Anti-Piracy Screens Are Unnerving. But, why?

Anti-piracy screens were a pretty popular trend on YouTube around a year ago. I’ve been interested in them since then, and today I’ve decided to dive into why exactly they’re so unnerving. Of course this is inspired by izzzyzzz and pixels after dark.

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#creepy #disturbing #scary #creepygame

Much like Nexpo, Scaretheater, izzzyzzz, pixels after dark, and others, I’ll be covering some extremely creepy game content! I hope you enjoy.

[bag.of.bones.]

those creepypasta anti piracy ones just dont hit as hard as the realistic ones. instead of trying to scare you they just make you feel like a terrible person. it gives "im not mad im just disappointed" and its a lot more scary somehow

[flippy]

What makes the (real) anti-piracy screens so scary is the situation you’re in when seeing them, not only would it often happen to you when you were a kid after just getting a used copy but also you‘d realize it suddenly detects that you were doing something wrong and confronts you about it, despite the fact it’s a product you own that you thought you had full control over.
It makes you feel like you’re being watched.

[nicholaslienandjaja]

Reminds me of this infamous fake anti-piracy screen for Nintendogs:
The puppy dies. The next screen shows its grave and a message saying, “Nintendogs cannot live in a pirated copy of the game”.

[Marchingvenusaur]

The fake SpongeBob one demanding you send money to the federal government for watching cable TV is so fucking hilarious

[Blue-feby]

What used to freak out me as a kid is when you'd put in a disc in the wii and instead of a happy jingle from whatever game you put in, you'd be greeted with a weird noise followed by silence and the screen saying "disc cannot be read". It gives me the same vibes as the FBI screen before movies or the other stuff ppl are talking about here.

[blond_edsheeran]

I honestly find the real ones scarier and more unnerving than the fake ones. they try to hard to be scary and come up with something ridiculously over the top concept. the actual scary ones are the ones that are more simple.

[derberry]

It’s the fact that something so innocent and fun suddenly takes a serious tone with threats of real-world consequences

[OdaSwifteye]

I gotta be honest. The fake anti piracy screens overdo it. The real anti piracy attempts are scary enough.

[Shry]

I think another reason it feels so scary is that As a kid the idea of being accused of something you didn’t do is part of what makes it so terrifying too…

Almost everyone has had some experience with a parent or teacher punishing you for something you didn’t do but being helpless to defend yourself. Imagine that but it’s your favorite video game doing it.

[destroyerkitty]

I personally think it’s the guilt. Think of a moment in your life where you were chastised by someone you like, being told that you are doing something wrong. Maybe a parent tells you they’re disappointed in you. Maybe your favorite boss tells you you’re a bad employee. Maybe your friend calls you out on something. It’s a gut wrenching feeling that makes your heart sink. Such a sudden and unnerving message that tells you that you’ve done something illegal and gives you shame for it… that taps into that very real emotion of guilt and shame.

[ASA-uxcg]

Ok but like some piracy screens are just
“Oh yeah by the way you have just committed a SERIOUS crime that, incase you don’t know what crime means, is ILLEGAL, and will be met with PUNISHMENT in a court of law, like JAIL TIME/PRISON, good luck dealing with that you 8 year old kid lmao”

[tomspicy]

i think it’s a feeling of thinking you’ve outsmarted the technology, but the game knows exactly what you’re doing. very creepy, almost like you’re being watched through the screen

[pancakes]

I think anti piracy screens are creepy for the same reason those FBI warnings on VHS' were creepy. They invoke a feeling of wrongdoing, that and you except things to be smooth and easy. Like if I booted up, lets say shrek extra large. I expect a game about shrek, farting, and burping. I dont expect to see a low poly model decapitated with blood everywhere. (Shitty example i know) but the subvertation of expectations is like a jumpscare in a way. Just a slow burning one though

[imnotsobad]

Some fan made ones are trying way to hard

[ApexGlitchVR]

I got an anti piracy screen on not a game but on WebToon, it had a 🚫 mark saying “it is a serious crime to pirate comics, the police have tracked you down and you are going to jail” something like that. It scared me so much I deleted WebToon. All I did was buy the next episode for 3 coins of “Ingrid The Plague Doctor”

Edit: no clue why you guys are still replying to this, it’s over with and I’m perfectly fine.

[beardalaxy]

Ehh, the ones that lean more into creepypasta territory are just kind of lame imo. The whole point about the "creepy anti piracy screen" is that nothing genuinely scary is happening, it's just got an air of unfriendliness in an otherwise very happy and upbeat game. With these creepypasta ones it gets into the actually scary territory and the stories that accompany them are usually extremely generic too ("we found it in a dumpster and someone committed suicide!").

[livingweaponnightmare]

The overly horrific ones are overdone, they're actually less scary. I think the more horrifying ones are the ones that suggest you've committed a crime and could get in trouble and lose access to your system.

[Roo_Bear]

There's something about short repetitive noises and music just suddenly stopping that literally terrifies me

[BAIGAMING]

The worst was always the "PS2 disc read error", somehow it managed to everything so depressing - the visuals suddenly got so sad going from bright vibrant cubes to red dark and grey cubes, and the music would go from exciting to gloomy.

[fllooploop]

This gives me the same vibes as when I accidentally switch to the static channels on my tv when I was 8