The feeling of being followed/watched

Have you ever walked alone at night (or even in daylight), and you just had that feeling that someone is behind you, or that there is someone looking directly at you, who you can't see.

This is because of how our brains work and interpret the world. Generally when in a world filled with 7 billion+ other people, it would be hard to be somewhere without someone looking at you in some way.

But that's no the case in games. If you play a game, you know that there is only so much that the developer put in, which is probably not an actual entity following you without your knowledge. And if you're a developer (which everyone on this site most likely is) you know that a good way to improve performance is occlusion culling, which means that anything you can't see, just isn't there. Which completely breaks the possibility of that feeling.

So how do games create a feeling of being followed or watched. I have only seen this a few times, when a YouTuber plays an atmospheric horror game, and there is absolutely no possibility of a monster/enemy, or a jumpscare, but they tend to sometimes turn the character around just to look behind them. Or look curiously into the distance or between the trees.

I know sound design is important, to a point where mimicking an entity is used (breaking branch, footsteps, rustling leaves on the ground, and sometimes even a voice). However that is generally used as a replacement for a jumpscare, to scare the player, or really quickly make their heart start racing at no actual threat.

But what else? There is only so many times a clumsy (and non existent) serial killer can step on a random branch on the ground and break it, or not make high enough footsteps to cause leaves to move a lot. And there will definitely be even less times when someone invisible whispers into your ear, or says something out loud (like in Bendy and The Ink Machine's Chapter 2). So how do you create that constant tension? How does one mimic the subtle unease that would cause you to turn around or glance from time to time?

Is it the environment or story telling (a newspaper talking about an escaped serial killer), with an addition to some sounds? Or something completely different?

Of course I'm not just talking about atmospheric horror games. I'm talking about any horror game, which at one point gives that feeling of being either watched or followed, when the threat isn't actually there.

Please let me know your thoughts, ideas, and even experiences, where a game made you wonder if someone is there, and what were the circumstances of the game (story, surroundings, etc).

 

I don't think people think of the number of people on the planet in relation to the local areas they occupy. A lot of the population live in less densely populated environments, and they are used to being alone, or around a low number of people.

You noted sound. I think that is a very strong factor in creating tension/stress when there is no threat.

Relating this to movies - after a situation has established the bad guy / monster clumsily steps on branches and creates jump scares, a lot of things fake the established sound or effect the monster will make. So a cat will jump out of the bushes, a branch will scratch on the window, a rodent will scurry by knocking over some random objects.

Sound, but you already mentioned this. I think another important elements is vision. A lot of games reduce the players vision in various ways (fog/darkness) to increase the tension of the situation.

A drawn out stressful situation can only sustained if there is reoccurring instances of the actual threat. In Resident Evil the stress/tension was ongoing because the enemy was chasing and popping out at times while the bullet count was low.

 

Forbidden siren do that very well, they have a button that show your character from the perspective of another one (seen or not). It was so effective some people couldn't play beyond hidding in a spot and never coming out that spot.

 

I think one of the reasons Slender trended was because it did this very well.

For one, you can't look at the monster, but it's always present.

For two, the monster had no eyes, but there was a sense of something malevolent under it.


Condemned had a great section where there were a bunch of faceless mannequins that only moved when you didn't look at them (Think of the angels from Dr. Who). And once more, no eyes, and also no movement. There's something about removing the soul from something, then having it clearly conscious.


And while I'm on that, you know what else worked great?


So you want to feel watched?

So the formula for feeling watched is take something, remove the soul, add a sense that it is conscious and malevolence.

Worked great for this little known Unity game:

 

Well technically, in games like Slender, the threat was very clearly there, you just didn't know where it was, or how it acted, so you didn't know what to expect. Much like horror movies, before everyone figured out the stereotypical moment for every single jumpscare to happen.

The second you figure out how something works, it become more of a pure strategy puzzle than anything scary.

But I get what you mean.

Also, I don't know if the last reference is a joke, because FNAF was neither "little known" nor made in Unity. But I guess I can see the humor in it, I just don't know if it was intended as a joke or not.

 

He is clearly trying to trigger people with fnaf, it's made with multimedia fusion. Fnaf works great because it's moving through still image lol (ie when you are not looking at them). It seems that ANTICIPATION is the secret sauce, ie you should expect something, and are on the look out for it, in fact even in plain sight (like siren and fnaf) because you can see them looking at you, but then you can't see them ACTING toward you until it's too late.

 

Wow, I was joking about it being "little known" but I really thought it was a unity game.

Man I feel dumb.

 

In Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, while wandering around Innsmouth the perspective periodically switches to that of an unseen creature lurking on the rooftops, watching the protagonist for a few seconds before switching back to the main character again. It's pretty effective in hinting at the town's dark secret (and denizens).

 

Fear is a mysterious emotion that differs from person to person.

I believe that each game uses it's own trope or gimmick to incorporate that feel. great examples are Silent Hill, where the fog obscures your vision. this tells the brain of the player that there is a possibility of an enemy out there. or in resident evil, where the enemy is abundant (mostly in resident evil 4 and higher) so when there aint much enemies, you know something's up.

I think that the main idea here is giving the player information, then manipulating that information to the game's will. for example, in slenderman:the arrival,assuming that the player has no idea of slenderman, you are given these notes and hints of what the enemy COULD be, and so the mind fills the gaps and connects the dots: based on the note, he lives in the forest, but I AM in a forest, so could it be possible he is here?

and I think that's how games create this fear of the inevitable, you know there's something strange, and something's bound to happen, so when will it happen? and the mind just plays tricks and the feeling of being watched is just an effect of this certain fear.

 

Get a GameCube. Play Eternal Darkness. Analyze it. And draw your own conclusions.

 

If sound, fog and other effects are used then I don't think it can be called that "feeling", because that feeling is something that the brain generates on itself when you walk down a dark creepy alley, A common factor most games utilize is the story of the game, because I've not played any games without a story and the threat has most commonly been made manifest, However I believe that alot of silence and no action for a while can make the player wonder, In order to recreate that feeling you need to trick the brain into thinking that they might be watched.

 

I attended a Microsoft presentation at a private venue about their HoloLens. It delivers a lot to the experience you described above. You should check it out, I was pretty impressed when I attended and did some further research.