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  1. JoJoJoshify

    JoJoJoshify Banned

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    Need Help with Survey on Fears

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by JoJoJoshify, Sep 9, 2020.

    I'm starting development on my first serious story driven game. I need to understand peoples fears a bit more and i wanted to know if people could help me by taking my survey about things they are scared of. It is anonymous but does ask for an age range. I'm also looking for any input on creative ways to make my first-person silent character feel more personalized. I am struggling to write around a character that doesn't talk but have a rich story that feels personal to whoever is playing. i don't want to write in third person because i want to exploit what generally makes people scared and make people fear for themselves rather than feel for another person.

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    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 10, 2020
  2. cosmic lights

    cosmic lights Contributor Contributor

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    There are two kinds of fear:
    Logical fears like falling or death or car accidents, just about everyone is scared of them or can understand why.
    Then there are irrational fears like of spiders, true some can be harmful, but most are not, especially if you live in the UK like I do. So why do I fear them so much? Not so much tiny ones, but those big black house spiders...ugh! I feel quite mild symptoms of panic when I see one (palms go sweat, heart races, tension in body sometimes to the point I find it hard to move at all, struggling to think what to do). But it's a very common one.

    If you want to be unique get inside the head of your character. The fear doesn't need to make sense to others or be rational, we just need to understand how bad it is for the character and if you can find a way to make that conflict with the characters wants/goal all the better. They want to be a singer but have a fear of singing in public. They would love to drive a car but the feeling of being in control of the car but not in control of other people's actions and of making a bad decision and the possible consequences of that decision prevents them. Use fear to create a much inner conflict as possible. Then have that inner conflict have symptoms that cause external conflicts. The character avoids using the car so misses someone's birthday party this upsets someone important to them.
     
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  3. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    One of the things I fear the most right now—and I bet lots of people share the fear—is the loss of the means to carry on our lives at a reasonable level.

    Loss of jobs or retirement income, loss of banking access due to shutting of bank branches, loss of post office facilities, loss of access to medical and dental care (if the NHS is allowed to tank), loss of access to public transportation, loss of the means to heat our homes, loss of our savings for old age if the economy and our investments tank, loss of access to medications and decent food, loss of internet and telephone access and assistance, loss of access to appliance and home repair services if they've gone out of business due to Covid or Brexit, etc.

    I would say NONE of these fears are irrational—in fact many of them are happening now. These are very scary times, and I feel most of us are unprepared for these things, which WILL happen unless the direction our governments are taking just now makes a huge U-turn. Lots of story-worthy stuff here, for sure.
     

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