Astrophobia (Elite Dangerous)

[@shingshongshamalama]

Nah, dude, horrifying existential terror is absolutely a natural response to supermassive black holes.

[@nafnist]

Yup, just as being affeaid of lions isn't a phobia. You're suppos d to be affeaid of them 😛

[@epeli0035]

nafnist affeiad xdd

[@emoplayeranime]

Bruh,I HAVE artsophobia,This is really rude.

[@zaonth1414]

@@emoplayeranime fear of art

[@emoplayeranime]

zaonth I meant to fear of space

[@voidvakarian8219]

The only experience I've ever had in a video game that I will never forget was on this game. I don't have anxiety issues or panic attacks or anything of the sort, I think I'm pretty fortunate overall in my life. That being said, when i went to Sag A, I suddenly started feeling sweaty and my heart started racing. Something about the denseness of the galactic core that started to get to me. This was back when elite couldn't plot more than a 1k light years at a time and no more than 100 light years at a time if it was too dense. So every other jump I was having to manually plot. I seriously freaked out that I felt trapped and stuck in this hell of white dots and milky surroundings. I freaked out so bad that I went from Sag A to the population bubble in a day and a half, when it took me 3 weeks to get out there in the first place. I have never had a feeling like that before in a game or at all in my life.

[@mud7732]

I feel like it’s natural to be unsettled by black holes.

[@grungletv6016]

Holy crap dude. It took me a week to get back from Colonia, can't imagine getting back from Sag A in 36 hours.

[@timothygooding9544]

I feel really dumb since I tried going to the omega nebula (first major expedition) without a class A FSD, only 21LY of range/jump (ASP Explorer Build) Its going to take forever to get back, I'm more of a new player. (bought during quarantine and loved it ever since) It took me a whole day to get it there with a straight shot and motivation to do it. The slow realization that black holes other than Sag A sunk in hard, and now that I'm going back to the bubble with a route set for all new stars, I'm starting to wonder if I was lucky to not see any black holes, I set my parameters to non-visited stars and no dwarfs.

[@kunfugunman]

I've been to beagle point 3 times, sag A. 3 times and Colonia twice. I've done a lot of deep space travel. It happens dude. I've mis-jumped right between two stars in close proximity, nearly gotten completely destroyed by a pulsar, have been deep in the black with almost no fuel, and have had my canopy shattered with only 5 minutes to get to the nearest station before my O2 . This game has a way of messing with you like no other can.

[@christiantaylor1495]

I can erase going to sag a off my bucket list then

[@TheCaptainCrack]

Imagine getting reeeeaaal close to a black hole... I mean really really time dilation close... And when you come back you kinda travelled like 500 years into the future... And you realize Star Citizen is still in development

[@mrboatface4023]

...technically Elite is also still in development.

[@lanteanboy]

@@mrboatface4023 if we go by this then pretty much all games in the last 10 years are still in development. But the difference here is that Elite is available for the general populace and has all of its core systems working while SC is still lacking some of those core systems.

[@randomguyontheinternet6885]

Imagine floating near a planet a giant or a small asteroid, both is still terrifying the same way

[@helphelpimbeingrepressed9347]

Captain Picard will be happy when SC releases should be holodeck complaint by 1.1 :P

[@TheEbonyEngineer]

@@randomguyontheinternet6885 Caught in the orbit of Jupiter. Staring at it. Or sitting on the surface of Io looking up. *shudder*

[@jackcasebolt1985]

thalassophobia, the reason why subnautica is the most terrifying game

[@Art-vod]

For me the ocean isn't that much of a phobia but when I can't see nothing more than an abysmal void of blue water it really freak me out. This why in subnautica the Dunes and the Void terrorize me

[@Atoll-ok1zm]

@@Art-vod oh god the dunes are the worst

[@Art-vod]

@@Atoll-ok1zm yeah that place is spooky as hell but for my part I think I'm more afraid of the Void. I mean you can see nothing but absolute darkness and it contain horrific ghost leviathan

[@mortenbund1219]

I am a Scuba diver and I can't actually imagine having Thassalophobia.

[@ssjabelincoln420]

@@mortenbund1219 I mean you probably wouldn't be a scuba diver if you could so...

[@ArdenMagnum]

The phrase "gravity well" comes to mind. The idea that you can fall in and never climb out again is what scares me the most about massive celestial objects. It doesn't help that the mere concept of black holes is terrifying all on it's own though, and my teeth clench while my stomach rolls just looking at them in the galaxy map. Not that it stops me from flying recklessly through the black... Freelancer taught me that the exclusion zone is much bigger than you think. Best to stay far, far away.

[@johnpooky84]

All right! Another Freelancer fan! Ever played the Discovery mod for it?

[@akiraic]

news for you: you already live in a gravity well

[@IndieB3]

@@akiraic yeah and I've been stuck in it for over 20 damn years! >:( get me out

[@julbot1]

When it comes to your route plotter putting you at stars you don't want. Remember that your UI tells you what type of star you're jumping into while the FSD is booting up. If you see that it's one of the bad ones, just cancel the jump and manually plot your next jump to get around it. Not a perfect solution, but it works.

[@matthewlorono]

Most of us are too busy being jumping zombies to notice. And, it wouldn't help with situations like multiple stars all very close to one another, with a high chance of you jumping in within or near one of those other stars.

[@nairobi8056]

Another way is to switch your route to economical. You will run up against every possible fuel scoopable star.

[@Enderplays12]

@@nairobi8056 I mean, it works, but most times it can triple jump amount.

[@D34M0N1CU5]

Exactly, that's what I always do as well. The only times I get unpleasantly surprised is when I end up in a system with 2 or more stars very close to eachother. Paying attention to the next couple of jumps on the plotted route also helps to avoid unpleasant surprises. 1 or 2 unscoopable stars on a route is no problem, the only thing to look out for is that you arrive at a scoopable star before you run out of fuel.

