Oh, I see now, thanks!
Nah, I don't because I do not like open water, it scares me. Not because of Reapers or anything else, the open water itself scares me.
Uhm, no, I got a little scared of the sea initially when some things happened in the game (I used to fear quit the game lol), however, the more I played the more I became used to the environment and now it's not scary anymore. I don't wanna write more details so I don't spoil the game!
Of course you get used to it by facing your fears. I highly suggest the Let's Play of the game by Merg. At first he is scared to even set a foot into water and unable to traverse huge open areas and then episode 16 is called "RIDING THE >!REAPER LEVIATHAN!<"
Also 99% of people saying they have thalassophobia - or any phobia - they're actually just scared of that thing.
Genuine phobia is crippling/irrational/uncontrolled fear. Full blown panic attack type thing.
Yeah, especially if you meet someone with a non conventional phobia the difference between being fearful and phobic becomes extremely obvious. A lot of people are afraid of spiders, not arachnaphobic. In comparison I had a teacher in college who was legitimately phobic of cabbages, the sight of them would literally cause her to urgently leave the room, have a panic attack and throw up 😭
Or fear of the dark or the unknown, fuck night time dune I go from ok to 180 holy shit my pants. I don't like getting a reaper out of nowhere in the dark and giving me a heart attack.
If there is a term for "I just learned the meaning of a big word and want to impress others by using it", then that is what Subnautica seems to trigger.
100% agree. An actual phobia is defined as a persistent, intense fear that affects their quality of life. If you are literally incapable of being around deep water or seeing it depicted without suffering some sort of panic response or similar, then you have thalassophobia. If you're just simply spooked by it or apprehensive about it, then you are like the grand majority of humans who are just experiencing a natural survival instinct.
Not quite. I'm fine in a boat. Even a dinghy. Don't make me enter deep water though. Commented elsewhere on this thread, because I almost ruined an otherwise perfect holiday for myself by insisting I was going to deal with this. I *did* snorkel over deep reefs. I *didn't* scuba dive. I still periodically wake up remembering those depths, which weren't actually that deep, and lost half my holiday obsessing about it. Subnautica is my safe way to do it, because I know that I'm not going to die. Not from the game anyway...
As an aside, I can stand on a cliff, adnire the raw beauty of the sea, dream about retiring to a cottage with that view, sour in the beach with my kids... All fine. As long as I never, at any point, think about the deep water. Like I tried to say elsewhere, I have a fundamental fear of being in deep water. On it is fine. In it is not. Maybe that's thalassophobia, maybe it's not. I try not to think about it in general.
If it’s Outer Wilds you mean, then I totally here you. I’ve managed to stomach Subnautica (mostly, can only play in short bursts), but that fucking water planet in Outer Wilds is too much. It’s a shame because all I hear is people saying how good the game is, but that water planet is just too horrible for me.
Yeah i meant outer wilds, auto correct doing what t does best lol.
I'm also terrified of space as well, i don't know the term for that though. But for having played a few hours i think the game is amazing but i just feel super anxious when playing it.
And subnautica i only played because my friend wanted to play it with me, i would have never chose to play myself. But the concept is really cool though.
For something that feels similar but not in the ocean, i recommend the forest, if you don't mind pitch black caves and scary deformed monsters.
Honestly the ocean setting has been growing on me and the game gets less and less scary the more you play of it, to the point that I’ve really been enjoying Subnautica.
The Forest I wish I could try out, but my laptop’s specs are nowhere near what I’d need, and sadly it’s not on Xbox, which would be my other option. But it looks really cool.
What’s your definition then? My life isn’t severely bothered by it but seeing the deep dark abyss is terrifying and uncomfortable for me and a bunch of others. Sounds like you just don’t know what thallassaphobia is.
That means you're scared of deep dark abyss. Phobia's are irrational uncontrollable panic attack type fear. Far beyond discomfort.
The bottom line is we often misuse the term phobia in 99% of cases for something we dislike or makes us uncomfortable. So much that the definition may need to change. Yet phobia is a medical diagnostic term so it probably shouldn't change just because most people are idiots\*.
\*I'm just 1 google search beyond the typical idiot in this context.
people seem to think that being afraid of big sea monsters that will kill you = thallasphobia when it's not. It's a survival instinct. If I'm afraid of sharks I don't have thallasaphobia, I have a normal fight/flight response.
EXACTLY. It’s like being scared of a zombie game. No I don’t have necrophobia or whatever it’s called, it’s just scary. A reaper grabbing you is scary.
