Hello!

Spiders are probably the most common enemy in games. Does your arachnophobia kick in when you see them while playing something? Does the game's art style (realistic vs animated) matter? Do semi-spider creatures trigger your fear? An example of this would be the driders from D&D, or the crypt fiends from Warcraft. Does the size of the spider matter?

The most reliable way to cure a phobia is through exposure. Would you recommend someone plays a game with spiders in it as a type of therapy?

I LOVE spiders.
I refuse to kill them and I typically rip anyone who does a new asshole.

They are WAAAAY too important to fear and or destroy.

I don't play the Metro games because I hear they have nasty spiders.
One of my fav games Thief has occasional spiders but they are not so bad. The most terrifying ones for me were in Tomb Raider Underworld, they were huge and their animations so convincing, its ironic because this game is bashed for Lara's incomplete animations, don't know how I managed to complete that game. Honorable mentions are Drakan Order of the Flame and Arcania. Oh and I stopped playing Limbo as soon as the spider started appearing.

I usually don't mind if a game has them, but I know there are people who do - one of the first Skyrim mods changed spiders to bears. And I admit there was one particular cave in Skyrim which had an underground river with a spider nest that really gave me the creeps.

My favorite spider is Boris the Spider.

I don't have arachnophobia, but the spiders in Dragon Age: Origins have managed to pull a jumpscare on me more than once, not my proudest moments in gaming. They're sneaky as all hell though despite being humongous.

Personally I don't suffer from arachnophobia at all and, like tinyE, utterly despise it when people kill them.

My wife used to suffer from severe arachnophobia but it's gotten much, much better. I guess her breakthrough came when two biologist friends of ours, who used to research spiders, told her a lot about the ones encountered most commonly at home (house spiders and skull spiders). It also helps that the Polish name for skull spiders, which she didn't know before that talk, is utterly hilarious (Nasosznik Trzęś) and refers to their almost cute defense mechanism (or something like that): violently shaking their web.

She still feels a bit uneasy in the presence of some spiders, especially skull spiders with their long legs, but doesn't panic anymore - and since then she's actually developed genuine respect for and interest in all sorts of spiders and insects and is actually willing to pick up some of them, e.g. to move them to a safer spot or just take a closer look (and then she'll often try to identify the spider or insect she encountered and read about them). Surely there are varying degrees of arachnophobia but at least some people are clearly able to do something about it - she certainly tried to actively deal with the problem and it has done wonders.

And she's not much of a gamer but I don't think she ever felt uneasy about any spiders she may have encountered in games, even before her breakthrough. I guess the design of most spiders in video games just isn't very terrifying or realistic, especially when it comes to their behaviour and animations.

I leave them alone too. There is one that lives by my bed.

For some reason I'm picturing a little spider room next to your bed, with a miniature little bed, table, lamp, spider family photos, mounted taxidermied flies on the wall.

Oh thank goodness I thought this thread was about the game Arachnophobia... god I hated that game! It was one of the earlier games I remember playing... I still have the DOS 5.25" floppy somewhere...

Honestly, EGA graphics and PC speaker sound, unresponsive janky controls and some of the most irritating gameplay ever - It is the kind of game that could turn normal people into foaming-mouthed psychopaths if played too long. Their attempt at playing a digitzed death scream sample through the PC speaker still makes me cringe. Brrrr...

If you hate spiders never play this game.

In fact if you love spiders never play this game.

Just don't ever play this game.

GOG, I've been virtually demanding you to get a several games into your catalogue recently, but I'd be also very happy if you never ever get Arachnophobia. It is technically Old, but definitely Not Good.


Now, if you want to overcome arachnophobia, I recommend Earth Defense Force 4.1 and 5 (Please get this GOG pleaaassseeee!) - It lets you face gigantic truck-sized spiders in all their terrifying creepiness, armed with a variety of extremely large and ludicrous guns! You'll either be cured very quickly or run screaming from the room!

May I have your vote? If we all work together, we might bring this masterpiece to GOG.
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/arachnophobia

Noooo why would you?! :O
Hey, look, if I post you the floppy disk will you take it down? :D

Has there ever been a game where you play as a spider?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadly_Creatures

I also found footage of gameplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jZiDvN2R8g

No, but I don't suffer from arachnophobia, the common house spiders one encounters in Germany don't bother me, I even like them somewhat. Might be different if I lived in Australia though.
Spiders as enemies in video games have never disturbed me either.

No, I like spiders, I think they're very cool. However, I really, really dislike and fear roaches and there's a part in Torchlight II where you face some giant roach enemies, and going through that part of the game is no fun for me, lol.