[@ExTess]

Just started playing less than a week ago as of this time of writing, bought the game on Christmas Eve. Was warping around trying to complete some basic missions when I suddenly came across the white dwarf near Fuel Rats Mischief. I was amazed by the beauty of it and tried to fly around, thinking that it was really big to be jetting out like that and that I was just really far away. Couldn't see the exclusion zone, so I thought it was okay to fly closer. Took a screenshot for later. Suddenly my FSD kicked me out of supercruise and my shields start failing because I flew so damn close to the thing. Flew away from it best I could, and after I had started cruising again I tried to pass through the jets thinking they wouldn't do anything, when my ship starts wobbling and _it flies me straight into the EZ again._ So, yes. I fully understand what you mean when you say that thinking about dying from these things brings terror to you because *_it nearly killed me twice in less than two minutes within the first 10 hours of playing the game._*

[@jaxpro611]

AH! Finally someone who shares my feelings about these objects lol, for me it’s just neutron stars, white dwarfs, and black holes. I used to be afraid of gas giants and brown dwarfs like u, but I got over it once I realized they’re everywhere and just got used to it. Something about WD’s and neutrons stars and black holes are just eerie tho. Also with your guidance computer fucking up with route planning, route planning only works with the primary stars. In the Star types menu, you can see all the types of stars in a system if that helps

[@FeedMeChaos1]

I feel the opposite to those, im utterly fascinated by all kinds of star and planet. Wd, neutrons and blacks are the most intriguing to me. Cant stop looking at them.

[@theangrydweller1002]

Then there’s me who would dive into a back hole if I had the chance

[@boxmanatee]

The vast distances and emptiness of space just completely terrifies me. Kerbal Space Program makes me inefficient at doing anything because I can't leave anyone stranded in space or another planet. Just laying down and staring up at the sky makes me woozy because I imagine that if I somehow fell up into the sky, there's just absolute nothingness forever. The probability of actually hitting anything and get to land is so tiny that it's practically negligible. Dreams where I accidentally leave Earth and travel out into space are nightmares because I can never find my way back to Sol. Falling into a black hole and see the entire universe fade into a single point in the distance... Can't wait for Kerbal Space Program 2 though.

[@creativemind42069]

Okay for me it's not stars and the bodies themselves that scare me. It's more being launched at them when leaving hyperspace. Always fells like I'm just being placed in the center of the sun instead. Also when someone tries to interdict me I always jump in my seat.

[@TheComradeuri]

No issues, none. Now a friend of mine, she stopped playing. She suffers with anxiety and the empty void of space always unsettled her but she got through it. One day her fuel ran out. The void, the fact you can hear next to nothing except your own character struggling to breathe, getting worse and worse. I got to her in time with fuel limpets and guided her to a station but after that day, she noped out of the game.

[@Foxxorz]

This really started for me after I was warped inside of a binary star. I don't trust exiting hyperspace anymore.

[@sed8181]

That was a fear I had to get over. Jumping face first into a star was terrifying. Now I am fine with it, and there is always hyperspace dethrottle that I use just in case I am not paying attention during a jump.

[@duskthorn_ab]

I once entered a binary system, the secondary star swishing past very close on the left side, triggering fuel scooping for a moment, before stopping safely at the primary star. Luckily I haven't dropped out inside a star yet...

[@ZeaDabble]

@@duskthorn_ab that whooshing by the secondary star happens to me a lot, freaky as heck every time

[@ASFAL.AdminMika]

OMFG, i remember my first 20 hours playing Elite dangerous. I also have to call the fuel rats at that time cuz i ran out of fuel at a PURPLE star. Seriously, it just creeps me out everytime i jump even to this day (almost 400 hours total playtime) and you gotta imagine of all places you'd ran out of fuel, its that star. What a terrifying 15minutes of my life it has been while i wait for the fuel rat to come and save my ass and teach me about fuel scoops and checking scoopable stars. and thankgod i'm not into EXPLORATION (yet) God knows what kind of terrifying stuff i'll encounter on elite again.

[@k043vn1k]

Hope u doin well 100 hrs, seen a hell bunch of black holes, white dwarfs and neutron stars. At first I was really scared of each jump, but now my only fear is "fuck, if I get out of fsd right in the middle of dwarf's/neutron highway, should I shit my pants right there, or wait a little?" lol o7

[@Sammie1053]

Oh yeah, you mean a brown dwarf? One of the small non scoopable stars? I have never run out of fuel (watched a LOT of KZbin content before I started playing the game, and I'm very cautious) but brown dwarves make me a little bit anxious. I'll drop into a system with one and be like "huh, one of these, okay." Then the route plotter will bring me to a second one in a row. "wow, two in a row, that's odd... Guess I'd better fuel scoop at the next star for sure." Then a third. At this point I start getting antsy and checking my route to make sure the next star is scoopable. Never mind the fact that my Keelback has a 20 Ly jump range and a large fuel tank that can make _many_ consecutive jumps, or the fact that as a fairly new player I'm still in a heavily populated area of the galaxy. Even the slightest chance of being stranded in space around a dim not-quite-star makes me uncomfortable.

[@ibanix2]

"and this happens" - that's Sag A*. It's the only supermassive black hole. THE ONLY ONE.

[@graycarlyle8627]

In this galaxy.

[@hypeninja4786]

In this galaxy... that we know of

[@mrboatface4023]

@@graycarlyle8627 ...which is the only galaxy we can visit in Elite. So yeah, THE ONLY ONE.

[@mrboatface4023]

@@hypeninja4786 ...which is the only galaxy we can visit in Elite. So yeah, THE ONLY ONE. And there are no other super massive black holes in our galaxy. Just one.

[@lumpstergash]

@@mrboatface4023 if there were more than two I think it would form a weird Chernobyl galaxy.

[@smonkponk]

Oh god, I thought I was the only one that blacklisted certain stars just because they make me uncomfortable. Just watching this video and hearing you talk about it makes the skin on my back crawl and my heart pound. I can't stand brown dwarfs or certain gas giants (blue/purple ones are usually the worst), despise when I unexpectedly drop in on a WD/NS, and am afraid of my first encounter with a black hole. For me I think the sickly purple glow of the brown dwarfs and the dim, awkward light they bathe their systems in is the worst, but there's so much of it that just makes me feel dizzy and shaky. I still love ED, but it really unnerves sometimes and makes me wary of exploring... despite the fact that I'm nearly at Elite in Exploration now. For me, it's compounded by another strange set of fears I have - losing my sense of place/orientation/control, repeating patterns that take up my entire view, vast oceans with no point of reference, falling out of bounds in a video game, all of that makes me shiver and sweat. I don't understand it at all, but I'm shaking just thinking about it. The video and these comments make me feel a bit better though, knowing I'm not alone. Thank you for talking about this (and sorry for the long comment ._.).

