NSFW/Image Macro: Nightmare Fuel.Hong Kong 97

I've added this image since it's the most iconic scary thing from this game... but now I'm wondering if that's okay. It's a photograph of a real dead person (Leszek Błażyński) who commited suicide on the same date that's written on it. It's used as the Game Over screen. Please tell me if you think that this image is too graphic or not.

edited 10th Oct '17 9:32:49 AM by Piterpicher

Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)

Mmmm...it certainly qualifies but I question its taste.

I suppose one could make it a meta-example, by calling it nighmarish how it demonizes the mainland Chinese as a "herd of fuckin' ugly reds."

Or we could point out how the game is essentially about killing a billion people.

Or one could combine the two.

edited 11th Oct '17 7:45:26 AM by neoYTPism

Neither of those really strike me as Nightmare Fuel. Tasteless, certainly, but not nightmare-inducing.

Moon◊

I'd say pull. A picture of a real dead body is simply too disturbing even for a Nightmare Fuel page. Neither of the suggestions so far are N Ightmare Fuel either.

Then how about Tong Shau Ping's unrealistic decapitated head? It's the Final Boss.

edited 11th Oct '17 10:25:41 AM by Piterpicher

Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)

If one were to take the phrase that literally, the only franchise I'd be allowed to describe that way would be Star Wars. Linking any other pop culture franchise to any other nightmares would be pushing it, at the very least. At most, there are vague similarities that could just as easily be attributed to fears I had before consuming said pop culture.

I've talked to Chinese people who consider China worse than it's made out to be, and some who consider it better. Either group would find it grotesquely inappropriate to blame ordinary citizens for China's woes, let alone refer to them as a "herd of fuckin' ugly reds." That someone felt compelled to put that phrase into a video game is more disturbing than any video game in and of itself.

Well, with the possible exception of Ocarina Of Time, I suppose. And even then, probably because I've listened to the news while playing it...

edited 11th Oct '17 10:41:40 AM by neoYTPism

That could work.

One problem with your suggestions is that the part you claim to be scary is just the text. The actual image itself has nothing to do with it. It may as well be the page quote.

And there's a reason we have a Nightmare Fuel maintenance thread and a lot of people advocate cutting NF altogheter.

Point is, none of the suggestions are particularly scary or nightmare inducing. BUPKIS so far.

You yourself point out here that the example isn't Nightmare Fuel. Since, ya know, "The creator is terrible people" is not what Nightmare Fuel is.

edited 12th Oct '17 6:44:57 AM by Ghilz

Listen. I get that you're an incredibly brave troper who doesn't afraid of anything. But remember, Fear. Is. Subjective. Not everyone is scared or not scared by the same thing. And you don't understand that. Please leave these sorts of matters to wimps like us, okay? Sorry if I'm sounding rude, but I'm kinda losing my composure.

edited 12th Oct '17 6:54:36 AM by Piterpicher

Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)

Yeah no. That's how we end with an entire page of imbecilic Nightmare Fuel like "The enemies in Megaman try to kill Megaman" or "Mario can fall in pits!" or like, 99% what used to be the My little pony page.

Nightmare Fuel has actual criterias. The image should at the very least fit those

