Arachnophobia mode

[Ikagura]

Are those necessary? The entire point of spiders in games is to be scary, isn't it? Or at least replace by another arthropod like crabs or scorpions to make them still effective.

Although I find some funny like this one from Lethal Company

 

[Lemons]

Yes, it's necessary. Some people legit cannot handle it

 

[pr0xy]

Well there is a big difference between being something "scary" and being the cause of a mental breakdown or panic attack.

 

[Ikagura]

Yes, it's necessary. Some people legit cannot handle it.

So, why playing videogames featuring them to begin with? I'm just curious.

 

[Lemons]

So, why playing videogames featuring them to begin with? I'm just curious.

Not every game will have "spiders included" label on them

 

[TheSoulWalker]

Not every game will have "spiders included" label on them

Plus, it's a phobia, the fear by definition is irrational to an extent. Personally never picked up Grounded because of the thought of having a spider tower over you is horrifying enough to say no. Only to see at the following game awards that you could turn it off.

 

[Glimbo]

It's an accessibility feature. People see a game they like but can't play because of spiders, so some devs add the option. Grounded has an arachnophobia option with several levels.

Spoiler: Spiders

 

[JohnPei]

In my circle I know more people with a phobia toward snakes than a phobia toward spiders
Tho it's nice that it's there !

 

[destinyduelist]

I have a phobia of them, kind of. Not the kind that makes me freak out or anything, just the kind that makes me grimace and like try to look away briefly I guess?
I still play games without the option enabled if there is one, I feel its necessary for people who have it harder than me though. The reason they play these games is because everything else in the game is enjoyable to them, so why let one small fraction of it turn them away from otherwise enjoying a game they'd love?

It's an accessibility feature. People see a game they like but can't play because of spiders, so some devs add the option. Grounded has an arachnophobia option with several levels.

I'm not gonna lie, I'd rather just have the regular spider. Those options are significantly more gross and scary looking.

 

[oxyhime]

So, why playing videogames featuring them to begin with? I'm just curious.

Because there's spiders in a lot of games.

 

[SpaceCress]

I've always thought arachnophobia has been exagerated by the big arachnids and snakes are pretty much scarier and more dangerous but what do I know, maybe spiders are uglier/more impressive to people?

 

[ThatOneLum]

I've never really suffered from arachnophobia so these options don't really effect me much. But then if we only tried to fix shit that bothered me we'd have a lot of unhappy people in the world.

I know there are some people who really suffer with it and since it has 0 impact on me, I'm all for these options.

 

[DanVzare]

I remember me and my sister being terrified of possessing a creature on Dungeon Keeper 1 whenever we had spiders in the dungeon. We were ok with seeing them roaming around from a top-down view. But seeing them up close like that, was just too much.
Nowadays I couldn't care less, and my sister actually finds them cute.

I personally think an arachnophobia mode is a bit silly. If you can't handle it, either go play another game or learn to pull up your big boy pants and differentiate fantasy from reality.
I mean just because you can't play a game because there's spiders in it, doesn't mean you have to change it. There's plenty of games out there, and clearly this game isn't made for you. Art is at its best when it isn't made to appeal to everyone. And something as simple as an arachnophobia made is pretty much just a way of saying that their is no artistic value in your game, as something as simple as a spider means nothing to the artistic value of said game, which in turns leads me to believe that nothing was made with any artistic value in the entire game. You need to show some sort of pride in your work if you want me to see it as well.

But there's the part of me that says that you should be able to play your games however you want, regardless of the so-called "artistic vision" the creators might have had.
But until they start including a setting in the options menu to play games either fully uncensored or censored (depending on your preference), I see no reason to advocate for something like an arachnophobia mode. Because clearly giving people an option to play games the way they want, isn't what matters to them.

 

[fake-kun]

It doesn't affect me in any way, so who gives a shit.

 

[Denmdm]

I remember when I tried to play Arx Fatalis... Almost scream cuz of the spider at like 5 minutes and refunded lmao.

 

[Prism_Red]

How do you guys gonna play EDF then?