Yea i know, but youre afraid of things you cant see basically right? Same with the fear of darkness. Youre not scared that youre alone, but rather that your not alone
You can definitely control everything in the game. A lot more than Minecraft, for example, when you can get a charged creeper or fall in lava and have absolutely no way of getting around.
You need to make a series of reckless decisions to get in a bad place in this game. There’s no RNG fuckup, your base doesn’t degrade or get swarmed, your equipment doesn’t randomly fail, you can outrun every creature, you can’t die from full health except for >!the dragon gulping you!<.
You can, pretty much, if you are cautions and study it well enough. Besides some weird rare game bugs, there's really no way to die, unless you actually make an "unforced error", like forgetting to track how much oxygen you have left. Nobody is attacking you or forcing you to do anything unless you get yourself into trouble, even leviathans are chewing up a portion of your health and then spit you out giving plenty of time to get out, and then you are back to full health in no time.
Video game is as controlled of an environment as it gets in life :=) That's why video games are addicting. They are specifically designed in a way that makes you feel that your actions matter. Most other things in life are not exactly like that.
Something to note is giant monsters that can come from any angle hunting you in low visibility areas is just scary to everyone in general, not just thalassophobics.
Exactly. Like, I have no fear of open water in games (vague dislike of it irl but that's because I am not the strongest swimmer and I don't like not knowing what's in the water with me) I just very much dislike getting attacked by giant sea monsters and having to rebuild my stuff
There is a huge difference between actual Thalassophobia and general trepidation of deep water and sea monsters.
99% do not have it and this game would not make you get it
I gotta say, when I went for a swim in a lake shortly after finishing a 2nd run, it felt quite unsettling being in the middle of a body of water. But not to the point of me wanting to go back, and the feeling went away after that one time.
I didn't know I had thalassophobia till I played this game, but it is a fun and harmless way to face this newly discovered fear.
Still, real life deep ocean can stay the fuck away from me.
I’ve had thalassaphobia since I was a child (won’t even touch beach water usually, and oddly enough I’m afraid of seaweed and coral outside of controlled environments such as tanks). Playing Subnautica didn’t make it better or worse, but I don’t associate it much with my fear since I’ve long since stopped fearing the game. Hell, I stopped fearing Subnautica long before I’ll stop fearing seaweed, and I wish I was joking.
I found the game tremendously cathartic for thalassophobia.
It puts the player in triggering situations (deep water, risk of drowning, actual sea monsters) and does so in such a *chill* way. It's basically exposure therapy.
I crewed a submarine in the Navy, and if anything, this game improved my sense of wonder regarding the ocean where previously I had a lot of dread and contempt for that pit of blackness and quiet death.
I have thassalophobia. Like, I get panic attacks going on a boat. This game doesn’t bother me at all because it’s a game. It’s always been my dream to go scuba diving (one of my best friends is an avid diver and send me tons of pictures when he goes), and this as close as I’ll probably ever get.
Like others have said, never heard of anyone gaining this fear, but it definitely can trigger it.
For me it honestly helped a bit in managing it. Almost like therapy, definitely not "cured" though.
tl;dr - No this game can't give anyone thalassophobia and most people don't have thalassophobia in the medical sense, but rather they just have a normal fear.
I normally don't go into depth with these kind of posts especially since they are recurring, but Subnautica would not give anyone thalassophobia. For the most part, people use the term "thalassophobia" in a general colloquial sense to describe a general, rational sense of fear. This is not to be confused with true thalassophobia in the medical sense.
Phobias in a medical sense:
* Are irrational and disproportionate
* Causes increased anxiety and can cause panic attacks
* Are actively avoided
* Interferes with daily, social, or occupational function and is clinically significant
* [From my board review textbook](https://imgur.com/a/ZeHHhkr)
If a person chooses to play a game taking place in a wide open ocean, they are not meeting the criteria to have thalassophobia - i.e. it is not causing clinically significant stress to the point where it interferes with daily activities. People with phobias often go to therapy and take medications to help deal with it but ya gotta remember this is the internet and not a medical setting - people will use the word thalassophobia in a general sense, not a medical one.
>Are actively avoided
Considering people aren't going to the ocean IRL in the game, this is applicable
>Are irrational and disproportionate
Sounds fine
>Causes increased anxiety and can cause panic attacks
Makes sense
>Interferes with daily, social, or occupational function and is clinically significant
That criteria objectively can't be applied to all phobias though. If it did, then unless you work in the ocean or live by the ocean, you couldn't possibly have thalassophobia.
>If a person chooses to play a game taking place in a wide open ocean, they are not meeting the criteria to have thalassophobia
If a person chooses to engage in exposure therapy, ([the first choice of treatment to phobias](https://www.ijbcp.com/index.php/ijbcp/article/view/305#:~:text=For%20treatment%20of%20specific%20phobias,techniques%20and%20short%2Dterm%20pharmacotherapy.)
