Video game trauma can last for years

Some horror video games leave players with wounds that take a long time to heal, an UdeM researchers finds. Cry of Fear is a horror video game that explores a wide range of particularly sensitive topics, from depression to self-harm, murder, and suicide. And Samuel Poirier-Poulin knows the game well. A lecturer and doctoral candidate in the Department of Art History and Film Studies at Université de Montréal, Poirier-Poulin has spent time analyzing it - and come to a disturbing conclusion. Games such as Cry of Fear can trigger intense emotions in players, a type of "gameplay trauma" that continues to resonate long after the game has ended, he found. Fright is inherent. Studies of horror in movies and video games have often suggested that the pleasure that players get from being frightened is rooted in the games' inherent safety.