By: Hoaseng Thao

Warning: This article has a section, rp_downtown_v2, talking about suicide.

‘Garry’s Mod’ is a physics sandbox video game created by Garry Newman. The game was originally a mod for the video game ‘Half Life 2’ made by the video game company Valve before becoming its own standalone game.

When people think about the video game ‘Garry’s Mod’, they either have fond memories of playing/watching videos of the late 2000’s ‘Garry’s Mod’, or they think about the obnoxious videos of content creators screaming into their microphones at either a scary png that chases them or at another person in a player populated roleplaying server. However, if you’ve ever played the game alone in the standard single player mode, you will soon realize how eerie it is playing alone in a game that should be played with others, or maybe you are not alone on that map. What if someone was there with you?

That feeling of another person being on the same map as you despite playing in a single player mode, is something that many people online have experienced in their countless hours of playing the game. Most of those people have spread awareness of this eerie phenomenon online, which has garnered a lot of attention from many people, including myself, in which I also experienced this eerie phenomena.

This article will talk about my investigation into why we feel this uneasiness when it comes to playing ‘Garry’s Mod’ alone, and so I have selected multiple maps from the standard base game alongside downloadable maps from the Steam workshop that people have noted to have this feeling of eeriness.

gm_construct

This is the first map people think of when remembering ‘Garry’s Mod’, as gm_construct is one of two base maps that you get when downloading the game. Around the map, you can find three towers alongside two garages, an underground room with a big mirror, and a dark room that has haunted many players who come across it.

While playing this map alone, I start to feel a sort of comfort when loading back into this map due to the countless hours I have played as a kid. As I grew older, and played more games, I returned back to this map again, but this time I also felt a sort of eerie feeling that not only intrigues me but also haunts me at the same time. The place that scares me the most in this map is the infamous dark room that lies underground, with no light to show what lies within the dark corners of that room.

Venturing into this room, you would find nothing as it remains empty of any objects or decoration to make you feel alive, and had you not used a flashlight to venture into this room, you would soon realize how eerie it is to only hear your footsteps slide across the room alone. When I stayed in the dark room for a minute, all alone with no source of light to illuminate my surroundings, I soon had this feeling that I was not alone and was in fact being watched by something hiding in the darkness that surrounded me. As a minute passed, I soon realize I couldn’t stand being in that room any longer and I began to bolt out of there to escape my fears of the unknown.

The fear of the unknown is what fuels the dark room, it makes me, and most likely you, feel uneasy as we both know that there is nothing in there alive except for our imagination, an imagination that fuels that fear of the unknown.

gm_bigcity

This map is by far one of, if not the most, recognizable maps from the ‘Garry’s Mod’ workshop as many early YouTube videos revolving around ‘Garry’s Mod’ were most likely set in gm_bigcity due to its big size alongside its unique yet unnatural urban atmosphere. Playing this map makes me feel as if every person, dog, cat, car, or bird in this big city, that would’ve made it feel alive, had disappeared in an instant. I know that I’m playing this game all alone by myself but at the same time, I feel like as if I shouldn’t be the only person walking around, and that the map needed to be populated with at least more people, but at this point, nobody except me is in there.

After some time of exploration, just walking around the map and looking at how unnerving it is to feel so lonely in such a simple looking city, makes me feel a bit uneasy, but after looking around I found some areas that have unique interactions if you use the interact key. There are some doors that can be found around the map that can be interacted with; some of the doors reveal rooms that you can’t enter without clipping through the map, while other doors have a unique interaction.

In this image above, it showcases an interactive door which can be found near the edge of the map via a hidden tunnel leading into a creepy yet empty room. Inside of that room, there is some graffiti painted onto the concrete walls alongside a blood stain smudged onto the floor as if a body was dragged into a room behind that door. Interacting with the door, you can hear a man laughing in a distorted voice which can make anybody feel a bit uneasy and feel as if you aren’t alone, and that the only people here in that map lies behind one of those doors.

The thing that makes this map feel so eerie is that uneasy empty atmosphere that is prominent when first loading into the map; a city so big yet only you are it’s only inhabitant.

rp_downtown_v2

A memorable map that has been used over and over for any ‘Garry’s Mod’ roleplay server, and stands as one of the most recognizable maps in the game, has a story behind it that has many consider the map to be cursed and haunted by its former creator.

It is said online that the creator of the map named “ThePro” had allegedly committed suicide in 2011, and since then has been haunting the map as a shadowy ghost figure that can be found in the distance. If you try to confront the phantom, it would just disappear before reappearing somewhere else.

Although the claim of the creator’s death varies between people online, it didn’t stop many people from pushing this idea of the map being haunted by its creator, but when I played the map, I didn’t feel as if I was being watched by an unnatural force but rather I had the same feeling I had in gm_bigcity. The map was empty but at the same time it felt like there used to be people here, and although the map was intended to be played in a roleplaying server with a bunch of people, playing it in singleplayer made me feel so isolated.