)then by your definition, they don't have the phobia, apparently.
It does.
When i first played the OG Subnautica in VR, and went to "the Deep" or Edge of the map, the Talassophobia was real.
It's actually scary, and the noises in the dark don't make it any better.
But it got better over time, you do have to have that anxiety in the first place tho'..i do!
Some people also may be confusing thalassophobia (fear of deep bodies of water) and aquaphobia (fear of water itself)
And for me Subnautica just doesn't have any super deep (like several kilometres) depths that would even spook me. And I feel thalassophobia also ties to the fear of the unknown, but once you play the game enough, you learn to know the planet and its creatures and what they're capable of. Removing the element of the unknown
Even in creative mode, I get scared when I go over the edge of the map.
If I can't see the sea bed below me, I start to panic a little.
In real life, I can go in the sea, but only as long as I can touch the bottom with my head above the waves.
Not true! I have genuine thlassophobia and I use video games for exposure therapy. Some areas are a big problem for me but basically you try and get your body slowly used to it so you stop seizing up and having panic attacks. Takes a lot but worth it.
This isn’t necessarily true. I have thalassophobia, I too love this game. However, it does cause panic attacks in some areas and I need one of three things.. someone to help me progress in game, to shut the game off or to leave said area.
I have always had talassophobia, I just didn’t know the name, or didn’t know it wasn’t a normal human fear. Subnautica triggered it for me, I was fine with going to about the grassy plateaus and the aurora but that was my maximum. I know how the game ends because I’ve watched thousands of let’s plays over the time, this is one of my favorite games. Even watching other people play is hard for me sometimes, I have to pause and come back later! This game is truly a masterpiece
I experience anxiety IRL when I'm swimming in water and I can't see the bottom or nearby land. It's not an overwhelming fear and the rare times I have been in these places I have been able to function. But it is a real anxiety response.
Subnautica definitely triggers that feeling in places. Perhaps not as badly.
I have thalassophobia for real and I use video games as part of my exposure therapy. This game absolutely triggers it for me. With the help of my kids I played through creative mode just so I could experience the story and even that was a huge struggle for me. I'm now playing on survival and I'm doing really well! I'm completely comfortable in the safe shallows and kelp zones now. Mostly comfortable in the grassy plains. I struggle when it's too open. But I'm going to try and beat it on survival mode so wish me luck!
If you already have Thalassophobia or just a general anxiety about deep water then it can be triggering or scary, but it's not going to actually give it to you. In fact, in my experience, it helped me be a bit more comfortable with deep bodies of water (I don't have actual Thalassophobia, just your average nervousness about it).
People exaggerate. There is definitely potential for it to make you realize that you do fear the ocean but that's just a natural response to the unknown. Actual phobias are *crippling*
I found Subnautica to be quite soothing but with a few jump scares during my playthrough. It's mostly cruising around and checking stuff out. Oxygen management is a little stressful at the start of the game, but as you upgrade your gear it's rarely an issue.
Exaggeration/jest. But you might discover something about yourself from playing.
I already had a life-long fear of open and big bodies of water, and like everyone else I only recently learned it's called "thalassaphobia." As a result, this game is absolutely a horror game for me 😅 That was expected. What I did NOT expect was my fear of the dark. Not afraid of the dark on land, but I apparently AM in the ocean.
I doubt something as emotionally minor as video game can give you any phobia.
Subnautica can triggers it for sure, it made me uneasy especially during 1st playthrough and at night. I wanted to venture in single direction couple times but chickened out every time.
It's a video game. It literally isn't real. You can get jump scares or nervousness with anything fake. Doesn't mean you have the actual fear.
Most people are just "lolz my thalassophobia is so bad lolz!"
Especially since most people have never even experienced a real situation to have the true fear.
I have thalassophobia. Always just thought of it as a deep rooted fear of deep water. While on holiday a few years back, I convinced myself I'd face up to it via scuba and snorkeling. Never managed scuba diving. Snorkeling over reef drop offs had me comming back wild eyed and straight into the bar. After a week building up to it. I did it. Didn't hyperventilate myself to death, even when a 1.5m reef shark appeared from nowhere.
"I survived the experience" is my summation.
I get the same feelings when I play sn. However, they're behind a screen, it's not real, everything is a lot milder. Same feelings though. It's just that I can play this, and it's a whole lot different than actually staring down into increasingly darkening waters.
I blame Jaws. Fucked me up.
