In-Hospital-able Gaming: When places of healing become places of horror

gaminoz - 88 days 3 hours ago

I can tell you I hate hospitals and have spent a little too much time in them, but my wife feels totally different being a nurse.

They do make very creepy locations for games trying to instill some fear or unease for sure!

Imagine working at Dr. Death's hospital like the writer!

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XboxOZ360 - 88 days 2 hours ago

I've had my share of hospitals over the years, everything from major back surgery, to thumbs cut with bench saws, and metal in eyes . . .and they all do have a certain element of foreboding about them.

Knowing a few nurses certain raise the scary factor as well, as the stories they can often come out with sure makes your hair stand on end, like seeing paitents that are walking around, but actually dies a few hours ago - well, they thought they saw them walking around.

Makes games seem tame.

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darkmurder - 88 days 1 hour ago

The mental ward on WaW was really freaky! I hate hospitals in games, too scary haha

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REALgamer - 88 days 1 hour ago

Like what Silent Hill / Condemned / Doom / Dead Space / FEAR style game doesn't have one now?

Might be scarier for there to be NO hospital now!

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Godem - 87 days 20 hours ago

I hate Hospitals

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XboxOZ360 - 87 days 18 hours ago

But game developers can certainly use their atmosphere to their advantage, that's for sure.

I don't think there will ever not be a time that a developer will not use a hospital scene in one way or another. They help create a certain mood or dread and suspision in many, so it's easy for them to work that to their advantage.

While some say there's enough hospital scenes in games, I don't think there is actually, it's just that we remember them so vividly - that it seems like they are in almost every game, which they are not of course.

While I dislike hospitals (hate is such a drastic word) I do know they have saved my bacon on many an ocassion, and while they can be scary, they can also be a place of help, and security, knowing that if you are really sick, injured etc, you are ideally in the best of hands.

The article brings up some very valid points actually around gaming.

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cornfedgamer - 87 days 16 hours ago

Great topic!

First, Hospitals are good from a level design angle. They are sprawling, multi level buildings with long corridors and varied rooms.

But digging deeper, the nature of the design is creepy. In real life, hospitals feel safe because they are full of people. But when the hallways are dark and empty they can be nerve-racking.

From a strictly horror standpoint, the thought of surgery leads to the fear of unnecessary surgery. And from there it’s only a quick jump to mutilation and human experimentation. These are primal fears. They are utilized in horror movies as much as they are used in games. For supernaturally-inclined stories, cruel, patient-mutilating “doctors” create narrative opportunities for dark motives, ghosts and demons.

Halloween II takes place in a hospital. And it’s one of the best horror movies ever made. It capitalizes off the eerieness of empty corridors, and the idea that death is so nearby in a place of healing.

Hospitals make people uncomfortable because they are places where people stare consequence in the face. They see the lifelong smoker hooked up to oxygen tanks. They see the unbeatable effects of aging and diseases they’ve never even thought of. They see the chance involved in life and feel less in control. And they feel petty for their small complaints when they see others facing mortality.

Childbirth excluded, Hospitals are places where you only go if something is seriously wrong with yourself or a loved one. Hospitals are places where people occasionally die. Where you can hear and see people’s grief echo down the hallways.

And I agree 100%, all that boils down to the shattering of our illusion of control. Nice article.

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