#12: Can You Hear Me Now?

[RPGnet Columns]

http://www.rpg.net/columns/thehorror/thehorror12.phtml

Summary:

Do you hate cell phones in your horror game too?

Go to the column for more information.

[jaerdaph]

Cell phones and other technology like GPS devices and the Internet definely need to be taken into account when running modern day horror games. It's harder to generate a sense of isolation today when so much of our every day technology is designed to keep us in constant touch with the rest of the world.

When I first learned there was going to be a remake in 2006 of the 1979 horror movie classic When a Stranger Calls, the first thing I thought was, "how are they going to ever pull this off today when we now have such things as GPS, caller ID and every teenager in America has a cell phone?" I was surprised at how simple the answer was (possible spoiler):

The babysitter had been grounded by her parents and had her cell phone taken away prior to her babysitting gig.

I filed that one away mentally in case it comes in handy some day.

[talien]

Disturbia (a remake of Rear Window) had the same problem -- how to keep a character who has access to all sorts of technology from calling the cops?

SPOILERS BELOW

The movie used several tactics:
1) The protagonist was under house arrest, so he couldn't flee very far.
2) He was under suspicion for being under house arrest, so the police didn't trust him.
3) The reason he was under house arrest is because he punched the brother of one of the cops assigned to his house arrest.

In short, the plot hedged the character in through a combination of technology restrictions and social pressure. Once one of those rules are broken -- when the character decides to flagrantly violate his house arrest -- the film shifts gears quickly to a slasher flick.