[@Arcanefungus]

You just unexpectedly jump in on White dwarfs and neutron stars? Where are you exploring?🤣

[@noranekosparks4177]

Its very common for people to get nervous around white dwarfs and neutron stars. Until i forced myself how to learn to neutron jump, they terrified me. Black holes put a pit in my stomach in fear of overheating, but I take a lot of photos so I brave the anxiety through. White dwarfs and brown dwarfs can be scary, but mostly for their huge and easily mistakable exclusion zones. Those two ill never plot to without good reason. Do it for the screenshots.

[@hoxhabunker8407]

The realistic sound design from Elite Dangerous is what gave you this phobia, or at least amplified it.

[@Fresh_Baklava]

First time I was interdicted by a Thargroid freaked me out. The sounds their ship makes......and my ship being totally shut down gave me a legit feeling of terror. When it just scanned me and then fucked off... I LMAO at myself for getting so scared. Thx for sharing O7

[@Jenna_Talia]

I wanna remove the memory of thargoids from my brain, buy this game, and just yolo into a thargoid sector (yes, using yolo for lack of a better term) and just experience a thargoid interdiction for myself.

[@iver1343]

@@Jenna_Talia ^ THIS

[@vinigarr801]

@@Jenna_Talia I had seen an interdiction before playing the game myself - it still got me by the feels when it happened though.

[@vetobandito]

NEVER PLAY OUTER WILDS for your own safety.

[@theoracle1945]

Dear...God

[@itsmiosa]

I wish i could play that game again for the first time what a fucking roller coaster of emotions, the constant anxiety makes for such an amazing experience

[@theangrydweller1002]

I loved flying round the black holes

[@empty5013]

I think it's worth spoiling for him that black holes in outer wilds are actually wormholes that don't kill or harm you. I'd hate to deny a space enthusiast that game. I will say the first time I fell into the black hole I felt like I was going to throw up though, absolutely gut wrenching experience.

[@botep5529]

Oh God. That game. I thought I was getting a cute cartoony space game. What I got was an elevated heart rate from the terror of falling through a black hole and being shot out in open space, waiting to die slowly as my O2 ran out.

[@FlyingMonkeyDeathGod]

Sagittarius A* is not a good black hole to be afraid of - even if you drop yourself straight into the exclusion zone you have several hours worth of flying in real space before anything other than mild overheating happens (just bring heatsinks for when you want to get out). Supermassive black holes are so big you probably wouldn't even notice crossing the event horizon (which, yes, I realize is a bad argument for them not being scary, but they're a tame sort of scary). Just stay well clear of any massive objects falling into them. Now, the intermediate sized black holes, the ones that aren't the most massive objects in the system? Those are scary. Neutron stars? Those I can handle - so long as I don't drop out of supercruise in the jet cone. But that's a conditional fear. And I don't fear White Dwarves so much as I hate them with a seething cold fury which I am reasonably sure is mutual.

[@WatcherCCG]

There's just something about the unnaturally bright blue light white dwarfs put out that feels WRONG, isn't there?

[@BespinGuard1]

The amount of times I've only selected main sequence stars, white dwarfs and non sequence stars to be used to plot courses and arrived at a L dwarf. Also yes there are systems that you will jump into in the jets of dwarfs and it's terrifying, I entered this one system and flew right past the jet before stopping. And on another (kind of related) occasion I was going to boost with a white dwarf but because it's raduis so big or the jets were too small or whatever when I was at the end of the jets I was apparently too close to it and already had my heat in the red

[@That_0ne_Dev]

Personally I love everything in space. Especially black holes. Watching them in game is mesmerising. Imagine when I saw the real life photo of one. Absolutely fascinating

[@iulia_m]

Same but I get the most fucked up nightmares about outer space lmao.

[@xgkotkot42]

I feel you dude, I'm not that afraid of neutron stars, but even when I hear the word "black hole" I feel uneasy. I also get these panic attacks at night, though only when my stupid brain decides to think about the existence of god and how not existing feels.

[@joru_to]

Yep, same here

[@bethan2639]

Story time. I used to have this with both neutron stars and white dwarfs, but after enough practice I overcame the absolute panic they brought me. Neutrons are now like second nature, using the neutron highway from the bubble to colonia is a breeze. White dwarfs are just annoying now. However Blackholes are another story. On way back from sag a* I passed by colonia and headed back to the bubble. My nav took me to a black hole system, but for some reason, the beast being the centre of the system, it landed me in front of it. Let me make this clearer. I came out of witch and was going at normal speed, but I couldn’t move or stop in time, instantly had the lens effect envelop my whole ship (anaconda) and I was forced out of jump, hitting the exclusion zone. All of this happened in like 2 seconds. I had to save my ship, so through clenching terror i turned around and jumped out as fast as possible. Didn’t take too much damage but I had to walk away for like half an hour after that. Edge of a panic attack. My other scariest moment are when I landed in a binary system, but when I came out of witch I passed through the first star somehow. Don’t even know, but i do know the absolute terror that you’re on about lad. Fly safely commanders!

[@saturnoc1203]

Thanks for sharing this man, I thought I was the only one that got this kind of visceral fear playing the game. I have a really hard time just physically making myself look at literally all of the same celestial bodies you listed. I always felt like they were going to eat me or something.

[@matthewlorono]

I was taking tourists around and didn't realize Maia's blackhole was down on the list of like 4 places to visit. OMG, I hated flying *into* it to get to the tourist beacon. Why is the tourist beacon *INSIDE* the blackhole? Why? The worse for me is systems with two or more stars all very close to each other and you jump into the system inside of the sibling star. Fortunately, FDEV allows us to stay in Supercruise long enough to get away, but you still have to work out heat management in an emergency situation where you aren't expecting it.

[@victrium1642]

Holy shit me too. Seeing a tiny object with a HUGE EXCLUSION ZONE triggers primal panic

[@meemdic8682]

I was searching for this video. It helped me understand for once what exactly I felt when I was near these objects...or how do I even feel about them. I haven’t been near neutron stars or blackholes yet,but I can tell from the footage I’d be terrified of being around them. And yes,the set is exactly the same.

[@benyed1636]

I had to close my eyes on my first flyby of a black hole in VR, I hadn't felt anything as close to true terror as when the usually static backround began to stretch and contort the way it did.

[@TheEbonyEngineer]

Oh god. I can feel it now.

