Jump-scares: What's your opinion?

[Diz]

In most cases, I think jump scares are bad, but that is likely just my personal preference and due to mostly having experienced cheap ones. It also entirely depends on the game as a whole. I hated anything that had to do with scary games up until somebody made me interested in Amnesia: The Dark Descent by talking about some elements of the game and that I simply had to try it out. Of course, being deemed to be the world's scariest game by many was not an encouragement to me, but my curiosity was taunted too much to not try it.

While playing the game, I realized that horror was not all about unrealisticly having shock stunts all over the game. Things would not come flying out of closets or something falling down from the ceiling and instantly grab me. No, this game gave me good time to look around and feel that the world around me was naturally real while still almost making me faint. I rarely, if ever, felt dragged out of the game.

I believe jump scares can be good if carefully implemented and planned. If a player feels that the scare was very cheap and trying too hard to make them jump out of their chair, they may not always feel sucked into the game, and there is even a chance they will lose any respect they had for it if similar scares are happening more often.

Give the player a chance to be sucked into the game and its atmosphere, and do not focus too much on sudden scares. Force the player to imagine or anticipate something and make them terrified without throwing them out of the game. That, in my eyes, will be invaluable. =)