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Different formats of "Internet Horror"


    In the previous post we have briefly defined internet horror and the different formats they have. Another thing worth noting is that these formats are not mutually exclusive. A YouTube horror series can involve ARG (Alternate Reality Game) elements within it, and an ARG might come in a form of a series of YouTube videos. An example of a YouTube horror series that have ARG elements within it is "Mandela Catalogue", which for a period of time hosted a website with the domain "mandelapolice.com" for the audience to visit and finish puzzles on. Once the audience finished the puzzle, they are rewarded with several information regarding the police department and characters within the story. Said information are exclusive to the website, therefore viewers who only follow the "Mandela Catalogue" strictly through the YouTube videos might lack crucial information to make sense of the story. This proves that an internet horror series are able to incorporate different formats to tell their story. With that being said, in this article, we will delve further into specified platforms to tell written internet horror stories, and explore YouTube horror series.

    There are numerous platforms in the internet where horror stories or concepts are able to be shared. Two prominent example of this are Reddit's "r/nosleep" and "The SCP Foundation". While these two platforms are extremely different in the rules regarding how their users are supposed to post a horror story, they are similar in a sense that it relies on user-generated contents. To start with, Reddit's "r/nosleep" is a place where users can post their horror stories with a caveat. Within the story, it must be plausible for it to end up in the subreddit itself. The story must be posted as if it is true, to increase the immersion of the readers. The writer of "Left Right Game," one of the many great stories posted to the website, did this by posting  the horror story to the subreddit under the pretense that it is their lost friend's journal that they receive via email. In the beginning of each post, the writer stay in character, commenting on moments of the previous journal before continuing the story. This allows the writer to interact with the comment section without breaking the immersion of the story.

    The SCP Foundation in a similar manner, also have their own set of rules regarding how users should post their stories. The concept of the website revolves around a secret organization that secures, contains, and protect (SCP) anomalous entities, objects and phenomena with various danger levels. The users are encouraged to contribute new "SCP files", which documents strange occurrences as though they were real. Each of these files follows a specific format which resembles scientific reports accompanied with it's backstory, containment procedure, and experiment logs. Famous examples include SCP-173, a statue-like creature that only moves when not observed, and SCP-682, a highly intelligent and hostile creature resistant to containment efforts. Unlike "r/nosleep" where it comprise of stories that are independent to one another, the writers in SCP Foundation build off each other's work to expand the universe. 

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