Players Making Creepypastas in Roblox–Kindred Appeal of Haunted Houses and Game Creation Systems

Creepy deserted houses should repel visitors, yet they attract excitement of trespassing, dare and social sharing of spooky encounters. Similar engagement is found in game creation systems (GCS) and especially in the online game platform Roblox (Roblox Corporation 2006-). Roblox affords kindred elements for game making and play, especially illustrated in user made creepypasta experiences1; players making creepy games. If creepypastas are regarded as vernacular2 ghost stories of the digital era, are creepypasta games in Roblox the Haunted Houses of the digital era? This presentation extends on an ongoing study asking what makes creepy games appealing, and what conceptual design implications come forth (eg, Byrne et al. 2022 for otherworldly as design resource).
By observing selected creepypasta experiences gives grounds to outline a preliminary framework of a Haunted House allegory from three recognized distinctions. An appealing Haunted House (in Roblox) consists of 1) legend-tripping, 2) mythmaking, and questioning if something is 3) potentially true. Haunted Houses and creepy games share kinship in related experiences.