[@combativeThinker]

I can feel the warp overtaking me! *It is a good pain.*

[@BlueEyesWhiteTeddy]

NOOO NONONONONONONONONO

[@drdre5030]

@@TheEbonyEngineer open eyes

[@magnusstenbergknudsen5891]

Personally my list is exactly the same the only reason i dont fucking die every time i accidentally jump into a system with one is because i hope to become astrophysicist and know a shit load about the different objects and being able to explain wtf is going on with them calms me down because it makes them seem less paranormal but to some people it properbly just makes them even more petrified. I definitely also have thalassophobia even though i am also a big fan of the ocean. sorry for any spelling mistakes not my first language

[@noturaveragewatcher]

Jumping into a system with 2 giant suns right next to each other and just about fly into one always wakes me up when traveling

[@MrGs500f]

Your radar range is buried zoomed in. If you just range is out a little bit the exclusion zone will show in the radar. It looks like the object has a force field.

[@WatcherCCG]

Will this work for any star? Asking because it's much safer to test this near an M dwarf than, say, a neutron.

[@MrGs500f]

@@WatcherCCG yes. The object must be relatively towards your left or right o'clock not above or below you.

[@SheWhoVibes]

For me it's neutron stars and white dwarves. Because they don't just sit there, they got two greedy little arms they'll reach out and touch you with.

[@eirik-elorentzen9006]

This feeling is close to me. My great grandfather died in 2020 (not to covid) and i didn’t really think it impacted me as much. In august of 2020 i listen to a space related horror story narrated by The Dark Somnium, and i don’t know why, but it really messed me up. I felt like somehow, i was going to die. This terror set so deep in my soul. I really loved space and read so much about it and was facinated by space, but after listening to that and some other stories by the same narrator, i felt so helpless and couldn’t feel happiness anymore. I had constant nightmares for many months about supernovas that incinirated the earth and my body melting in real time, that i flew in a spaceship and suddenly saw a black hole headed towarreds me and swallowing me whole. These nightmares messed me up to the point that i couldn’t look at the sun without my entire body going in flight or fight because i’d think the sun would expand and kill everything. The fear of death really frightens me, so i think it fuelded my astrophobia to a really fucked up level. Lucky it has of now faded slowly but it still lingers in me if i think about it to much

[@WikkeSchrandt]

I can really relate to this so much. I've been watching space documentaries since I was a small kid, and just as with you, these things scare me to death, to the point that whenever I see a simulation of it on a TV programme, in Elite or wherever else, I have to look away. Never knew others shared this sentiment.

[@akiraic]

weak af

[@sergiolourenco8419]

it was in a way comforting to have watched this video. I to have been incredibly interested in space documentary's and spent much of my childhood in front of the discovery channel and later on KZbin (when it was invented) watching anything and everything to do with space. I cannot express the shear accuracy to which you have described exactly how and what I feel playing elite, and the funny thing is I am only terrified of the exact objects you specified in this video. for the exact same reasons, with the exact same symptoms.. I to, for no reason at all, lay in my bed and think about the beauty of space... however... whenever my mind drifts towards these specific celestial objects, sweats, heart rate and anxiety seem to soar. A sharp shiver go's straight down my spine and I have to open my eyes and sit up just to recalibrate my situational awareness. I have to admit this is the main reason I have never been able to commit long term to a game as personally engaging as ED to me. To the point where I have only ever been able to supercharge my F.S.D ONCE as my fear simply will not let me even be in the same system as a neutron star.. But having watched this I now realise that IT IS possible to have this and still be a successful commander whilst having this phobia. However the thought that the navigation system could fail or mislead me still gives me a slight feeling of anxiety. another great video. Well done mate. - Commander, T23_Enigma

[@isthisagoodyoutubehandle]

Black holes are universally (no pun intended) scary. With a black hole, it's just... There. Inviting you to come visit. To become part of it. Forever... As you approach it takes up more and more of your field of vision until when you look back, all of the universe takes up an angular diameter only equal to that of our own moon. It's almost as if ...the black hole was "all of it" the whole time and everything else outside was just a small blip in the void. Not to mention that as you cross the event horizon, time and space begin to... reverse. Like I'm not kidding. At a certain point space begins reducing to a single dimension that you can only travel through in one direction. If Sir Roger Penrose is correct, and he usually is, gravity is just a description of causality for two or more objects in a space-time given their mass and speed relative to each other. There's no particular reason time has to be a temporal axis. It just happens to be the "geometry of causality" for anything below lightspeed and above it's Schwarzchild radius is relatively similar in most practical observation. E.g. 99% of objects in the observable universe and 100% of things we'll (hopefully) ever encounter in person. But just because most of what we see behaves itself doesn't mean it's a rule without exception. When mass or speed are great enough, causality approaches (and theoretically crosses) an event horizon in causality too. As you near the singularity, the 3 spacial dimensions move infinitely towards being just a single dimension and our ability to move backward in that dimension slowly disappears. Time loses its ability to describe causality as a temporal dimension and becomes closer to a spacial dimension. This makes it theoretically possible to go forward or backward in time inside of a blackhole (assuming you magically avoided becoming a noodle an atom in diameter) but you can't travel back in space anymore. Free time travel back and forth is possible, but causality requires a temporary dimension for a reference frame to keep space-time consistent. If time isn't temporal, space becomes temporal. It's all very hard to grasp and astrophysicist aren't usually very good at trying to describe the real world horror of it all because they're so used to seeing everything through mathematic expression. It took actually taking physics in college and learning more in my spare time (Like actual math. Not just watching astronomy KZbinrs) for me to actually grasp the concepts in a way that I could start trying to understand the real world consequences and how they affect perception. It's fucking terrifying and I almost wish I hadn't. Wow I just typed all that didn't I. Fuck. I actually wanted to say that Pulsars are the scariest fucking thing in the universe to me; subjectively, anyway. Just listen to an audio translation if the signal from PSR J1748−2446AD ...and realize that's a FUCKING NEUTRON STAR ALMOST 2X THE MASS OF OUR SUN ROTATING MORE THAN 700 TIMES E V E R Y S E C O N D The sound makes me literally hyperventilate. The shear scale and speed is terrifying. Space is supposed to be slow and calculated in the span of a human life, but Pulsars take that assumption and tell you to shove it. It's something simultaneously far more massive than you can imagine rotating faster than you can imagine. That sound honestly gives me chills every time I hear it... Anyway that's my cosmic terror/phobia summed up. I gave myself a fair amount of anxiety symptoms typing this all out, but I couldn't help but comment as I'm glad someone else understands this fear. But unlike my one other phobia, this is one I find too interesting and fascinating to avoid thinking about. It's like caving, I have to remind myself not to stay too long, else my curiosity outweigh my self-preservation instinct.