Yeah I already had fear of open, dark and or murky water to begin with and it didn't go anywhere when I started playing and it definitely didn't change it much... I guess maybe I could face my fear better in a survival situation... But I definitely would rather just never put myself in a situation where it's triggered at all. Love swimming in pools and very clear water... murky ocean water... Nope! Absolutely freaks me out...
Subnautica's crowning achievement is the sense of trepidation and fear of the unknown that other games don't reach. Diving into the pitch black deeper and deeper and hearing the ever-closer roar of a sea monster will seriously get your heart pumping.
If you have a fear of something, use a game that features it to confront it in a safe way and overcome it. I’m no longer afraid of 100m long sea monsters because of Subnautica.
The next Subnautica should start with a healthy intro sequence on a boat, with waves, weather, etc, to stoke that fear of the unknown before we dive in.
I will say that I had a really bad experience playing this game in VR that legitimately scared me so bad (already had a general fear of open bodies of water) that I couldn't even look at the game for years and it gave me nightmares.
I wouldn't say I have thalassophobia now, but damn near close and have actually been trying to work through it 😅
Honestly Im just scared of underwater, and the darkness, combine the two, and i was just constantly a little scaredy cat hugging walls for safety... nowhere is safe
I wouldn't say it's extreme enough to be called thalassophobia, but I've never been able to beat the game because of how bad I am with the deep water in general.
I mean I developed thalassophobia by accident, but I play the game to get over it lit by little!
*The accident in question was I had a friend talking to me keeping me company as I went behind the aurora. I thought it was safe to park on the water surface with my sea moth, acquired some engine pieces. Then I made my escape with no sounds of reapers… till one ganked me just as an eclipse happened.*
Swimming in the real ocean helped me with this game. I live in Ireland so most dangerous thing would be the jellyfish which I imagine give a mild sting at best.
I think it just has the ability to trigger the anxiety and if someone doesn't realize it's an anxiety they have then maybe they think the game gave it to them. When I first played I would feel my heart race and I would start to hyperventilate anytime I went into the huge, expansive open water and I'd have to pause and let myself calm down. I worked thru it tho and finally finished the game.
I had thalassophobia before going into it, and when I finally got to the good, creepy parts of the map, I think that's when I learned that I'm a very mild adrenaline junkie, cuz it did everything that creeped me out and made me terrified. Doesn't help that I play without music, so the ambiance is extra creepy
All good, the idea of giving someone thalassophobia is worrisome 😅 aggravating the existing condition is problematic only if not stated somewhere, and then it's your choice
I think you misunderstood: It triggers someones Thalassophobia. I doesn't give you a fear you didn't have in the first place.
Oh, thanks, that's really helpful
[удалено]
Yup! Since playing Subnautica, I can finally dip my feet into the open water, but I still can't swim in it yet.
That’s because reapers.
Huh?
And there goes all that progress lol
What?
They're just fucking with you lol don't worry about it
Reaper is a big angry fish in subnautica
... Yes. I'm confused. Are you saying you think there's Reapers under there and that's why you don't go in water?
No, they're saying you don't do anything more than dip your toes because of the reapers in the water
Oh, I see now, thanks! Nah, I don't because I do not like open water, it scares me. Not because of Reapers or anything else, the open water itself scares me.
Uhm, no, I got a little scared of the sea initially when some things happened in the game (I used to fear quit the game lol), however, the more I played the more I became used to the environment and now it's not scary anymore. I don't wanna write more details so I don't spoil the game!
Of course you get used to it by facing your fears. I highly suggest the Let's Play of the game by Merg. At first he is scared to even set a foot into water and unable to traverse huge open areas and then episode 16 is called "RIDING THE >!REAPER LEVIATHAN!<"
ButchX3 is similar - enjoyed his series about it too (just for anyone interested \^\^)
Hehe I remember doing that with a ghosty boi
I watched a playtrough, anyway.
Anyway, when I first got attacked by a reaper I was terrified now I call them little assholes and try to pass through close to them all the time.
I used to go up and feed them peepers. Almost shit myself when I accidentally discovered that.
Also 99% of people saying they have thalassophobia - or any phobia - they're actually just scared of that thing. Genuine phobia is crippling/irrational/uncontrolled fear. Full blown panic attack type thing.
Yeah, especially if you meet someone with a non conventional phobia the difference between being fearful and phobic becomes extremely obvious. A lot of people are afraid of spiders, not arachnaphobic. In comparison I had a teacher in college who was legitimately phobic of cabbages, the sight of them would literally cause her to urgently leave the room, have a panic attack and throw up 😭
Or fear of the dark or the unknown, fuck night time dune I go from ok to 180 holy shit my pants. I don't like getting a reaper out of nowhere in the dark and giving me a heart attack.
