I thought about which type of Blog-Posts to make for Beginning Writers but, for now, I want to tackle the most difficult topic to try and cover without seeming cliché. Gaming Creepypastas. We have all heard BEN Drowned, Lost Silver, NES Godzilla, Pale Luna, Sonic.EXE, The Theatre, White Ghost Hand and the infamous but not added on the wiki...Lavender Town.
All of them have been placed into this category because they are, of course, from games. However, in this Blog-Post, I will attempt to explain different examples of clichés added into common/recent Gaming Creepypastas. I will be adding repetitive phrases made by users who have attempted to do so and trust me, I will be analysing what improvements could be made too so you can understand not every Creepypasta with gaming is doomed for eternity.
- "I bought the game off of eBay for..." or "I saw the game I had longed for in a garage sale for..." or "Some strange package addressed to me from nowhere contained the game..."
This is the beginning we used to see for how we set the common form of a quick flashback as to how the events occurred for our protagonist. But this method of gaining said haunted package is too obvious towards the uneasy factor that later on, the reader at this stage will already know something is about to happen that shouldn't. I mean, have you ever once in person walked into a dark alley way just to trade your soul away for Pokemon Strangled Red addition? Yeah, didn't think you would, so don't assume anyone else would take such a high risk for clearly hacked content unless they really do have nothing better to do. So, finding such a "cursed" game in the simplest fashion is getting tedious writers, let's step up from the boring traditions of this type of Creepypasta. "How?" you may be wondering.
Well, I can give a perfectly reasonable and intriguing manner as to how you may receive this game you desired for so long, family and friends. While this could be leading onto the idea that they obtained it from a shady company or they are some demon taking advantage of you, this is not the case. What I mean is very simple and something you may enjoy trying out, this friend/family member is ordinary, no-one too special but (to the protagonist) they could be quite intriguing in terms of the gaming industry. They send over a quick prototype of a game they had been thinking of, years after the protagonist has long forgotten about them.
So, out of curiosity, the narrator begins to type out the email back to them, replying about how they can test it out and will do so. After the email has been sent, they begin to set up their console/device ready for testing however, after experiencing such a disastrous turn of events, they attempt to find anyone to help contact the owner of the game but...after the matter is brought up with the family members closer to the narrator, the owner of game was revealed to never even truly exist as the family member/friend who had sent the game was indeed either dead or imaginary towards the protagonist.
- "I used to be a fan of [Insert Game] but, after this, I never played the game again..."
Okay, this one is the most common introduction line we have heard numerous times. Honestly, it ruins the scare factor because most fans realise that you do not need to make it instantly terrifying within the first sentence, let the story grow and develop to become scary towards the reader. Now, this doesn't mean you don't have to warn the reader of the horrors of such a game but...you have to have boundaries when adding in such a second tense into your story.
Lines such as "Listen to me and listen good, this is not a joke!" are too basic. For an introduction, you may choose to introduce our protagonist via a description. This could be done in the form of a police report about a missing person which may include the full-name, location, date of absence, relatives, etc. It could also be done via an online chat between two people discussing about the game along with screenshots of said game. The sceenshots could add to the scare as the person viewing the texts/photos sent could witness something the reader, as well as the protagonist, may not see. Remember, this is a Creepypasta for a reason, not Two-Sentenced-Horror-Stories, keep it short but precise. If you have to explain it into more detail like BEN Drowned and NES Godzilla, that's fine, but don't ruin the story because you were too lazy to write it out with effort and time. The readers want to be scared with an actually intense atmosphere, not rushed a children's account of a hacked game.
- "The game started out as normal before it began to glitch/bug out..." or "The game didn't start as it usually would, there seemed to be [blood, darkness, other unnatural things]..."
Once again, let the story build with the scares, it still should resemble a story if the narrator is attempting to re-tell the events of the game towards the reader. Second person or not, you must also remain formal at the same time. No reader would particularly enjoy instantly being plunged into a sentence of blood, guts and gore within a matter of a few seconds. Creepypastas still require that neat and structured organisation between each paragraph and if you try to force them to read line after line of pure nonsense of the most poorly-written scripts of the low-budget horror movies, the story eventually loses its effect to seek a genuine reaction of terror, not sarcasm. I'm not saying you cannot add any gore, but keep it for an extra if that makes sense. Don't rely on one creepy thing for anyone to be your go-to for the exposition, development, and conclusion, because then your stories are just as good as the Saw franchise development (where all of the series was just gore-porn to be honest with you). Please, try to build up a story that has its own scares time to time rather than one huge floor of bloody body parts and eyeballs spiked on sticks.
- Any mentioning of hyper-realistic looking animals/people/items within the game or bloody imagery or Satanic interpretations.
This has been overused in many areas but, it's an understandable mistake in some cases. Gore has been quite a good choice for people to use and abuse for many different Creepypastas and, if done carefully, it can be achieved. However, we must understand, once again, what boundaries are.
Boundaries include when you must select who will be the antagonist within the game, where the conflict will lay and how the idea will be executed. However, I want to make this clear. You can add these features in but, you must understand the intensity as well as quantity of how it should be done. Stories solely consisting of imagery of violence within the beginning, middle and ending isn't good enough. If you want a reader to remember your story of your Creepypasta, then you must attempt to create a significant moment in time which the reader may feel grave feelings about, not just horror and tragedies every second the protagonist plays the game.
If you include every key point of the story being the gore involved, the reader has nothing to exactly recall the story by since every key event is as good as the rest of the story. This is why every infamous story online has some significant event that stuck with their reader, even Sonic.EXE had the occasional scary moment where the "I Am God" message is the most remembered part of the Creepypasta.
- Having exaggerated mindsets to do very silly things over a child's game (e.g destroying the game via burning or smashing the game, burying the game or attempting to include a very nauseous protagonist).
This is mostly due to the fact I have listened/read many Creepypastas relating to simple, child friendly games like Pokemon, CupHead, Mario, etc where the narrator of the tale begins to reminisce on how their favourite game built their childhood before a quite poorly-developed scene falls into play where the protagonist, for some strange reason, finds the urge to vomit everywhere or begins to take out the disc before they smash the object to pieces. Whilst I can take into consideration the age that the narrator may be adding to the idea of such a monstrous transformation of their beloved game, you (the reader) have to consider what you are reading. This is the future of the events and, considering that most of them are players wanting to find a decent copy of a game they had adored as children, they have grown up, these are not children playing the games. These players are teenagers or young adults at the most, which is why I have to admit when I say it really ruins the atmosphere for good when a bloody Mario arrives on the scene with a squished Goomba only for the narrator to vomit on every inch of the sofa just for good measure. Please, for the love of God, what were you expecting when you bought a game priced as $199 in stores but on eBay for $5 with next-day delivery from some shady person who was never seen from again after you purchased the game?