Arachnophobia mode

[Adrastia]

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.

It might have been because it's easier to draw and animate. Like how cartoon humans sometimes have three fingers and a thumb.

Looks like they may have eight legs as a defense mechanism. Having less than eight can impair their web making skills. But they can lose a leg or two to a predator and still live a full and active spidey life: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/110603-spiders-spare-legs-webs-science-animals

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.

Spiders are very misunderstood. Some are dangerous if they bite you. But for the most part they are our friends and get rid of other pests. If you end up with a lot of flies getting in during summer you may also notice an increase in spiders.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

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

I'm one such person.

I remember almost dropping Resident Evil 3 because of the Black Tiger (was that the name of the huge spider?).

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Spiders you say? Well how about spider CATS

Spoiler: the arachnophobe's worst nightmare

 

[psvitaforever]

Never saw this mode in any game I played O.o Or maybe is it in horror games? I don't play them.
I don't like spiders in games if they have nightmarish design, but in "Monster Hunter Stories" Nerscylla was a must in my party :)

 

[Tbest25]

Spiders you say? Well how about spider CATS

Spoiler: the arachnophobe's worst nightmare

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Dude, what the hell am i seeing? Lol

 

[fake-kun]

Spiders you say? Well how about spider CATS

Spoiler: the arachnophobe's worst nightmare

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Looks like a CAVE game.

 

[Denmdm]

Agree with fake, too. Games aren't supposed to be some kind of therapy to deal with your fears. Accesibility is accesibility. If by any chance, an event or entity which can cause phobias to trigger, is a main theme in a game, I agree that this mode shouldn't be a thing since it would lose its artistic value. However, if it's something that happens moderately or on a minor scale, then yeah, that's why accesibility options exist.

 

[Cosmiken]

Personally I'm scared of females and wouldn't mind if modern games included a "bro mode". All character models are replaced with shirtless guys, and the female characters and their voice lines are replaced by empty air and long, drawn out moments of silence.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

Arachnophobia tends to be heavily misunderstood and mocked by people that don't experience it. It's not a simple "Oh, scary spider" kind of thing but something that can cause genuine physical discomfort and trigger a fight or flight response, and I would never fault anyone for not wanting to deal with that while engaging with what is ultimately a game meant for entertainment. Avoiding games with spiders isn't really a realistic option either given how common they tend to be, and most games don't come with a spider warning.

I have no real issues with spiders nowadays, but I find it so odd why certain people get so hung up against arachnophobe accessibility options for others.

 

[trickybus]

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

Regarding accessibility options, what comes to my mind are people who can't treat whatever condition they have. What they're experiencing is either long-term or permanent. Arachnophobia is neither of those things. It's completely under the control of the person experiencing it whether they want to go through life stressing out over fictional spiders or not.

I don't have any desire to campaign against or take away the mode as an option (as it's harmless) but I will point out that it's part of a modern trend of taking one's personal issues and unnecessarily making it other people's problem.

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

While I can't say that I fear spiders, I rather enjoy studding them. In the case of games I find some genuinely creepy, System Shock 2 Arachnids often appear in close spaces, in big numbers and move at fast as you at the very least, also the fact that they can jump over you and attack you from the back is not a pretty sight.

 

[iamthemilkman]

It's so dumb. I remember buying this underappreciated classic used from a Phar-Mor for $4.99 when I was a kid:

 

[oxyhime]

I don't have any desire to campaign against or take away the mode as an option (as it's harmless) but I will point out that it's part of a modern trend of taking one's personal issues and unnecessarily making it other people's problem.

Whose problem exactly? The devs? No one is holding a knife to their throat.

Grounded was about bugs, so Obsidian put effort into optionally sanding off one edge that could be off-putting to a non-negligeable portion of the playerbase, phobia or not. Lethal Company's solo developper wanted people to have the option to get scared by the rest of their weird beastiary knowingly spider-free. Green Hell's spiders are mechanically redundant in survival mode; one of the earliest mods for Skyrim, before the modding tools even dropped, was a model replacement for spiders.

I'm not sure that there really is a problem here. Seems like a bunch of people just really don't like spiders.

 

[trickybus]

Oh, I forgot to add my favorite version of an arachnophobia mode: the Skyrim mod

Spoiler: 00:00 - 00:15 Spiders, yo

Post automatically merged: Today at 5:22 PM

Whose problem exactly? The devs?

Yes, the developers, the same ones who get shit on for not putting an "easy mode" in their games for accessibility purposes.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

I can sympathize to people that are phobic. Options are always good. And I dont mind spiders, but those headcrabs in Half Life Alyx were no jokes, almost got me to wear a diaper to finish that game.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

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
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Imagine a "non horror mode" for horror games and every enemy is replaced with MONSTER

 

[Tbest25]

Horror games really are like exposure therapy, where you need to face your fears in order to get through it. That's why i like them, but it's true that no one needs to play these kind of games if they don't want to.

 

[RuckusMcGuckus]

NIGHTMARE!!!!! NIGHTMARE!!!!! NIGHTMARE!!!!!

 

[Denmdm]

TO THE GUY ABOVE YOU SON OF A BITCH

 

[RuckusMcGuckus]

TO THE GUY ABOVE YOU SON OF A BITCH

The bottom left one is my spider

 

[Tbest25]

NIGHTMARE!!!!! NIGHTMARE!!!!! NIGHTMARE!!!!!


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Not cool man, have some consideration for the people who struggles with arachnophobia

 

[fake-kun]

There are a lot of people in this thread complaining about something that doesn't affect them at all.

 

[moonbits]

Might be out of topic but I remember reading once, not sure where but one of the reasons that CAPCOM decided not to add spiders in the RE2R was because they were scaring the shit out of the playtesters and an the team was against an arachnophobia toggle.

 

[Jon-Patrick-S]

I don't really care either way but some of them look very lazy. Like the ones that just turn the spider models into floating balls. At least make something that looks like it fits in turn them into giant beetles or something.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

There are a lot of people in this thread complaining about something that doesn't affect them at all.

Thank you!