[@BSsex]

Maybe it's better this way. That we are all insignificant dust particles

[@zawa11ksysiu]

To be honest, astronomy is mesmerizing. Just imagine all the marvels and beautiful things the Universe holds. Birth of new stars and planets, stunning nebulae, huuge gas clouds and galaxies, the Great Attractor, dark matter, superclusters and the fact that the Universe might be finite. Imagine also all the terror that the Universe has to offer. Black holes devouring everything that gets too close to them, supernovae, pulsars and quasars anihilating everything in their pahts, the END OF THE UNIVERSE, when, due to thermodynamics, there will be only one, last red dwarf left shining. My biggest fear is that all of these things don't give a s**t about humankind. We are less than a speck of dust from the perspective of the Universe.

[@philipfahy9658]

A black hole is what convinced me to stop using Supercruise assist. I told my ship to orbit and it decides nah it's HAL today, and yeeted me right into the exclusion zone of a black hole. Now the first thing I do when I get a new ship is sell the Supercruise assist module.

[@Retalak]

The objects themselves don't, but the holes in what we know about them do. My mind can go wild trying to imagine and comprehend what's really inside a black hole/the other side of the singularity.

[@prepareuranus8097]

I dont have much of a problem with white dwarfs and neutron stars. I respect them. However there are neutron stars that are inherently dangerous. The ones with very fast rotational period are the ones that scare me

[@EGraf]

I'm a new player (like 1 month old) and yesterday, unexpectedly, I came face to face with my first white dwarf. Was... an experience, to say the least. LOL

[@cerebdum2997]

I get easily frightened by being around unimaginably large planets that are much bigger than the Earth (Jupiter, Saturn, etc.). The idea of being near a black hole like LB-1 terrifies me. Stars just give off the feeling of dread.

[@TheCreateOutdoors]

I know this video is from a year ago but it reminded me of my anxiety-filled fear I have in Elite Dangerous: Loss of mechanical control. It might not be the correct wording for it, but landing or docking ships manually is a large fear of mine. In real life, I used to have this fear before I could learn to drive. The idea that I might no longer have control of a 2 ton block of metal was scary. Although it's in a video game, this same fear applies to flying a ship. The thought of me going far too fast when landing or adding to much of an input is enough for me to only use the docking computer and nothing else. I'm sure this will subside over time like it did with driving a car.

[@rebelo2025]

I get scared when I fly fast towards stars and planets because my body thinks it’s real, but neutron stars and brown dwarfs scare me the most

[@jakebeaver4179]

I used to have a repeating thought of falling into the ionosphere of Jupiter that terrified me ( Viola's death in Z.O.E encapsulated this for me as a child ) and later the black hole segment in "Interstellar" and for some reason this fear is part of what draws me to this game lol

[@kovanova9409]

My fear in space? At least in a more realistic sense isn't dying itself, but the fact that most likely those I care about will never know why they never heard from me again. Thsi fear persists into driving and even sleeping for me

[@WatcherCCG]

You know, Geist, I might have at least a partial reason for the fear we both feel around neutron stars and white dwarfs: the stark blue-white light. It's harsh, it's bright, and just looking at it can tell you that IT IS NOT NATURAL. The sheer wrongness of the light just triggers something in the hindbrain that sets off the "GTFO NOW" alarm and compels you to turn the ship around, hit the gas as hard as you can, and fly as far away from it as possible, as quickly as possible.

[@SepulcherGeist]

There's a weird deeper shine to it I suppose. For me it's more like, how it hides the true size and nearness of the star and its exclusion zone. I am terrified of getting too close, or otherwise in a situation I can't escape it. Anything to that affect bothers me. Like when I'm charging my FSD in its cone, and I'm facing the right way and I'm as far as I can be from it... If I get spun around too much, I get terrified I'll lose track of which way I'm facing and that I'll fly toward the star on accident. But otherwise, similar lights don't bug me. The O, B, and A stars don't bother me whatsoever. Nor do the Wolf Rayet stars.

[@WatcherCCG]

@@SepulcherGeist Gotta agree, the fact the EZ line refuses to load with those two bodies in particular DOES NOT HELP. I've mastered the neutron jump, for the most part. Hell, I learned last week an almost 100% safe method of jet-boosting off a white dwarf by grazing the top of the radiation jet. But the LIGHT... it's just wrong. It's really beautiful, but it just feels wrong. Especially with white dwarfs, since the light and the radiation cloud around them makes them look absolutely massive and terrifying. The supergiants and Wolf-Rayets don't have the same eerie glow. And I get where you're coming from on feeling compelled to face the horror. I was just at Jackson's Lighthouse in a DBX (effectively disposable) and had this powerful temptation to just point my ship at the thing and find out how close to the tiny sphere between the jets I can fly before my ship is cooked like a piece of beacon on a PVP railgun/plasma FDL's dashboard. So far my better judgment has prevailed, thankfully.

[@OldManPaxusYT]

Wow... and the comments too... I really have to go check it out now! (I've had Elite since it came out but stopped playing for several years while being addicted to Rust - back now since 2022 coz of RSI in my right hand, making Rust too painful to play.... So i am kind of both newbie and veteran at the same time and only this year did my 1st visit of Colonia and have never been to Sag A or any other really far exploration. I really look fwd to doing so! If anyone is actually reading, on such an old post, i'm cmdr " PAXUS" in game - yes, with the space 🙄{no idea how i managed that} and am in the squadron, 'Ratpac'. + Friends with Talofa's crew of friends)

[@luminumII]

I feel this sense of pulling in my gut too, when both contemplating and now when actually seeing them in game. (been playing for a months time). It's in no way a phobia, but still there is something about these intensely massive anchor points in our universe that just gives me the willies.

[@RE-jm9un]

I know I am a bit late to the party but I would recommend binding a key that sets your throttle to 0 and just press that whenever you jump into a system where you don't know what to expect. This way, your ship slows to 30km/s upon dropping into a system. Even if you drop out next to a small black hole, you will still be 4-5k km away from it, so it will take you several minutes to actually crash into it if you were to not touch your controls. For anything bigger than a BH, setting throttle to 0 will cause you take hours or days to get to the exclusion zone. Keep in mind though that there are stars (red/blue supergiants) that will start overheating you almost on jump in.