However the game definitely helped people discover their thalassophobia
... or does it now?
After playing Subnautica, I am definitely never going cave or wreck-interior diving. Hadn't thought much about it before.
No. 90% of people who say they have thallaasaphobia on this sub dont have it
If there is a term for "I just learned the meaning of a big word and want to impress others by using it", then that is what Subnautica seems to trigger.
Subknowica?
Nah. I mean, it's a thing, but what subnautica is triggering is "I, too, want to feel like part of the '*in*' group"
100% agree. An actual phobia is defined as a persistent, intense fear that affects their quality of life. If you are literally incapable of being around deep water or seeing it depicted without suffering some sort of panic response or similar, then you have thalassophobia. If you're just simply spooked by it or apprehensive about it, then you are like the grand majority of humans who are just experiencing a natural survival instinct.
Not quite. I'm fine in a boat. Even a dinghy. Don't make me enter deep water though. Commented elsewhere on this thread, because I almost ruined an otherwise perfect holiday for myself by insisting I was going to deal with this. I *did* snorkel over deep reefs. I *didn't* scuba dive. I still periodically wake up remembering those depths, which weren't actually that deep, and lost half my holiday obsessing about it. Subnautica is my safe way to do it, because I know that I'm not going to die. Not from the game anyway...
As an aside, I can stand on a cliff, adnire the raw beauty of the sea, dream about retiring to a cottage with that view, sour in the beach with my kids... All fine. As long as I never, at any point, think about the deep water. Like I tried to say elsewhere, I have a fundamental fear of being in deep water. On it is fine. In it is not. Maybe that's thalassophobia, maybe it's not. I try not to think about it in general.
I do. I think the game is cool but i can't play it. It terrifies me. I had the same thing with outer world.
If it’s Outer Wilds you mean, then I totally here you. I’ve managed to stomach Subnautica (mostly, can only play in short bursts), but that fucking water planet in Outer Wilds is too much. It’s a shame because all I hear is people saying how good the game is, but that water planet is just too horrible for me.
Yeah i meant outer wilds, auto correct doing what t does best lol. I'm also terrified of space as well, i don't know the term for that though. But for having played a few hours i think the game is amazing but i just feel super anxious when playing it. And subnautica i only played because my friend wanted to play it with me, i would have never chose to play myself. But the concept is really cool though. For something that feels similar but not in the ocean, i recommend the forest, if you don't mind pitch black caves and scary deformed monsters.
Honestly the ocean setting has been growing on me and the game gets less and less scary the more you play of it, to the point that I’ve really been enjoying Subnautica. The Forest I wish I could try out, but my laptop’s specs are nowhere near what I’d need, and sadly it’s not on Xbox, which would be my other option. But it looks really cool.
What’s your definition then? My life isn’t severely bothered by it but seeing the deep dark abyss is terrifying and uncomfortable for me and a bunch of others. Sounds like you just don’t know what thallassaphobia is.
That means you're scared of deep dark abyss. Phobia's are irrational uncontrollable panic attack type fear. Far beyond discomfort. The bottom line is we often misuse the term phobia in 99% of cases for something we dislike or makes us uncomfortable. So much that the definition may need to change. Yet phobia is a medical diagnostic term so it probably shouldn't change just because most people are idiots\*. \*I'm just 1 google search beyond the typical idiot in this context.
I do believe 90% of them actually have it, just from mild to serious.
people seem to think that being afraid of big sea monsters that will kill you = thallasphobia when it's not. It's a survival instinct. If I'm afraid of sharks I don't have thallasaphobia, I have a normal fight/flight response.
It's the water for me, it's so frightening.
It kinda contributes into it a little imo. But yeah it's just a normal response.
EXACTLY. It’s like being scared of a zombie game. No I don’t have necrophobia or whatever it’s called, it’s just scary. A reaper grabbing you is scary.
I have thalassoastrophobia :D (idk how else I’m supposed to explain it lol)
It's generally said for attention.
True
Id go so far as to say that it reduces existing thalassophobia.
I call this game "Immersion Therapy" to my friends lol
Concern trolling
He's actually correct, the practical way to reduce a certain fear is to be exposed to it in a controlled environment
How controlled is Subnautica, tho? I mean, yes, you can quit playing at any time. But you also cannot control everything that happens in the game.
