Liminal Being Puns

Recently there have been a lot of discussions in this subreddit on what defines a liminal space. The general consensus is that a space, to be liminal, must be transitional.

Now, i know what you are going to say: "But the definition of liminal space is literally "a location which is a transition between two other locations". I know that, but liminality is a very broad concept and it is very subjective, it's impossible to create a single definition of it, and also the concept of "liminal space=transitional space" has some flaws.

1. If this concept is true, there literally isn't any reason to call something a liminal space, doing it just confuses people even more, it's much more simple to just call something a "transitional space" and abandon the word "liminal" entirely.

2. Some transitional spaces simply don't give you the liminal feeling. For example a road full of ongoing cars in broad daylight is a transitional space, but it isn't liminal at all.

3. Even the concept of transitional space is very broad and not very clear. For example a classroom might count as a transitional space, since it connects childhood whit adulthood, but on the other hand it isn't a place in which people physically walk through without stopping, so it isn't clear if it is a transitional space or not.

4. A lot of the top posts of all time of this subreddit aren't transitional spaces, showing that a place can be liminal without being transitional. (For example this one, this one, this one, this one and this one).

And again, i know what are you going to say "But a space to be truly liminal mustn't only be transitional, it must also have other characteristics, for example having no people in it, being creepy ot uncanny and giving you a feeling of dejavu".

And that's the point i wanted to make: a space must have some or all of the characteristics listed above (or maybe some other characteristics that i haven't listed since there is a lot of them) to be considered liminal… except for the "must be a transitional space" one

edit: by problem I mean something wrong with me mentally lol, I hate being anywhere but my room, I don't have agoraphobia but would rather just not leave my room if I can help it (which is 100% of the time), any answer besides depression preferably

One of the problems with World of Darkness System, especially the 20th ed's, is Merits and Flaws being optional and thus in a liminal state. Really because they are optional, and their capacity to be unbalanced and what not, its really kind of puts a hesitancy to use any of them in a game because you kind of have to vet them before you permit your players to have them. But then you have some essential rules ham fisted into Merits and flaws, like the Language Merit which is kind of essential since without it you can't have someone who is bilingual... and that is weird. Meanwhile if you look at Chronicles of Darkness and Exalted 3rd ed they handle these things way better, and essentially merge Merits and Flaws with Backgrounds.

I'm just saying they will always be underused if they are optional, and they will always exist in this weird quantum uncertainty state both existing and non-existing until you pull the trigger and decide. Hell if they don't just fix it and use a Merits system like Chronicle/Exalted then maybe I don't know have two categories of Merits and Flaws. Like a Kosher group which you can agree upon them being generally regarded as okay to use like the Language merit without it being to unbalancing and an experimental group with flaws that are a bit more potentially game changing like Dark Fate.

I just want to point out technically even Backgrounds can be over ruled by the Storyteller but they are handled better and used more freely because they aren't an optional rule.

As a side note is there really anything game breaking about having say Acute Senses or True Faith available? I can see arguments for True Faith being kind of wonky for Mages to have since it overlaps with Arete/Enlightenment, or even Limiting True Faith to non Major splat characters like Kinfolk and mortals and the like. But by the time we get revised and the 1-5 Faith Merit system seems okay, and its kinda self regulating with it being rare, and getting rid of the old insane super miracles of the greater then five Faith effects.

And similarly lets look at the Acute Senses Merit, is there anything really game breaking to lump this into a kosher merit category. Does it ever really break the game to have the option for characters to have superlative senses? At worst you have things like Werewolves having both Heightened Senses and Acute Senses, or Vampires with Auspex but Auspex is borked anyways since each dot lowers your perception difficulty and that gets ins

I saw it on Steam once, and watched some YT videos on it. It had a lot of liminal and non-euclidean architecture in it, and the main character was being chased by something. It wasn't quite open world, but it felt like it. I'll update this if I remember anything else about it. It’s a first person game, and you have to walk around.

Abandoned buildings.

Schools, hospitals, hotels, apartment complexes, houses and office buildings. Once abandoned, they rot. But how long does it take for them to stay in abandonment to lose the liminal feeling? To me, a liminal space is one that looks almost used, somewhat dirty but still used. Think of a library with no people, some books still stocked on shelves but lacking any people with a slight feeling of "People don't go here anymore."

How long does a building have to stay abandoned for in order for it to lose the feeling of liminality and just become creepy? What state of decay should it present to have peak liminality?

Books don't need to actually be about road tripping, but that's the best way I can explain it.

I want books that are eerie, that are basically the literature version of liminal spaces. The dread of small towns, that unnatural feeling.

Stuff similar to Alice Isn't Dead (podcast + novel), or about towns like Twin Peaks or Night Vale.

Edit: okay, no American Gods please! I own it, I plan to read it. Most of the comments are that, so let's mix it up a bit

Edit x2: I usually like to thank everyone individually but there are SO many comments that I just can't. So thank you all!

Edit x3: I'm going to be reading for years at this rate. Thank you all again, so much! This list is HUGE

I've come to like a particular artist for the liminal feel their artwork gives me, but for some reason when they add even the smallest character to the artwork it complete ruins the feeling for me.

Have any of yall experienced this before, maybe even on this subreddit?

EDIT: My friend made a post detailing it a lot better than mine! Should be right above this post, actually, if your sorting by "New".