I think what makes this map feel so eerie is the rumor of the creator’s haunting, and had you not heard of his death, you would’ve played this map without a care in the world, but after hearing that story and the many accounts of his hauntings, you would start to watch every corner to ensure that this rumor is not real.

What makes ‘Garry’s Mod’ feel so eerie?

I think what makes ‘Garry’s Mod’ feel so eerie is the fact that the game should be played with someone else, and playing it alone can put anyone on edge as you start to question yourself if you truly are playing alone in a singleplayer game session. Maybe you aren’t alone, maybe there is something inside those dark rooms, waiting for you to finally let your guard down.

If you want go through this feeling of eeriness, you can buy ‘Garry’s Mod’ on the game platform Steam, where you can download the maps stated in this article:

• The game itself: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4000/Garrys_Mod/
• rp_downtown_v2 map: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=107982746
• gm_bigcity map: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=105982362&searchtext=bigcity

By: Rose Ramadan and Thea Berg

The Snapchat AI has taken over many peoples snapchat accounts. It sits at the top of everyone’s screen, waiting for people to text it. It acts like a friend to us, but what really is it?

The Snapchat AI was generated online and put into Snapchat. It has its own bitmoji and named itself. You can send it anything that you want – videos, pictures, text messages. It always responds within seconds. It replies in full sentences and uses helpful responses, usually ending in a question.

When you first see the AI on your screen it sends you a message saying “Hey there! I’m MyAI, your virtual friend on Snapchat. I’m here to keep you company and help you out with anything you need. How can I assist you today?” From then on you can start a conversation and talk about anything with your AI.

The Snapchat AI’s are very up to date with what is going on in the world, and knows a lot about news updates. If you ever are in need to find something out about public news, you can access the information easily by texting your AI.

Snapchat AI’s also have their own personalities and opinions. You can ask it things about itself and it has opinions on favorite colors, favorite foods, favorite songs, and artists, favorite sports, shows, etc.

The Snapchat AI is very helpful. It gives advice on problems and can help as a homework tutor. It is easy to use, especially because it responds really fast and is easy to find since it is pinned on our phones. You can ask it anything and it will always respond. It is super reliable, however it sometimes doesn’t have answers to questions. In that case, it says it is unable to answer that question yet.

Your AI is personal to yourself, you can customize it however you’d like. You can change its bitmoji outfit, hair, and face completely. You can change the colors and body size, just like you can customize your own bitmoji. Along with customizing the bitmoji you can also give it its own name, you can call it by the name you chose, and put the name in as something else. It originally starts named as “My AI” Other than that you can’t customize too much else. The way it talks and responds to you is very similar with the programmed responses to other people as well.

Snapchat AI started as something that only Snapchat premium had, but after a couple more updates it popped up on everyone’s screen. If you pay the monthly payment for Snapchat premium you can unpin the AI from the top of your screen, and you can also remove it from your app completely. If you do not pay for a Snapchat premium you have to keep the AI pinned on your screen, and you are unable to remove it.

How do we feel about a Snapchat AI? Personally, we think that it is a waste of space. It sits on our snapchats pinned, always there. We don’t use it everyday and we can find the information it gives us elsewhere. Yes, it can be helpful but personally we believe we would be better off without it. It also feels like an invasion of privacy, asking so many questions about us, what our favorite movies and songs are. It also asks about personal issues, like family and friend drama. In a way, it is very scary.

In overview, the Snapchat AI is very helpful and great but overall not needed on our phones. And we personally think it should’ve stayed as the Snapchat premium addition, and not something on everyone’s Snapchat screen.

By: Bijou Kruszka and Julia Yang

*Warning: Spoilers, and depictions of murder are in this article

In 2014, an indie horror game called ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ (FNAF for short) was released. What was initially a small, relatively simple game, quickly snowballed into a massive franchise. Now, the story spans eight games and a book series. However, since the overarching story is given in very cryptic pieces, it can be very hard to follow, so we tried to bring it all together into one story just for you.

In the mid 70s, two men named William Afton and Henry Emily went into business together. They opened up an establishment called “Fredbear’s Family Diner,” a family-friendly restaurant with springlock animatronic mascots, the titular Fredbear and the bunny Bonnie. Everything was going smoothly for the most part: business was booming, and everyone loved Fredbear. The business was so successful that it spawned another location (Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria) and William Afton opened a sister location (Circus Baby’s Pizza World).

However, what most people didn’t know was that Afton had much darker intentions. Afton was a murderer, and these restaurants were nothing more than an extension of his crimes. The animatronics were designed to kill and hide the bodies of the children victims. This was mostly successful for him, until one day, when the Circus Baby animatronic murdered Afton’s very own daughter. Overwhelmed with grief, he shut down Circus Baby’s Pizza World.