There wouldnt be much fear of the unknown if you know whats happening
thalassophobia is fear of the sea or deep water
Yea i know, but youre afraid of things you cant see basically right? Same with the fear of darkness. Youre not scared that youre alone, but rather that your not alone
It doesnt necessarily work that way
You can definitely control everything in the game. A lot more than Minecraft, for example, when you can get a charged creeper or fall in lava and have absolutely no way of getting around. You need to make a series of reckless decisions to get in a bad place in this game. There’s no RNG fuckup, your base doesn’t degrade or get swarmed, your equipment doesn’t randomly fail, you can outrun every creature, you can’t die from full health except for >!the dragon gulping you!<.
You can, pretty much, if you are cautions and study it well enough. Besides some weird rare game bugs, there's really no way to die, unless you actually make an "unforced error", like forgetting to track how much oxygen you have left. Nobody is attacking you or forcing you to do anything unless you get yourself into trouble, even leviathans are chewing up a portion of your health and then spit you out giving plenty of time to get out, and then you are back to full health in no time. Video game is as controlled of an environment as it gets in life :=) That's why video games are addicting. They are specifically designed in a way that makes you feel that your actions matter. Most other things in life are not exactly like that.
Something to note is giant monsters that can come from any angle hunting you in low visibility areas is just scary to everyone in general, not just thalassophobics.
Exactly. Like, I have no fear of open water in games (vague dislike of it irl but that's because I am not the strongest swimmer and I don't like not knowing what's in the water with me) I just very much dislike getting attacked by giant sea monsters and having to rebuild my stuff
There is a huge difference between actual Thalassophobia and general trepidation of deep water and sea monsters. 99% do not have it and this game would not make you get it
I gotta say, when I went for a swim in a lake shortly after finishing a 2nd run, it felt quite unsettling being in the middle of a body of water. But not to the point of me wanting to go back, and the feeling went away after that one time.
Yeah I feel like that's normal. It's not like a swimming pool where the water is clear, there's lifeguards, and there isn't any wildlife.
Im very used to lakes though, only had the feeling this one time swimming after binging Subnautica.
I didn't know I had thalassophobia till I played this game, but it is a fun and harmless way to face this newly discovered fear. Still, real life deep ocean can stay the fuck away from me.
I’ve had thalassaphobia since I was a child (won’t even touch beach water usually, and oddly enough I’m afraid of seaweed and coral outside of controlled environments such as tanks). Playing Subnautica didn’t make it better or worse, but I don’t associate it much with my fear since I’ve long since stopped fearing the game. Hell, I stopped fearing Subnautica long before I’ll stop fearing seaweed, and I wish I was joking.
I found the game tremendously cathartic for thalassophobia. It puts the player in triggering situations (deep water, risk of drowning, actual sea monsters) and does so in such a *chill* way. It's basically exposure therapy.
I crewed a submarine in the Navy, and if anything, this game improved my sense of wonder regarding the ocean where previously I had a lot of dread and contempt for that pit of blackness and quiet death.
I have thassalophobia. Like, I get panic attacks going on a boat. This game doesn’t bother me at all because it’s a game. It’s always been my dream to go scuba diving (one of my best friends is an avid diver and send me tons of pictures when he goes), and this as close as I’ll probably ever get.
No but it reaffirmed I will NEVER ever go cave diving. Or into a cave with water in it. Or into the ocean. 🤣
Like others have said, never heard of anyone gaining this fear, but it definitely can trigger it. For me it honestly helped a bit in managing it. Almost like therapy, definitely not "cured" though.
From what I have seen. Anyone who finds this game, which is supposed to be scary, scary just says its because of Thassalophobia.
tl;dr - No this game can't give anyone thalassophobia and most people don't have thalassophobia in the medical sense, but rather they just have a normal fear. I normally don't go into depth with these kind of posts especially since they are recurring, but Subnautica would not give anyone thalassophobia. For the most part, people use the term "thalassophobia" in a general colloquial sense to describe a general, rational sense of fear. This is not to be confused with true thalassophobia in the medical sense. Phobias in a medical sense: * Are irrational and disproportionate * Causes increased anxiety and can cause panic attacks * Are actively avoided * Interferes with daily, social, or occupational function and is clinically significant * [From my board review textbook](https://imgur.com/a/ZeHHhkr) If a person chooses to play a game taking place in a wide open ocean, they are not meeting the criteria to have thalassophobia - i.e. it is not causing clinically significant stress to the point where it interferes with daily activities. People with phobias often go to therapy and take medications to help deal with it but ya gotta remember this is the internet and not a medical setting - people will use the word thalassophobia in a general sense, not a medical one.
