of its own thread, this discussion on fright, but I’ll leave it for now. I will point out that sand in the vagina is one of the more…unpleasant metaphors out there. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/46 "2009-10-15T18:44:10Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > FoieGrasIsEvil, it’s cool. But re: the scared thing, it’s always been like that for me. I’ve grown up about it a bit, but…Put it this way. > > When I was a teen, Edgar Allen Poe and Aliens TERRIFIED me. Now Aliens is one of my favorite movies, and I find Poe to be kind of boring. I love suspenseful horror but I still can’t stomach certain things. > > I wonder if it’s just something that stays with you. Perhaps something happened when I was a child, that I never really lost my fear of the unknown. Perhaps it’s genetic. Perhaps you were braver to start with. > > Anyway I was never really “mad” at you or anything - just trying to portray that things do work differently for different people. I don’t want to or like to get scared! Just happens. My mind dwells on things and I see them over and over. You know how I can watch horror movies now? Because I have learned a trick - immediately after the movie is over I watch five minutes of a funny cartoon, or read a funny book, and don’t let the images gel in my mind. If I do let them sit, I do indeed dream about them, even though I don’t want to. > > And yet some things stay with me. I still remember scenes from Zork Nemesis and I haven’t touched that game in over twelve years! > > Probably worthy of its own thread, this discussion on fright, but I’ll leave it for now. I will point out that sand in the vagina is one of the more…unpleasant metaphors out there. 🙂 ' **mika** , just buy the fucking game and fall in love with it already. Also, pay no attention to these empty bags of playground sand. They’re being put to good use, I assure you. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/47 "2009-10-15T19:43:04Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > FoieGrasIsEvil, it’s cool. But re: the scared thing, it’s always been like that for me. I’ve grown up about it a bit, but…Put it this way. > > When I was a teen, Edgar Allen Poe and Aliens TERRIFIED me. Now Aliens is one of my favorite movies, and I find Poe to be kind of boring. I love suspenseful horror but I still can’t stomach certain things. > > I wonder if it’s just something that stays with you. Perhaps something happened when I was a child, that I never really lost my fear of the unknown. Perhaps it’s genetic. Perhaps you were braver to start with. > > Anyway I was never really “mad” at you or anything - just trying to portray that things do work differently for different people. I don’t want to or like to get scared! Just happens. My mind dwells on things and I see them over and over. You know how I can watch horror movies now? Because I have learned a trick - immediately after the movie is over I watch five minutes of a funny cartoon, or read a funny book, and don’t let the images gel in my mind. If I do let them sit, I do indeed dream about them, even though I don’t want to. > > And yet some things stay with me. I still remember scenes from Zork Nemesis and I haven’t touched that game in over twelve years! > > Probably worthy of its own thread, this discussion on fright, but I’ll leave it for now. I will point out that sand in the vagina is one of the more…unpleasant metaphors out there. 🙂 I think you may have touched on something there with adulthood generally wiping away the fears of childhood when presented with the same imagery in both stages of life. I guess we just become jaded and can control our imaginations better as adults. Anyway, thanks for the explanation. > [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > ' **mika** , just buy the fucking game and fall in love with it already. > Also, pay no attention to these empty bags of playground sand. They’re being put to good use, I assure you. Christ you’re on a roll! ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/48 "2009-10-15T21:02:16Z")
The phrase traditionally involves a cracker, no? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/49 "2009-10-15T21:04:31Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > The phrase traditionally involves a cracker, no? I’m not going near any soggy crackers, thankyouverymuch. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/50 "2009-10-15T21:27:15Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Ok, I will get the demo tonight! Thanks. a)That start of the demo was the first time EVER that I confused gameplay for a pre-rendered cutscene. b)When the demo wants to end, it does so by getting IMPOSSIBLY difficult, don’t blame yourself. c)It’s a GOOD Scary, You’ll LOVE it. I’m playing through it again. For the third time. I _never_ do that. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/51 "2009-10-15T21:45:28Z")
