Wow... That sounds like some kind of phobia to me. I hope it doesn't extend to drinking water... that would NOT be good. If I'm reading my internet right you could have a form of automysophobia (the fear of being dirty)...
Hopefully Subnautica is helping you fight that fear. Or at least giving you a sense of what an ocean is like without being soaked in it.
I'm mostly okay if it is running water - that's why showers are doable. Drinking water is okay as well, because I know it's filtered and whatnot, so my brain doesn't freak out. I can also get my feet wet in a river with relative ease, for as long as I have a hot shower handy nearby. Anyway, it's... complicated, lol.
Subnautica does indeed help a lot here. Maybe not so much in battling my fear - it can't do anything to make the real life waters any cleaner for my brain - but it really lets me see the possible beauty of the ocean and how awesome it would be to dive and explore it, allows me to do something I will probably never be able to do in real life, and for that I will be forever grateful to the devs.
If it helps any, your skin is the largest organ in your body, and its purpose is to act as a barrier to any harmful elements that might exist in your environment (this includes air) - you can think of it as your natural skinsuit. It does a fantastic job, and even when penetrated, your body has other defenses - blood will flush some out, then form a temporary barrier with clotting, and will also (white blood cells) fight anything that made it in, surrounding and consuming the foreign matter present.
I guess keep in mind that your natural environment, to include air, is dirty, but your body systems are very good at keeping all of that outside, especially when aided by such effective helps as washing hands, disinfecting wounds, etc. Even when you eat things, it gets marinated in an acid bath as part of the digestion process.
The thing that traps a lot of people is that rip currents don't come alone, they're separated by gaps, so even when people swim parallel they sometimes go too far and end up entering a second rip current.
I know about rip currents, as they are dangerous and I've been told the best way to get away from them (swim parallel). Why am I only now finding out about the parallel currents, and on a gaming forum, of all places? You'd think that should be common knowledge, just like how to get out of rip currents is.
SkopeWouldn't you like to know ;)Join Date: 2016-06-07Member: 218212Members
edited December 2016
I can swim in 10-15 meter deep water, but any deeper in real life is synonymous with my definition of death. Oddly enough, I'm pretty okay with Subnautica. The real question is, do the any of the Devs have a fear of the ocean.
I'm actually massively afraid of water, in real life, in video games, if its deeper then a bathtub, I want nothing to do with it. I start having heart palpitations, I freeze up...
But, water is common in video games and its stopped me from enjoying games I've liked in the past, even so far as me never beating several of them.
Which is why Subnautica is wonderful, its a controlled method to face my fears, at least in on medium. I'm not suddenly confronted with it, I know what I'm getting into and that makes the anxiety and fear a bit more tolerable.
I'm still terrified of water, but it is helping. For instance the other day, I was able to move past the third dungeon in LoZ: Ocarina of Time.
kingkumacancels Work: distracted by Dwarf FortressJoin Date: 2015-09-25Member: 208137Members
edited February 2018
I used to be terrified of water when I was around 8, after I read a book on tylosaurs:
This picture was a two- page 3d spread saidbook, and I had to TAPE THE PAGES TOGETHER to avoid looking at it.:
*Looks up tylosaur*
*Still freaks out a little inside*
I was so afraid of these guys, that when I had to go to my swimming lessons, I would ONLY SWIM BACKSTROKE when in the deep end, so my mind wouldn't make me focus on the (12 foot) deep water. (and yes, you could easily see the bottom) I aged out of that fear, but when I still played games (e.g. Minecraft- it was my first game I was a big fan of), the monsters still scared me- until I realized I could fight back. Then they weren't scary anymore.