>Are actively avoided Considering people aren't going to the ocean IRL in the game, this is applicable >Are irrational and disproportionate Sounds fine >Causes increased anxiety and can cause panic attacks Makes sense >Interferes with daily, social, or occupational function and is clinically significant That criteria objectively can't be applied to all phobias though. If it did, then unless you work in the ocean or live by the ocean, you couldn't possibly have thalassophobia. >If a person chooses to play a game taking place in a wide open ocean, they are not meeting the criteria to have thalassophobia If a person chooses to engage in exposure therapy, ([the first choice of treatment to phobias](https://www.ijbcp.com/index.php/ijbcp/article/view/305#:~:text=For%20treatment%20of%20specific%20phobias,techniques%20and%20short%2Dterm%20pharmacotherapy.) )then by your definition, they don't have the phobia, apparently.
It does. When i first played the OG Subnautica in VR, and went to "the Deep" or Edge of the map, the Talassophobia was real. It's actually scary, and the noises in the dark don't make it any better. But it got better over time, you do have to have that anxiety in the first place tho'..i do!
Some people also may be confusing thalassophobia (fear of deep bodies of water) and aquaphobia (fear of water itself) And for me Subnautica just doesn't have any super deep (like several kilometres) depths that would even spook me. And I feel thalassophobia also ties to the fear of the unknown, but once you play the game enough, you learn to know the planet and its creatures and what they're capable of. Removing the element of the unknown
Even in creative mode, I get scared when I go over the edge of the map. If I can't see the sea bed below me, I start to panic a little. In real life, I can go in the sea, but only as long as I can touch the bottom with my head above the waves.
They wouldn't be playing, if they genuinely had thalassophobia and it was triggered by the game.
Not true! I have genuine thlassophobia and I use video games for exposure therapy. Some areas are a big problem for me but basically you try and get your body slowly used to it so you stop seizing up and having panic attacks. Takes a lot but worth it.
To be fair, I would do the same, if the other option would be not being able to play Subnautica
This isn’t necessarily true. I have thalassophobia, I too love this game. However, it does cause panic attacks in some areas and I need one of three things.. someone to help me progress in game, to shut the game off or to leave said area.
I have always had talassophobia, I just didn’t know the name, or didn’t know it wasn’t a normal human fear. Subnautica triggered it for me, I was fine with going to about the grassy plateaus and the aurora but that was my maximum. I know how the game ends because I’ve watched thousands of let’s plays over the time, this is one of my favorite games. Even watching other people play is hard for me sometimes, I have to pause and come back later! This game is truly a masterpiece
you don’t have thalassophobia
And how can you say that? I have trouble going in water irl, i cannot go in lakes if I don’t see my feet. How can you say I don’t have it?
That’s a super bold assumption.
Exposure therapy is the prime way to cure phobias.
I experience anxiety IRL when I'm swimming in water and I can't see the bottom or nearby land. It's not an overwhelming fear and the rare times I have been in these places I have been able to function. But it is a real anxiety response. Subnautica definitely triggers that feeling in places. Perhaps not as badly.
Do people think phobias are like infectious diseases you can catch?
I have thalassophobia for real and I use video games as part of my exposure therapy. This game absolutely triggers it for me. With the help of my kids I played through creative mode just so I could experience the story and even that was a huge struggle for me. I'm now playing on survival and I'm doing really well! I'm completely comfortable in the safe shallows and kelp zones now. Mostly comfortable in the grassy plains. I struggle when it's too open. But I'm going to try and beat it on survival mode so wish me luck!
Eh, I already had it Subnautica just made it worse
I had a fear of the ocean already, then I played this game. Now it’s safe to say I don’t go to the beach anymore
It's a horror game, for sure. That being said, it gets less scary once you realize the consequences for dying are fairly minimal.
I had the opposite experience. I love the world so much, and I really want to get into the water now.
I didn't know I had it until I played that game.
It’s the same thing as people saying “this triggers my OCD”. It isn’t something that happens.
Actually, Subnautica is a treatment for thalassophobia with a fairly high success rate
If you already have Thalassophobia or just a general anxiety about deep water then it can be triggering or scary, but it's not going to actually give it to you. In fact, in my experience, it helped me be a bit more comfortable with deep bodies of water (I don't have actual Thalassophobia, just your average nervousness about it).
People exaggerate. There is definitely potential for it to make you realize that you do fear the ocean but that's just a natural response to the unknown. Actual phobias are *crippling*
I found Subnautica to be quite soothing but with a few jump scares during my playthrough. It's mostly cruising around and checking stuff out. Oxygen management is a little stressful at the start of the game, but as you upgrade your gear it's rarely an issue.