^note 

• This is a page whose name is intended to be taken more literally than most. It's not enough for material to be scary; to truly qualify, it has to be frightening enough to legitimately unnerve/disturb the viewer, with actually being nightmare-inducing as the ultimate endpoint.
  • Good signs that something IS Nightmare Fuel include if:
    • It left you feeling shaken even after the credits had rolled, you turned the last page, or are otherwise done with the work.
    • You have a hard time falling asleep if you think about it at night, or have a literal nightmare about it.
    • You dread that episode, scene, level, chapter, or song during re-watches, and consider skipping it.
  • With that said, don't add something just because it happens to be your personal phobia. For example, spiders can be scary and many people have arachnophobia, but just because a spider happens to be in the work, it does not make a Nightmare Fuel entry. It needs to reasonably be scary to someone without the phobia.
  • Don't confuse tension with fear. If the hero is in trouble, but you know he'll make it out okay at the end, it's probably not Nightmare Fuel unless the threat is especially disturbing.
• Explain WHY the entry scared you. Try to convey your sense of fear to your readers. Avoid putting up Zero Context Examples.
  • Remember that Weblinks Are Not Examples, and neither are quotes on their own. You should explain the horror in your own words, rather than rely on others to do so.
• Don't add things that might have scared someone. If it didn't scare you, and you don't personally know anyone else who was scared, you shouldn't be adding it to Nightmare Fuel.
• Nightmare Fuel should stick to you even after you're done with the work.
  • If something is initially presented as scary but turns out to be harmless, it's most likely not Nightmare Fuel since The Reveal makes the scariness vanish.
  • Jump Scares are a good source of Nightmare Fuel, but not all of them automatically qualify: being startled is not the same as being scared.
• Hypotheticals are not Nightmare Fuel:
  • Remember that Trailers Always Lie: a scene that is presented as scary in the trailer could very well turn out to be inoffensive in the finished work. Only add examples from unreleased works if they were especially terrifying in the previews.
  • Fan theories do not belong on the Nightmare Fuel page under any circumstance. No matter how much evidence they have to support them, don't add them until they've been officially confirmed. In the meanwhile, take them to Wild Mass Guessing.
  • Fridge Horror goes on the Fridge page, not Nightmare Fuel. Don't add it unless it's Ascended Fridge Horror.
• Keep in mind the work's intended audience when considering whether or not something is Nightmare Fuel.
  • If something is normal or expected in the genre, it does not automatically qualify. Violence in a Fighting Series or gore in a horror movie must be especially disturbing or gruesome by the work's standards to be Nightmare Fuel.
  • Remember that Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films. If a work is rated PG-13 or higher but would only be scary to young children, it's not Nightmare Fuel.
  • The standards on what qualifies as Nightmare Fuel are especially stringent on works aimed at children and pre-teens: kids have hyperactive imaginations, so even something benign can give them nightmares.
• Spoiler tags do not belong on Nightmare Fuel pages. Much of what scares us comes from inherently spoilery stuff such as death and the unknown, so finding spoilers on these pages should be expected.

edited 12th Oct '17 6:56:00 AM by Ghilz

I understand your criteria, I just want you to take what I say to consideration. And maybe you're right, the image ideas are slightly weak at scaring...

edited 12th Oct '17 7:23:50 AM by Piterpicher

Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)

I like 6

I can give a very weak support to the decapitated head, I suppose. Honestly, it's so poorly done I can't see this realistically scaring anyone (I mean the head is a picture and the blood might as well be MS paint, there's no attempt to even remotely make this "gory") but I suppose it can do.

edited 12th Oct '17 8:18:05 AM by Ghilz

To be clear, I'm actually super squeamish and tend to avoid the horror genre entirely for that reason, so you don't need to talk down to me like I'm some sort of jaded "seen it all" kind of guy.

I just think calling the Chinese "fuckin' ugly reds" and a guy murdering a billion people to be insensitive/insulting and too ridiculous to take seriously, respectively. To say they're frightening requires going so far into indirect reasoning as to be too much of a stretch for a good page image.

The severed head is actually not a bad idea. A little weak (it still seems like it's being Played for Laughs, kinda?), but still a lot stronger than the prior suggestions, and thus it has my tentative .

edited 12th Oct '17 10:03:34 AM by ShadowHog

Moon◊

I think people are more sensitive to what happens in cutesy works because cute characters are the ones being harmed. That and the Mood Whiplash. Most of the MLP stuff was pushing it, but I can see where it was coming from; the disbelief that "they went there" in Crystal Empire was made all the more memorable by the contrast with said cuteness. My own suggestions in this thread notwithstanding, the phrase Nightmare Fuel seems to have more often been gushing than complaining.

In any case, though, I agree that the disembodied head falls short of Nightmare Fuel. How about leaving this page imageless?

edited 12th Oct '17 6:16:43 PM by neoYTPism

Well, it's been about a week. Should we gather more options or go for a crowner?

I've made a crowner here, and I've added a new option that looks like this:

edited 1st Nov '17 2:39:01 AM by Piterpicher

Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)

Crowner's hooked, thanks.

Going ahead and bumping this since I won't be around much tomorrow; only one in the green.

Three days on and "no image" is 8 points in the lead, 5 in the green. I say we may as well call this.

Yeah, this is looking clear. I'll tag the page shortly; locking up.

Former pic:

edited 7th Nov '17 4:23:10 AM by Willbyr