 

[fake-kun]

How do you guys gonna play EDF then?

What's that?

 

[Prism_Red]

What's that?

DO NOT OPEN IF YOU HAVE ARACHNOPHOBIA.

Spoiler: HUGE SPOODER INSIDE

 

[oxyhime]

How do you guys gonna play EDF then?

That's easy: either Wing Diver for maximum mobility or a tank so there's a layer of metal between me and them. Jaw tense, palms sweaty, letting out small grunts, channelling my anger instead of my fear, and keeping at maximum range.

Phobia is about sensory stuff. I can't stand things jumping at me or crawling all over, or hearing the sound of too-many legs, but most of the time, I don't really have a choice. Even Half Life 2's headcrabs and antlions used to make me uneasy. But then, a lot of times, spiders are designed more monsterous than spider-y, and that takes the edge off. I've heard the same thing about coulrophobia: monster clowns=fine, real clowns=bad. I'd assume Dark Souls' spider-lady boss isn't triggering a lot of arachnophobia.

All things considered, EDF has semi-realistic unbelievably huge insects that you get to blow up to pieces, along with a bunch of other weird stuff; it's mostly fine for me, but I can understand why someone would rather avoid it entirely.

The thing is, about the "go play something else/get over it" angle, is that it's really just unhelpful and unnecessary. Everyone who's going through those types of mental blocks is either already looking into avoiding it, getting over it, or gasp! Both. But such is the world that every twenty minutes, someone comes up with the radical new thought of "I don't have that mental thing; but I sure have an uninformed opinion about it!"

 

[GardeniaSky]

It's an accessibility feature.

 

[trickybus]

The funny thing about this mode is that it runs counter to one of the treatments for arachnophobia: systematic desensitization. Most people with this phobia are unable to interact with live spiders without experiencing distress, so recent techniques involve using 3D models to slowly acclimate the person to the treatment before moving on to actual spiders.

Science paper on the subject.

 

[fake-kun]

The funny thing about this mode is that it runs counter to one of the treatments for arachnophobia: systematic desensitization. Most people with this phobia are unable to interact with live spiders without experiencing distress, so recent techniques involve using 3D models to slowly acclimate the person to the treatment before moving on to actual spiders.

Science paper on the subject.

Not everybody wants to deal with their phobia while playing a video game for fun.

 

[Tbest25]

The funny thing about this mode is that it runs counter to one of the treatments for arachnophobia: systematic desensitization. Most people with this phobia are unable to interact with live spiders without experiencing distress, so recent techniques involve using 3D models to slowly acclimate the person to the treatment before moving on to actual spiders.

Science paper on the subject.

I think that's exactly what made me less afraid of spiders. When i was little i couldn't be near a spider, as small as they can be, that i would get jumpy, get the hell away from it lol. But nowadays i find some small spiders kinda cute. I played games that featured spiders in them, my fear of them never stopped me from playing the game, i guess that helped me be less scared of them.

Post automatically merged: Today at 3:20 PM

DO NOT OPEN IF YOU HAVE ARACHNOPHOBIA.

Spoiler: HUGE SPOODER INSIDE

View attachment 44785

That's not so bad, kinda gross but that's good, it makes me want to kill it even more lol

 

[Don't Ask Me]

Acessibility is acessibility right
Somewhat related, i was recently going through the Pokémon games and that got me wondering why we never got a 8-leg spider mon until gen 9, does removing a set of legs really work for arachnophobia people? At least i think that's why they made them with fewer legs.

 

[Pinballbuzzbro]

As someone who is so afraid of wasps that he has a hard time playing 3d games with more realistic non-cartoony wasp enemies in them i totally get it lol. If it's smth like a game where a phobia is the entire selling point like Subnautica with the ocean or Harvester with the uncanny valley then i do think having smth like this is a lil silly. But most of the time spider enemies show up frequently in non-arachophobia centered games, so making a mode that negates that fear for people is reasonable imo, and this is coming from one of the biggest spider lovers on the planet lol.