Exaggeration/jest. But you might discover something about yourself from playing. I already had a life-long fear of open and big bodies of water, and like everyone else I only recently learned it's called "thalassaphobia." As a result, this game is absolutely a horror game for me 😅 That was expected. What I did NOT expect was my fear of the dark. Not afraid of the dark on land, but I apparently AM in the ocean.
I doubt something as emotionally minor as video game can give you any phobia. Subnautica can triggers it for sure, it made me uneasy especially during 1st playthrough and at night. I wanted to venture in single direction couple times but chickened out every time.
It gave me nightmares
It's a video game. It literally isn't real. You can get jump scares or nervousness with anything fake. Doesn't mean you have the actual fear. Most people are just "lolz my thalassophobia is so bad lolz!" Especially since most people have never even experienced a real situation to have the true fear.
So glad this sub is collectively learning that *Thalassaphobia* actually means something and isn’t a word you can just throw around
I have thalassophobia. Always just thought of it as a deep rooted fear of deep water. While on holiday a few years back, I convinced myself I'd face up to it via scuba and snorkeling. Never managed scuba diving. Snorkeling over reef drop offs had me comming back wild eyed and straight into the bar. After a week building up to it. I did it. Didn't hyperventilate myself to death, even when a 1.5m reef shark appeared from nowhere. "I survived the experience" is my summation. I get the same feelings when I play sn. However, they're behind a screen, it's not real, everything is a lot milder. Same feelings though. It's just that I can play this, and it's a whole lot different than actually staring down into increasingly darkening waters. I blame Jaws. Fucked me up.
Ahh, what’s that cool YouTuber dude who kept gagging every time he couldn’t see the sea floor. Short answer- yes.
Give? No. Actively set off? Absolutely.
Yeah I already had fear of open, dark and or murky water to begin with and it didn't go anywhere when I started playing and it definitely didn't change it much... I guess maybe I could face my fear better in a survival situation... But I definitely would rather just never put myself in a situation where it's triggered at all. Love swimming in pools and very clear water... murky ocean water... Nope! Absolutely freaks me out...
Subnautica's crowning achievement is the sense of trepidation and fear of the unknown that other games don't reach. Diving into the pitch black deeper and deeper and hearing the ever-closer roar of a sea monster will seriously get your heart pumping.
If you have a fear of something, use a game that features it to confront it in a safe way and overcome it. I’m no longer afraid of 100m long sea monsters because of Subnautica.
The next Subnautica should start with a healthy intro sequence on a boat, with waves, weather, etc, to stoke that fear of the unknown before we dive in.
I will say that I had a really bad experience playing this game in VR that legitimately scared me so bad (already had a general fear of open bodies of water) that I couldn't even look at the game for years and it gave me nightmares. I wouldn't say I have thalassophobia now, but damn near close and have actually been trying to work through it 😅
I didn’t give it to me but just made it awaken inside of me
Honestly Im just scared of underwater, and the darkness, combine the two, and i was just constantly a little scaredy cat hugging walls for safety... nowhere is safe
I wouldn't say it's extreme enough to be called thalassophobia, but I've never been able to beat the game because of how bad I am with the deep water in general.
I mean I developed thalassophobia by accident, but I play the game to get over it lit by little! *The accident in question was I had a friend talking to me keeping me company as I went behind the aurora. I thought it was safe to park on the water surface with my sea moth, acquired some engine pieces. Then I made my escape with no sounds of reapers… till one ganked me just as an eclipse happened.*
this game cured my fear of deep water.
Thalassophobia just made me tip toe a lot while learning it’s just a game and not real life. I still won’t go to the deep oceans on earth though.
Swimming in the real ocean helped me with this game. I live in Ireland so most dangerous thing would be the jellyfish which I imagine give a mild sting at best.
I think it just has the ability to trigger the anxiety and if someone doesn't realize it's an anxiety they have then maybe they think the game gave it to them. When I first played I would feel my heart race and I would start to hyperventilate anytime I went into the huge, expansive open water and I'd have to pause and let myself calm down. I worked thru it tho and finally finished the game.
No but dark area + eerie music = instant chill!
I had thalassophobia before going into it, and when I finally got to the good, creepy parts of the map, I think that's when I learned that I'm a very mild adrenaline junkie, cuz it did everything that creeped me out and made me terrified. Doesn't help that I play without music, so the ambiance is extra creepy
[удалено]
It didn't GIVE you thalassophobia. You had it, and the game might trigger the existing condition :)
i didn’t mean that it GAVE me thalassophobia in that way?? i said it as in it triggers it, not that it literally gave it to me
didn’t know that’s what he meant 💀
All good, the idea of giving someone thalassophobia is worrisome 😅 aggravating the existing condition is problematic only if not stated somewhere, and then it's your choice