Nothing is more exciting than getting together with friends in the middle of the night to play games. Especially horror games. Staying up until early in the morning with them to enjoy a night full of screams and anxiety is definitely something someone should try at least once. 

My friends and I do this every summer or break we get. We can stay up until 4 or 5 a.m. at times and sleep as little as three hours if it means we get to have a fun night of bonding… or getting mad at each other for dying too early in the game. However, most parents or adults would not heavily agree with this.

There are a few real facts about how horror video games are beneficial to your actual health. According to Morbidly Beautiful “Many studies have shown that playing horror games can help us generate more white blood cells, actually strengthening our immune systems.” While this clearly defies what many parents may say about horror games being unhealthy, one of their biggest arguments may be the timing. 

Playing a horror game in the middle of the night—or morning—is not the ideal time a parent wants to hear. And I honestly understand that. However, I also believe that if the child is old enough to play the game, that they should have their own sense of responsibility. My way of showing that is by only doing this on the weekends or on breaks. 

But how does the timing actually benefit us? The timing adds onto the experience. As the quote stated earlier, the experience of the game is enough to produce more white blood cells that strengthen our immune systems. By increasing the experience and in an easy way, upgrading it, I say it can make a horror game much more beneficial by just adding that small factor. 

My way of supporting this, is that when you go to a movie theater, the theater isn’t bright. It’s dark and suspenseful instead, which raises your anxiety on how the movie is going to go. I believe that the same method can have the same outcome in our horror game experiences.