Video Games, Virtual Reality, and Fear Responses

Abstract

Humans display fear responses not only toward potential threats in real environments but also toward various elements depicted in mediated content. Fear responses in interactive media such as video games and virtual reality (VR) have gained increasing attention due to the popularity of games in the horror and suspense genres and the commercialization of VR hardware. Fear elements, fear reactions, and coping reactions in video games and VR are reviewed in this entry. In video games, the horror game genre has topped the list of game types that elicit fear responses. In addition, participants have reported greater cognitive than physical reactions. In VR, participants have reported greater fear of plausibility illusion elements than place illusion elements. In addition, when playing a VR horror game, participants have most frequently employed an approach reaction, followed by cognitive avoidance (“this is not real”), physical and mental disengagement, and self‐help strategies. Participants have displayed response‐as‐if‐real (RAIR) reactions in VR games. In one study, a residual fear of being attacked from behind while playing the VR horror game was reported by some participants the next day. Empirical evidence has shown that greater emotional responses (in both self‐reported and psychophysiological responses) are greater in VR than in non‐VR video games. Understanding audiences' fear responses in video games and VR allows researchers and the industry to design effective intervention and training materials.