It was too scary for me. I had to stop playing it. If I could have somebody in the room with me I’d be fine, but alone I couldn’t handle it. I’m a wuss. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/52 "2009-10-15T22:19:29Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It was too scary for me. I had to stop playing it. If I could have somebody in the room with me I’d be fine, but alone I couldn’t handle it. I’m a wuss. I completely understand. Sand? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/53 "2009-10-15T23:16:07Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > a)That start of the demo was the first time EVER that I confused gameplay for a pre-rendered cutscene. Does the demo start with the plane crash ? If so, me too in the full game. I must have stood there in the water for a good 3 minutes, thinking : err… helloooo ? When do I get to play ? And for chrissake, if you have to have superlong “hidden” loading times, at least pick a time when there’s no sense of urgency, like the Mass Effect elevators and unlike now when I’m sitting in a puddle of burning kerosene… hey, what do you know, moving works. Amusing, you can move around in the … cutscene ? It’s not a cutscene, is it ? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/54 "2009-10-15T23:39:08Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Does the demo start with the plane crash ? If so, me too in the full game. > > I must have stood there in the water for a good 3 minutes, thinking : err… helloooo ? When do I get to play ? And for chrissake, if you have to have superlong “hidden” loading times, at least pick a time when there’s no sense of urgency, like the Mass Effect elevators and unlike now when I’m sitting in a puddle of burning kerosene… hey, what do you know, moving works. Amusing, you can move around in the … cutscene ? It’s not a cutscene, is it ? :smack: Yeah, the Demo is the first XX minutes of the game, then they throw a sensor in a hallway and deluge you with gun-copter-thingies. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/55 "2009-10-16T00:36:02Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Having just finished Wolfenstein, I have to disagree on the scariness. For one thing, those invisible guys don’t really appear a lot, and most of the game is in well-lit, daytime areas. Try the game before it though, Return to Castle Wolfenstein. It’s pretty tame, even when the undead start coming after you. Oh, I’m not saying the entire game is terrifyingly scary, but the levels in the hospital and undground crystal mines an so on on once various Nazi Experiments start becoming a bit clearer are, as I said, not something I’d suggest playing late at night before you go to bed. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/56 "2009-10-16T00:41:36Z")
I already bought it! I did - see: > [@](#): > > ``` > Well, they had it new for $20, so I just bought it new, last night, and started playing it. > > ``` I have been playing it. I play it for only about an hour and a half each evening; I won’t be beating it in a weekend or anything. That’s as much hair-trigger time as I can take. But I do like it a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/57 "2009-10-16T00:52:40Z")
Would you kindly keep us appraised of your progress and opinions? ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/58 "2009-10-16T02:13:11Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > a)That start of the demo was the first time EVER that I confused gameplay for a pre-rendered cutscene. > > b)When the demo wants to end, it does so by getting IMPOSSIBLY difficult, don’t blame yourself. > > c)It’s a GOOD Scary, You’ll LOVE it. I’m playing through it again. For the third time. I _never_ do that. I played it twice. First on Medium (reloaded after death, Vita Chambers just make the game ridiculously easy). Second time on Hard (with the patch that allowed you to turn the Vita Chambers off). On Hard, the upgraded lead head splicers are probably the most annoying enemy out there. (They also have more hit points than any other non-boss splicer and even more than some bosses.) Those and the first few Big Daddy’s before you start getting real weapons are toughies. And (killing strategies in the spoiler box) [spoiler] Also, I can’t just do the cheeseball “empty a full tank of electrogel into the big daddy” thing on Hard once you get to the elites. Though six proximity mines on a Telekinesis thrown gas tank or leading the Big Daddy into a bunch of trap bolts after emptying some buckshot into him works well enough. :D[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/59 "2009-10-16T02:24:59Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Would you kindly keep us appraised of your progress and opinions? You know she will. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807/60 "2009-10-16T03:15:42Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > I completely understand. > Sand? Dude. Inappropriate, in this thread. What more indication do you need? When I walk down the street, there’s a crowd of urchins following me hoping to find pearls. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bioshock-too-scary-for-me/513807.md?page=4)