A list of videogame creatures I've been afraid of
Minecraft spiders and creepers ( No picture needed)
The NOED from Roboblitz (I had reoccuring nightmares of this guy, folks. And I still find him a little scary.):
Another game I will not list or picture
A japanese game I will not list and I didn't even play yet was still afraid of. ( @phantomfinch should know what I'm talking about):
Interesting story about the NOED:
As I said, I had nightmares about this guy - until I beat him in the game. Then I had a dream of me throwing him into a pit of lava, and I had no more nightmares of him. I might have had one subnautica dream to my memory, but it wasn't scary.
Due to all this emotional hardening, subnautica just isn't very scary to me. Sure, starting out was overly cautious of sandsharks and the bloodgrass, but I never got truly afraid (sans jumpscares).
...Except the void still scares me. it just worries me, just waiting to hear that ghostly howl of oncoming death...
I have definitely felt ill at ease playing the game hahaha. I worked for over 10 years as a SCUBA instructor & U/W cameraman, and never felt afraid of the depth or sealife, not even when diving in the cave systems here in the Mayan Riviera. I think for me, playing the game, its the relatively short air-supply...in the subs and in the prawn, I feel invincible, but swimming around with monsters is beyond my personal experience
i do suffer thalassophobia, this is something rarely explored into gaming. throughout my playthrough it has been a haunting experience with a sense of existential dread. even in the later game where i made advanced builds and setups w/ the comforts that it provides at best you simply coexist with those fears.
Comments
AAAAH! A GASOPOD!
The scary thing is, Reaper is bigger!
If it helps any, your skin is the largest organ in your body, and its purpose is to act as a barrier to any harmful elements that might exist in your environment (this includes air) - you can think of it as your natural skinsuit. It does a fantastic job, and even when penetrated, your body has other defenses - blood will flush some out, then form a temporary barrier with clotting, and will also (white blood cells) fight anything that made it in, surrounding and consuming the foreign matter present.
I guess keep in mind that your natural environment, to include air, is dirty, but your body systems are very good at keeping all of that outside, especially when aided by such effective helps as washing hands, disinfecting wounds, etc. Even when you eat things, it gets marinated in an acid bath as part of the digestion process.
I know about rip currents, as they are dangerous and I've been told the best way to get away from them (swim parallel). Why am I only now finding out about the parallel currents, and on a gaming forum, of all places? You'd think that should be common knowledge, just like how to get out of rip currents is.
But, water is common in video games and its stopped me from enjoying games I've liked in the past, even so far as me never beating several of them.
Which is why Subnautica is wonderful, its a controlled method to face my fears, at least in on medium. I'm not suddenly confronted with it, I know what I'm getting into and that makes the anxiety and fear a bit more tolerable.
I'm still terrified of water, but it is helping. For instance the other day, I was able to move past the third dungeon in LoZ: Ocarina of Time.
This picture was a two- page 3d spread saidbook, and I had to TAPE THE PAGES TOGETHER to avoid looking at it.:
*Looks up tylosaur*
*Still freaks out a little inside*
I was so afraid of these guys, that when I had to go to my swimming lessons, I would ONLY SWIM BACKSTROKE when in the deep end, so my mind wouldn't make me focus on the (12 foot) deep water. (and yes, you could easily see the bottom) I aged out of that fear, but when I still played games (e.g. Minecraft- it was my first game I was a big fan of), the monsters still scared me- until I realized I could fight back. Then they weren't scary anymore.
A list of videogame creatures I've been afraid of
Interesting story about the NOED:
As I said, I had nightmares about this guy - until I beat him in the game. Then I had a dream of me throwing him into a pit of lava, and I had no more nightmares of him. I might have had one subnautica dream to my memory, but it wasn't scary.
Due to all this emotional hardening, subnautica just isn't very scary to me. Sure, starting out was overly cautious of sandsharks and the bloodgrass, but I never got truly afraid (sans jumpscares).
...Except the void still scares me. it just worries me, just waiting to hear that ghostly howl of oncoming death...
my first deep dive gave me a panic attack
https://clips.twitch.tv/CredulousBombasticInternM4xHeh