Despite the closing of Circus Baby’s, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria was still extremely popular. Children loved the lineup of characters, which was now the lineup most people know: Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica (a duck), and Foxy (a pirate fox). Afton’s murder spree still continued. Desperate to protect his daughter Charlie, Henry Emily created an animatronic to watch after her, called the Puppet. Unfortunately, one night, Charlie was separated from the Puppet, and was murdered by Afton. Charlie’s soul, however, remained with the Puppet, and she would haunt the Pizzeria for years to come.

In 1983, William Afton’s son (who does not have a name but is constantly depicted as crying, so we’ll refer to him as the “Crying Child” for simplicity’s sake) has a birthday party at Fredbear’s. He absolutely hated the animatronics, and was terrified to be there. His older brother, Michael, was tired of his brother and wanted to prank him. So, at the party, Michael and his friends grabbed the Crying Child, and put his head right inside the mouth of Fredbear. Overwhelmed with fear, the Crying Child starts sobbing uncontrollably. His tears activated the water-sensitive springlock mechanisms in the Fredbear animatronic. In the matter of a single second, the Crying Child was dead, decapitated by the animatronic his father built. Fredbear’s Family Diner was shut down, and suffering from Fredbear’s reputation, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria closed shortly after.

Since the shutdown of Fredbear’s Family Diner, they retired the springlock activated suits. The suits may have been retired, but the Spring Bonnie costume in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza continued to move. This meant that the incident of the missing children is still ongoing. William had murdered two or more children before he was caught on security cameras installed in the Pizza place. Six children were killed during the incident, including Charlie. Charlie was killed outside, and there was no evidence left that connected Charlie’s death to William. Police were never able to find the bodies of the children, so William was able to spend less time in jail than he should have.

After the first Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza shut down, William Afton decided to transform his underground lab for robotics into an animatronic manufacturer and rental facility. This place would be known as Circus Baby’s Entertainment and Rentals. This place would not entertain children in-house, instead several other Fazbear Entertainment locations would be able to rent the animatronics into their buildings. In addition to renting out the old Circus Baby’s Pizza World animatronics like Ballora, Baby, and Balloon Boy, Circus Baby’s Entertainment and Rentals would introduce new animatronics such as Funtime Foxy, Funtime Freddy, and Funtime Chica.

In 1987, Fazbear Entertainment opened a second Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza location many years after the first had shut down. The animatronics created for this location were a direct inspiration from the Fazbear & Friends toys in an attempt to make the animatronics more kid-friendly. With these new animatronics, came a new face recognition software installed within them that was able to scan and detect for potential criminals. William had also brought along the classic animatronics into this new location, but all of those animatronics were too unsanitary and ugly to perform on stage. All but one: Puppet. The Puppet was placed at the Prize Counter, the others were put in the back and used for parts. The restaurant was mediocrely successful, until another incident known as the “Bite of ‘87” happened, where one of the animatronics bit a security guard. In the same year it opened, the second Freddy Fazbear’s location shut down.

In 1993, Michael Afton decided to go work at Circus Baby’s Entertainment and Rentals after William contacted him and asked him to work. He was hired as a security guard for the night shift. He worked for a few nights, experiencing a lot of strange behavior with the animatronics. Then, one night, he was found and murdered by an amalgamation of all the Circus Baby animatronics, better known as Ennard. Ennard then puppeted his body around for a while, before it started to decay and Ennard escaped it. Replacing Ennard, Michael haunted his own corpse, swearing revenge on his father.

For thirty years, Michael kept a low profile. Then, in 2023, a horror attraction called Fazbear Frights opens. Michael applies to work as a security guard there, and is hired. While he works there, he discovers secret documents from the original Pizzeria, and encounters the violent Spring Bonnie animatronic. He fights the animatronic while he works there, and quickly realizes that it’s being possessed by William Afton himself. In an attempt to finally vanquish his father, Michael burns down Fazbear Frights. However, William survives.

Then, sometime after, Henry Emily opens another Freddy Fazbear location. He hires Michael as a manager. Together, they work to lure William into the restaurant. Henry locks William and all the other animatronics inside and sets the place on fire. While the fire starts, Henry tells William that this is the final end, and how this is all justice for the crimes he committed. The pizzeria burns down. William Afton and Henry Emily are presumed dead. The souls of the children trapped in the animatronics are finally released, to move on to a more peaceful plane.

With that, the ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ lore comes to a conclusion. While it seems like an insane story now, it is given in the games out of order and in small pieces. It’s incredibly difficult to understand initially, but when it is pieced together, it adds a whole extra layer of interest to these otherwise simple horror games.