[@fxturist8534]

lol i also get uncomfortable when i jump to brown dwarfs or to white dwarfs but i also get adrenaline rushes when i do crazy stuff so im used to fly VERY near white dwarfs at extremely high speeds in supercruise, fly betweeen stars that are like almost touching eachother, etc.. It just gives me weird adrenaline and dopamine rush which is also mixed with fear.

[@friendbesto1724]

I get you. I find that jumping onto close binary stars scares the hell out of me.

[@Chainbreaker1129]

I've never really been scared of anything in video games, I am absolutley terrified of hights.

[@RogueBeatsARG]

I have something like that, when for example one night I started to think about a knifepoint and started to zoom in more and more and then started to feel dizzy and feel like I'm floating

[@MatthiasCorvinu]

I have begun my first trek out to Sagittarius A*. I decided to do it without engineering or guardian tech because felt I should know the struggle people went through originally. Still got an alright jump range around 33.6Ly.

[@ColiolYT]

White dwarfs, neutrons, and black holes are both terrifying and beautiful to me. Went to visit a tiny black hole today and got too close. Ship started freaking out, got up to almost 200% heat and somehow made my way back out. I guess my curiosity just keeps me enthralled with them.

[@KingofJ95]

I experience nearly the opposite. These things are terrifyingly lethal and so much larger than me and that just fascinates me for some reason. I flew around Sagittarius A* for hours, just watching the light bend around it. This massive event horizon that stretched hugely in front of me. It was the coolest thing I'd seen in ages.

[@camrnjurena]

I have a real phobia to heights. I can't look up at tall ceilings either, it gives me the same room spinning about to faint feeling, and there's a dull pain and pressure in my groin all at the same time. I get on step ladders for work, but have to maintain a tight control of what I'm looking at for if I look too high or at the ground I might start to feel these things. Straight forward at a wall is the best place to look when you are high up and have this phobia.

[@mprojekt72]

I used to be terrified of singularities when I was a teen, courtesy of various sci-fi books and Disney's The Black Hole. My parents took us to watch it the week that the movie came out, when I was 8 years old. It took many re-watchings of the original Cosmos and several Nova documentaries for me to stop having nightmares about my legs and feet being spaghettified and stretched miles away from the rest of my body, of being crushed into a space smaller than a pinhead, or of my head splattering the ceiling, while my feet were firmly planted on the floor.

[@iateaBibleonce]

For some reason every time I fly near a black hole or neutron star i get rlly skiddish and feel anxious about my legs being below my desk and chair. And I IMMEDIATLEY start sitting criss cross

[@Lottie404]

When it comes to black holes, I only really gain heat when trying to jump away from them if I’m super close

[@sadchihuahua6271]

I CANNOT go to orison in star citizen for this reason, its like the feeling of going on a roller coaster ride, my stomach gets butterflies. My heart rate accelerates, i tense up.

[@mickafra1564]

I stopped playing quite some time ago, but there is one experience from this game I will always remember: mining in the rings in the dark side of a gas giant. The feeling of awe that you have from the planet being by your side, shading you from the lights while you're trapped between rocks and you barely see the light of the star reflecting on the planet's horizon. It wasn't especially scary for me, but it was still a mix of awe and anguish. Anyways, fly safe CMDRs

[@kelbinhow]

Suddenly I remembered having this feeling when I first played Outer Wilds and now I'm searching for the correct term/name if there ever is one. For me this is kinda weird because ever since I was a child I always loved space stuff, movies, games, etc... it never bothered me the idea of open space or CGI sceneries or realistic videos, actually I've always been mesmerized. When I heard about No Man's Sky and the possibilities it could bring, like flying in and out of planets seamlessly I bought it, played it and had a good time, until then it was all normal. Then I head about Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen but didn't really felt too much into them and at last I came across Outer Wilds, which instantly made me wanna play it. Dear God, I remember the first time I exited the planet and started floating around space I immediately got shivers and short breathing and anxiety and my hands got stuck, my brain just didn't know what to do and I only came to my senses when I stopped, had a big breath and paused the game. Kept playing for a little bit more, regained more control over myself and got on with the game's story... Little did I know that was not gonna be the last time I almost freaked out LOL. Going into the sun, watching the sun explode, realizing there was a black hole in the system (and the possibility to go into it), crashing into other planets, etc... I'm so glad I was able to finish the game cause it was amazing, but those horrifying moments where a bit too much LOL. And that's how I discovered to have this "phobia". Whenever I watch realistic videos of planets, ships flying and shit, black holes, massive planets, etc, I get anxious (this video itself made me clinch and almost look away several times XD)

[@obiwanshinobi87]

Been playing for years... and supercharging my fsd using a neutron star still scares the S out of me everytime I do it

[@EthanDeRose]

I am the same way. Thing is I play in VR, still new with only 120+hours in the game. I randomly one night was jumping to a system and had no idea what was to come. I hadn't come across it yet and had no clue. But when I dropped in the system smack face to a pulsar I think it was, WHILE IN VR, I about shit my pants. I was so scared I pulled up as fast as I could till it was out of my view and slowly brought it back to view. Being fascinated with space and love watching documentarys on it i was very intrigued with seeing something like this after I got the jitters out. But that initial impression scared me. Now everytime I jump i pray its not a freaky system. VR makes this game amazing but also terrifying!

