Playtest: the horror of enjoying horror

Playtest is just as much about examining the notion of horror as it is about exploring the blur between the virtual and the real (which can be a scary topic in its self). The horror genre is just as inexplicably popular in video games as it is in film. I believe there is very little difference in how horror is treated and experience between the two mediums the biggest being the video games being more interactive. But even horror video games cannot allow the audience too much agency. The player must be forced, preferably through subtle means, to confront the horror they know is coming or stop playing.

Playtest follows through the standard procedure of most successful horror, starting off with a slow, relaxed build up the lolls the audience into letting down their initial guards and building anxiety. There is a lot science behind the crafting of a good horror story to successful an audience who have been desensitized by many other horror films or games. With so much careful work put in it brings up the question the reading addressed even more so, “Why would anyone want to be horrified?”

I think the episode raises a good potential answer. The game designer character, Shou Saito, postulates that we like horror games and horror films because they allow us to face our fears in ultimately a safe environment. While true in film to a degree as well, video games put us in control. We must force the character forward into inevitable horrors. Even if this is a simple as pushing forward on a joystick it can be very difficult to willing march toward your fear. But Saito says that this is therapeutic. We are able to, in a sense, conqueror them. We might find this easier due to that we know that the game will end and afterwards we will be still safely sitting on our butts with a plastic controller in our hands. Similarly, with a film we are able to leave the theater afterwards.

Playtest however toys with the horrific idea of this not being the case. Cooper goes in for a unique horror experience with the added benefit of being paid for it. However, the notion of the real and the virtual fades away and Cooper is trapped in a nightmarish world bent on terrifying him. In this sense Cooper is very much the same as the audience. Willing to be scared in what they believe is a safe environment. Cooper becomes an eerie mirror for the audience that turns there very desire to seek out horror into horror itself.