Avid flyers often look for ways to keep themselves engaged or entertained during a long flight. Although movies have been around for a while, the introduction of video games has changed how people handle boredom at over 30,000 feet above the ground.
However, a man was recently confronted for playing horror video games while on a flight. The man who didn’t see anything wrong with his action shared his experience on Reddit. Instead of the solace he probably hoped for, he got even more bashing.
What we do know is that sitting for long hours and eating bland meals can take its toll on mental health. Although the man was harangued for playing a horror video game on a flight, nobody paused to ask about his mental health. Also, is there a law that dictates the kind of video games that people should play on a flight?
AITAA for playing a horror video game on a flight?
The story was shared on Reddit’s ‘Am I the a**hole’ forum by the man. According to him, the incident happened around February 2023. He said he tried to entertain himself while on a flight and settled for playing Scarlet Hollow on his laptop.
He described the game as a “visual novel horror video game that sometimes involves quite intensely graphic gore and body horror”. According to him, if it was a movie, its rating would be a hard R. When he was leaving at the end of the flight, an older lady that sat next to him stopped him.
“She remarked to me that the game I was playing was very disturbing and that it was rude of me to play something like that in a public space where people or kids could see it without meaning to,” the man explained. “She said she’d been upset by them and also pointed out that there were young kids in the row behind us”.
The man apologized to her and wondered why she didn’t tell him to stop while on the flight. However, many said it was probably because she didn’t want to cause a scene. According to him, he would have stopped if he had any hint of an idea that the game bothered anyone or if he knew that kids were around.
In the end, the man asked, “Reddit, was I an a**hole for playing a horror video game in a public space that others can’t escape from?”
He agreed that he might have been guilty since it was hard for people not to observe his screen, involuntarily. Also, he empathized “with the notion of being a kid and getting traumatized for life by an upsetting image seen in a public space”.
On the other hand, he tried to absolve himself of any blame by emphasizing that it was the responsibility of everyone to look away when they accidentally see a disturbing image.
Redditors had an unpleasant response for him
While a few people were in support of the poster’s opinion that when you see what you don’t like in public you just have to look away, many others called him the a**hole for playing the horror game while on a flight. The majority of comments called the man an a**hole for playing a horror game in public.
One person that goes by the name notmappedout wrote, “Yeah, YTA. Just because you’ve desensitized yourself doesn’t mean the rest of us should have to deal with that nasty sh*t in public spaces.”
Another by the name jennyfromtheeblock said, “Just because violence does not have the impact on you that it should on a human being does not mean that everyone else should be subjected to watching.”
Many other Redditors also shared their view on the topic, with some using the opportunity to address those that play podcasts without headphones in public spaces. The majority of the verdict agreed that the man should have acted better.
It is often said that we can’t control how people act in public, therefore we must control how we react to people’s actions in public. This quote favors the man’s opinion that those that didn’t like what he was playing should have simply looked away, but is it really right?
A Redditor by the name GreatBlueRook reminded those that favor this thought that “while people can look elsewhere, even an accidental glance can give you an eyeful of horror”.
Also, it is easy to tell people to look away, but a glance can be a trigger that can lead to severe painful episodes for people with certain disorders like PTSD. Perhaps, it is time to tell people to act better in public rather than shoving any behavior in the faces of others and expecting them to take it or leave it.
Increasing concern about playing sounds without headphones on flights
There seems to be a growing concern about people that play horror video games in public or don’t use headphones. In a post, Ben Schlappig expressed severe displeasure about making video calls, playing video games, blasting music, or watching TV shows without headphones.
“While the noise is frustrating enough, I think what really gets to me is how selfish it comes across,” Schlappig said. “What goes through someone’s mind when they watch TV clips on their phone at full volume without headphones? As someone who lives in Miami, I find this to be much more of an issue when flying to and from here than in most other markets.”
At GameBaba Universe, we do not support playing horror video games in public—just like we encourage people to act with decorum in public. Whenever you are in public always stop for a moment to ponder on whether what you are about to do will irritate the next person. Horror video games have a rating for a reason.
Like Schlappig, the big question centers around how to handle such people. Schlappig made some recommendations that may help—albeit some of them are really queer. Some of the suggestions of the author include;
- Ignoring the irritant passenger
- Confront the person—which will likely not end pleasantly
- Involve the flight attendant and lounge staff
- Buy headphones and hand them out aggressively to the irritant passenger
- Give them a taste of their medicine by making your volume louder
Which of these techniques do you think is most appropriate for dealing with people that play loud music or play horror video games in public? If there is any other technique you employ to deal with such situations, let us know in the comment box below.
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