[@moosher12]

I have two phobias, with ties to ridicule as a child. they can be a hard shake, and are in order of severity. My most severe phobia is a specific phobia of a certain children's book which I will not name. I encountered it in kindergarden, was quickly scared, and the other kids were quick to torment me with it. twenty years later, even seeing the cover can produce a cold chill and a fight or flight response, followed by panicked demands to put it away while I instinctively conceal my vision if it is held by someone in the room, or to jump up and leave the room asap. After an encounter, I find my memory of the event hazy and vague, with many details lost and hard to remember. (Had a recent incident with it a year back during a D&D session when a friend wanted to show their favorite children's book that just happened to be the one. I'll just say, I'm glad adults are more mature than children, and that I have good friends.) I also cannot enter a library, book store, or elementary school class room without anxiety that gets more intense the closer I get to the children's book section. it takes a lot of strength for me to remain in these facilities and I frequently have nightmares where I am in a library, trying to do what I need to do without noticing the book. the second is game related. for some reason, after watching the 1990s live action Pinnoccio movie, my mind turned off to anything to do with endo, vore, womb levels, and the like, despite somehow being fine with it beforehand (phobia triggers are weird, especially when I used to be fascinated with biology before that point). while I am fine with other forms of horror, this brand of horror to this day has me shutting off a game if I stumbled unkowingly into this theme without preparation, it takes a lot of strength to be in the same room as someone playing through such a level, and I find it impossible to play these levels, myself, I find the fact you can even tolerate to be in the same system as your object fear impressive. As a result, I miss out on many amazing games, and have to spoil plots to myself to maintain a sense of ease. in Elite's case, I had to spoil myself on thargoid bases to make sure it would not fall into the sort of biological settings that would put me off (thankfully too chitinous and not fleshy enough to trigger) , as well as watching for the womb level tag on TV tropes game entries before I buy. Like the library nightmares, I get frequent nightmares where I am thrusted into such conditions... Not fun. I thank you for making this video. As someone with frankly ridiculous, but actual phobias (a book that cannot harm me, and a scenario that can never happen, yet I am terrified all the same), I'm happy to see someone that gets it, even though my reply was a year late. I also just recently got into Elite Dangerous about two months ago, after my elder brother introduced me, I've found your tutorials useful, and I thank you, they've given me some good advice.

[@matt.p.6022]

Scariest moment for me so far in the game (

[@Wowza4536]

I had something similar happen but couldn't tell what I was feeling until I experienced it in an extreme fashion. I was playing space engine and thought how cool might it be cool to see in VR and the result was a complete panic attack and I haven't gone back since. I still play SC and Elite though.

[@wellingtonbruh3756]

To the black hole question. I tested it quite a lot, the smaller the black hole the worst they are. They will sneak up on you and fry you if your ship is a bit hot

[@jamesklark6562]

Elite is the only game that horrifies me. When you first start playing it's that same fear you get when you're first learning how to drive, you don't want to damage the car, get into an accident, or be in the way of other drivers. You get past that hurdle and then on the mission screen you see "Hostile Ships might attack you" so you start freaking out that some stalker ship will come out of nowhere and rob your cargo, every new thing you do is a new level of terrifying especially when you go in blind like I did. I was in such a panic when I ran out of fuel, shaking the whole day even after I was rescued by rats.

[@ZidaneWilder]

I'm glad I found this video! I thought I must be the only one that felt this way around some of these objects. I'm a relatively new player, and I started to remember similar feelings I'd get from playing Earth and Beyond back in day.

[@kivaHBRO_04]

I like astronomy because it’s fascinating, but in 5th grade when I was learning about our solid system. When I saw Jupiter and it’s black background it unsettles me and still to this day.

[@pesseguitos]

Black holes and brawn dwarves (and planets's rings!) Causes me this a lot! And i understand you very very well, fell much the same! Amazed by the gigantic and incomprehensible way of this beautifully and strange objects.

[@enderman_666]

Can't say I get jittery too often in ED, the only things that somewhat scare me are the sudden drops out of hyperspace, when you're facing the giant-ass star right (well, millions of klicks, but that's besides the point) in front of you, it triggers an automatic "oh shit, better hit those brakes and turn around" response. All of it reminds me of a time when I was just starting out and I got too close to a star, spent a good 30 minutes trying to drop the temperature and getting the FSD to work. Ever since then I've been on a more formal basis with our gaseous nuclear god-spheres, I gently scoop up some fuel when the situation calls for it and punch those thrusters to their max the milisecond after I'm done.

[@commanderclueless5456]

I have goldfish like memory, I always get distracted,exit hyperspace and then panic as I plunge into the star

[@cremebrulee2484]

I can watch videos of black holes and neutron stars but whenever i zoom in on one on the map or warp to a neutron star im terrified

[@DWal32]

so far the only thing i've experienced similar to this in ED is black holes. Ya cant see the actual thing at all without a bright background, except for the warping it does.

[@hidi__]

I experience similar feelings towards the ocean, natural bodies of water terrify me, the sight of things submerged underwater such as a sunken boat makes my heart start racing and makes me feel like I'm going to have a panic attack, similarly to any pictures taken from below the surface of the water. I tried playing subnautica and I couldn't bring myself to do it, it was my worst fear in the form of a video game. I only get this feeling with one object in elite dangerous, neutron stars and I guess white dwarves give me that same feeling of near panic attack when i drop in on them. I don't really understand what it is that is so terrifying about them. Seeing them in VR was even worse.

[@callum3844]

I think the scary thing about Elite is that you know that you could die from something and there’s absolutely nothing you could do about it, you can’t shoot at a star

[@milanopiano]

I relate to this so much. I LOVE space games, but to give you an indication of how much I can relate to this, I kept scrolling to the comment section to avoid having to watch the footage in this video. I tried! But especially the black holes, they freak me out so much I get dizzy. Even the sound made me freak out. But there is something so beautiful and calming about space games that I just love. One of my favourite games of all time is Freelancer, played the hell out of that when I was a child. But also there, I never took on missions which had me cruising too close to a star, or into a dangerous nebula. It's a weird dichotomy. Fear is also part of the thrill I suppose. Makes me appreciate the safe and tranquil parts of the game even more.

[@doltBmB]

Ah, I remember in Frontier Elite 2, since it has a proper orbital simulation as opposed to ED, if you want to do a flyby of a massive star you really have to be careful with your fuel usage and make sure to use the oberth effect fully else you might literally not have enough fuel to escape.

[@satorukuroshiro]

I have never had a major fear of anything space related, but when I started playing this game, it made me fear stars real fast just because of how sudden they appeared when exiting FSD, but with more and more jumps and learning what distances were safe, I became desensitized just as quickly.

