Phobic fears in games

I fear spiders, but, oddly, only the small ones, so Skyrim wasn't a problem but DA: Inquisition would be (I watched my fried play and I saw that there are small spiders there). But seriously, I think games should stop with so many spiders. It's not funny and not original.

I'm arachnophobic too, if I encounter a spider I just don't look at the monitor\close my eyes and faceroll :|

I am one the the people who couldn't finish Skyrim because of the spiders. I had it on console so there was no mod to save me. Both Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur: reckoning had huge spiders as enemies and it stopped my progress in both games. I was able to kill them with ranged attacks, looking at only about 10% of the screen making sure my spells are hitting the brown/black shape. Getting up close to them to loot them was the worst part. I got past the spider section in Kingdom of Amalur, but there are to many caves to explore in Skyrim, I had to abandon it.

I was afraid of drowning in GTA3, for some reason the water just scared me a lot

Not exactly a traditional phobia, as I think every one of us feels same at a certain degree - so far I haven't met an ingame version of anything similar (But yes, I do know about Outlast infamous scene - read further, you'll get what I mean) - mutilation/body betraying the owner . No horror movie can almost scar me like one(s) with mutilation - I don't "mind" if someone blows away a character's limb in fallout - poor folk is dead, won't need a hand.
But recently I had trouble with my teeth, and when the dentist told me that that my teeth is so decayed from the inside it could be scooped out... I kinda passed out really shortly afterwards. (also 40+ °C was here with about 3-4 hours of sleep each night, so I wasn't really rested) I don't think I could name anything more paralyzingly terrible for me, than knowing that my organ(s) / teeth that supposed to help me and contribute to my life, suddenly will make a 180° turn and cause me pain and misery. Teeth is also for some reason a sensitive spot in my mind, while my new dentist works like an angel, and had no previous terrible experiences, it creeps me out soooo much to think about it - something in your head, in your mouth hurts as hell - and you can do nothing to stop it. (I really hate internal pains, it makes me feel so helpless)

That's interesting... I had terrible arachnophobia when I was a child, I remember not being very confident when entering the spider cave in Might & Magic 7, even years later I tried to fight my fears and still had this little feeling of insecurity fighting spiders in skyrim but it never prevented me from playing any game. Actually I was more scared when I played Amnesia or Outlast than spiders.

Also I got over my fear of water by learning how to swim and progressively getting into waters where my feet can't reach the floor, I never had trouble gaming about it though.

Years ago when the original Fear came out - My brother and I were sharing an apartment and had just shelled out for an new UPS - we thought we'd test it in a thunderstorm - He had just gotten a pre-release copy of Fear and started playing it at around 3 am when the power went out - total blackness except for our monitors and silence.... A burst of lightning, a crack of thunder, the little girl laughing on Fear on my brothers speakers at max volume...
Yep... I near crapped myself.
I swear I went straight to bed and lied awake in the corner until morning.
The timing of the blackout, the lightning and thunder with that god awful giggle was enough to put me off playing that game for 2 years.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag must be horror for you

and I can't stand heights, especially I have a fear of bridges, just can't walk on them...

Similar to your own phobia, it is almost impossible for me to submerge my character into dark water with no visible boundary. Minecraft's oceans are basically off limits to me, however Guild Wars 2's bodies of water were 100% fine because I could not only see clearly in them but could also fight back if I did encounter something. It's so irrational, as phobias are wont to be, that even in creative mode with cheats on I cannot bring myself to go underwater in Minecraft.

I also experience some acrophobia but it's very mild in video games, regardless of the height my character is at. In any real life situation or even real life footage (excluding completely fictional footage like movies) the higher up I am the worse it gets. This is damn near impossible to watch.

I have two phobias, spiders and heights.

The spider phobia is not triggered that often in games though, like giant spiders in Skyrim didn't bother me a bit, but those non-enemy tarantulas in Metro: Last Light that just hang around the giant spider tunnels did it.

Height phobia... i only remember the tower climbing in the new Tomb Raider, that was horrific. And sometimes even on the smaller towers in Far Cry 3 when they started to creak... ugggh

edit: maybe sharp things around eyes, too. the ending of Bioshock: Infinite's DLC uuuugggh

Hell I hate open sea swimming in games :)
Especially since Gothic 2. There if you swam out to open sea, after some time you were grabbed by monsters, pictured by a nice cinematic.
I remember being reluctant to try, but was curious if there were secret areas....well, secrets came: Video
When I was swimming, I started hearing strange wave sounds, I suspected, something was not right.

Deepwater caves are no problem, but when you're out in the open, that's like goosebumps all the while :) Same when I'm in seawater IRL :D

I have the same exact fear as you except that is even worse in RL. But as long it's in a game I kinda enjoy to confront myself with these fears, like playing a horror game.
That's the first time I'm hearing somebody talk about this.

I don't really have a phobia, I do get that weird paralyzing fear in real life sometimes (if I'm witnessing a car accident for example). But my brain seems to switch of self preservation for most cases when I'm in a virtual world. The exception being first person games when I'm getting attacked and I can't see the attacker(so I suck at FPSs).

That is very interesting! I do not recall any phobia's that games would put me into! I would love to hear different cases.

I have problems with vertigo:
Hate platformers, hate putting on the marge to arrive further. Hate dieing and having to run until the border and jump on the limit to arrive...
I rather that games don't have jump key :-D

Also not have those problems on real life cause even putting on the border, won't do anything that allow me to fall. So not really a problem, just a little fear the glasses falls, but I andle them with a hand for further security and all well.

Superpowers on Saints Row IV makes things easier :-)

Yeah, I don't feel very comfortable while diving either, be it in Oblivion, Skyrim or New Vegas. But mods that remove underwater fog make it a lot less scary for me.

I really hate diving on video games too, maybe the phobia starts on the first tomb raider.... or i cant remember some old panic moment in the water, but yeah, i hate when i have to dive xD

a bit related to you op, i really hate underwater combat. i have no double diving (and drowning) but enemies underwater make me cringe for some reason.

i also dislike being hunted, like alien isolation or dying light at night. it just makes me so anxious i end up not enjoying the game.

and spiders... omg this is the worst. i can ignore spiders in isometric or top-down games, but a fps... just no. (even radscorpions from fallout 3 made me panic).

View attached image.

Since GTA San Andreas I realized that I hate swimming in large places with nothing around. It gets me anxious and starts scaring me at some point :s