[@AtlasReburdened]

I don't have any phobias, but I'm well versed in the feelings and effects of 'fight or flight overload' style physiological panic attacks. My first three happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. The first one, which was comparatively mild, happened when I managed to get my left index finger ~90% cut off. The second I can't/won't elaborate much about, but was(I believe) brought on by my rapid blood loss and fortunately the real threat was already handled because I straight up lost consciousness on that one. The third happened while saving PFC Pearce, who caught a round in the left subclavian artery and was straight up leaving a puddle of blood on loose gravel. I was lost in the sauce during that one. Straight swimmin through a crashing wave of drunken fog, but luckily if it looks like gauze and it's sterile it'll do the job, and not being able to feel your hands doesn't stop you from applying pressure. I've had probably 20 in the decade since getting out and the trigger seems to be that loss of blood pressure to the brain that comes from standing too quickly after being at rest for too long. Most of the time compressive breathing and a light jog in place get the brain the pressure it needs to not freak out, but sometimes it just isn't enough. Arms and legs rapidly go numb from blood being diverted, the world spins as vertigo sets in hard, darkness swarms in and I'm lucky to be left with tunnel vision, heart feels like it's going to rip itself apart, guts feel like they've fallen through the floor. Total bullshit which only resolves after 20+ minutes of laying on the floor concentrating on not hyperventilating.

[@unrealizationgamingandshit280]

The situation at Sag A* around the 6 minute mark is a pilot mistake. Come to a stop, cool down. Then jump out. Yes, it will get hot, especially at Sag A*, but like most black holes even the monster is pretty safe. I spent two hours boosting towards it after the drop, and didn't get worryingly hot. Which black holes you do need to be careful with are those very close to stars. Like some in NGC 7822. There your temperature can skyrocket to over 300% in no time, causing significant module and hull damage.

[@WantedRecords5506]

Had a fear of black holes as a kid, flying to one in elite still puts me super on edge, on the other hand I can sit and watch neutron stars for hours and it doesn’t bother me at all to fly near them or white dwarfs

[@LordMoebius]

I wasn't too concerned with these things until I saw this video... Thanks. Jumping into a white dwarf and that spooky black hole toward the end are kinda nerve wracking. So thanks....

[@nurfuerverrueckte]

I felt something close to fear, unease when I approached the icy rings of a gas giant for the first time. I couldn't figure out how dense they were and how big the individual objects in the rings. I was expecting huge rocks like I had seen in mining screenshots. My whole body tensed up and I kinda flinched for a couple of seconds and almost lost it when instead of huge rocks the rings were made of white and blue dust and it all looked like a massive highway made of clouds. My first time unknowingly jumping into a 4-star only system somehow gave me an eerie feeling of 'I should gtfo'. The suns were in real close proximity to each other and I felt like I interrupted some sort of fight between giants. Just not a comfortable place to be.

[@yenchey3270]

It's hardly related, but as a kid, I used to have a panic fear of meteorites and comets. I couldn't talk about them, listen about them, I couldn't read or even think about then without a fear of a massive red-hot rock from outer space coming and smashing my head when I least expect it. But luckily, I grew past it over time, realising just how rare of an occurence that is

[@PapaVapes]

Within the first few hours of playing, I got interdicted by an NPC pirate just outside of a star I had jumped to. My attempts to hit the escape vector must've sent me too close to the star - I dropped out. Nearly ripped my ass muscles from clenching so hard. Managed to get away, but holy shit was it terrifying.

[@iki881]

I am a new player to this game gathering all the info I can about it, just flew through a neutron star in my way to Robigo and felt extremely light headed and my heart was fucking racing. Never going to one of those or a black hole. I was legit terrified. The same way I get when in an ocean or any body of water. I played far cry 3 and on my first play through never experienced that croc in the water grabbing you in the beginning. Did a play through a year after that and once the croc grabbed me I turned off my system. Legit was a teenager and crying I was so terrified. I’m glad to see there’s a filter to filter out shit like that. Didn’t know that until this video. Thank you.

[@travislevitt7191]

My sentiments exactly my friend. Just a little healthy respect for the cosmos is all. Thanks for your videos brother . I play this game at a snail's pace because I love every aspect of it.

[@omniaesthetic1256]

You're not alone with this problem. I've played other games with massive moons or other planets visible from the surface of whatever world you're on (such as No Man's Sky), and when I look up at them, I feel deeply uncomfortable, sometimes afraid. I'm lucky that, in Elite, traveling in supercruise doesn't feel like "real space" to me, despite playing in VR. That said, popping out of hyperspace in front of a massive star can make me jump. I haven't experienced black holes or neutron stars yet, but I'm both afraid and curious enough to try it. Edit: A couple of other thoughts: I don't have "typical" fears like fear of the dark or ghosts. It's really just this kind of thing that gets me. Wondering if that's how it is for you? I think that part of what makes this fear interesting is that they're actually _rational_ fears. You absolutely should be afraid of going near a black hole in real life. The fact that it's a game doesn't matter. People still can get afraid of monsters in video games.

[@MAX-on6pl]

I have thalasophobia and phobia of space but also love them. I feel like all my organs have dropped or something when I see it. Idk how to describe but it's so huge that I feel like there's no corner for me to hide and feel safe

[@mcgibs]

Black holes were never the same after I watched Event Horizon. They can pull in anything. Matter, energy, even your soul. Imagine flying too close to one, knowing not even death will allow you to escape.

[@spiritedconjurer]

I have a certain "thrill," per se, of these kinds of terrors you speak about. While it does still instill fear in me a little bit, the thing about me is, it fuels my curiosity and entertainment, should I find myself in danger. Like a kid who explores just how far he can get away with doing something before his mom catches him or something like that. I wouldn't be lying if I said the design choices from the ship cockpit weren't some of the most phenomenal things I've personally ever experienced. Just how scary your cockpit shattering before your very eyes and watching as modules, crucial and all begin to slowly melt and lights blaring at you and the info panel flashing all the things that are shutting down while you lose control of your ship and the dashboard itself is on fire and-- It's terrifying.

[@einar90808]

I have only been playing a week. I have my Sidewinder, and a Hauler I am doing a little exploration and courier missions in. Several times I have almost blown up jumping into systems and gotten my heat up to 174% once or twice. If I had not installed a Heat Sink I am sure I would have blown up a couple of times, and am terrified at the thought of it.

[@chereeqiii]

Before I have an anxiety attack- I'm gonna go bye

[@alexmcd378]

I think I get around 10% of what you're describing. 20% when in VR. I eventually got over the anxiety from suddenly winding up face to face with a giant burning ball of death every jump. But if I hit an unexpected neutron star or I pop out surrounded by a lot of very close stars, I have to full stop and just breathe for a second. It can make the game tense, even unpleasant at times, but it doesn't stay with me outside the game. I also found that setting the audio for night mode helps. It softens the loudest parts of the game, which means that loud bang when you exit witch space is dampened. Not having that bang really helped the anxiety.