http://dbd.game/killswitch
Would a spider-like killer that looked like this still be too arachnophobia-triggering?
So, apparently there's some talk about arachnophobia and accessibility going on. Seems like a lot of people wouldn't want a spider killer in the game. And although I'm one of those that actually DO want a spider-like killer, I started to wonder if there is a way we can make both spider lovers and arachnophobes happy. So I have to ask: would a killer that looks partially like a spider but doesn't have the shape of one still be very arachnophobia-triggering? I'm asking that to anyone here that has arachnophobia, knows someone who has it, or knows something about the subject. Of course, anyone else can give their opinion on the matter here.
To be more specific, would a spider-monster killer that looked similar to any of the ones below be as likely to trigger arachnophobia as an actual spider? Or would these be easier to deal with?
This one is from DbD, actually, It's in one of the Archives' cinematics.
Ettercap from D&D.
Man-Spider from Spider-Man: The Animated Series (this image doesn't have the best quality, but there are videos of the scenes of this episode on youtube if anyone wants to check that out).
The Spider from Deceit.
Gorgon from Evolve.
Comments
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it cant be generalized like that. Some people that are suffering from arachnophobia may not be affected by any depictions on a monitor at all, for some others its just the movements of a spider.
One way to make it happen would still be to make a neutral cosmetic that would be shown client wider to those that have the optional option turned on. We could get a cool Spider Killer and plenty of cosmetics and wouldnt even notice if someone Else has the option turned on - so not immersion breaking at all.
Somehow people still have something against this idea 🤷♂️
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I still don't know why arachnophobia is the only phobia that pretty much every game dev caters to.
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Because it's the easiest to
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easy and a lot of people are affected.
Makes sense to implement such a feature as the playerbase may be bigger, certain streamers may be able to Play (and promote) the game, it doesnt harm anyone, …
I still don’t see the big reasons against it tbh
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I'm fine with that option, but considering how long it usually takes for acessibility options to be implemented in this game (I mean, we are getting brightness settings NOW, 9 years after the game's release), can we imagine how long that would take? Would the devs even WANT to make an entire new feature only for the release of one killer? Or would they just decide to do a completely different killer instead because that would be too much extra work?
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THAT is a good Point
I would assume they would at least use that Feature for Clown and possibly Plague
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As a long time resident evil fan its been pretty sad to see the modern remakes completely omit the giant t-virus spiders from the originals. Capcom apparently claimed the same reasoning.
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Because it costs them players. That's the simple answer. The recent popularity of arachnophobia mode (option to change the appearance of spiders in a game) indicates that.
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Because its one of the biggest that BHVR hasn't already completely dismissed.
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Yea, that's how it is for me. Some games I don't have any issues as their spiders, while they look like spiders, they don't have the right movement.. they are "fake". However, even a non-normal spider can freak me the F out if done properly. I used to play Everquest back in the day and their regular spiders in the starter zones didn't bother me. But, by the time the Ruins of Kunark expansion came around and they added the half-spider/half-dark elf creatures, those they nailed the movement…. I used to have to cross through the zone they were in to get to the area I wanted to level up in with friends and I would sneak through that zone in a heightened state of panic and anxiety because I could see them off in the distance and they were animated TOO WELL. Terrifying and not in a fun way.
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the humanoid ones are more likely than full spider
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Even more likely to trigger the phobia, you mean?
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People have the phobia for different reasons it's not a catch all. For me I absolutely hate the mouths and hairy spiders so pics were actually tough to get through (no hate btw I understand you're just trying to find a solution) so I wouldn't love it if any of those were added to the game.
I can only answer for me but I think for me to be okay with a spider killer they would have to do that one thing some designs do where the mandibles are horizontal and are sort of like ant mouths and make the body more uuuhhh what's the word? chitinous? Where it looks like there's an exoskeleton or some sort of shell. Like the entity legs don't effect me at all. Also for examples I don't find Duke's Dear Freyja from Dark Souls 2 so bad or Lala Barina from monster hunter wilds all that bad even though it moves very weird. Nurubians from Warcraft are usually fine too so I suppose any spider centaur ish design would probably be fine. Meanwhile designs that triggered tf out of me were things like frostbite spiders in Skyrim and Aragog in Harry Potter.
Again this is just for me, I'm sure another arachnophobe could come along and say they disagree with me completely but this is an approximation of what I could personally deal with and what I couldn't. I'm not completely against a spider killer as I think that idea lends itself to a trap style killer which we need more of and I know many want it I just don't want it to be a design that runs me off the game and I do think that's very attainable.
One last thought is I don't know how the pro spider people feel about the idea of something like human form Eliza from LoL where the killer is human but has spider powers? That I'd be 100% fine with I feel.
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One last thought is I don't know how the pro spider people feel about the idea of something like human form Eliza from LoL where the killer is human but has spider powers? That I'd be 100% fine with I feel.
I can obviously only speak for myself but I feel Like I have seen it often expressed by others: I would really want a full on (monstrous) non-humanoid spider. It’s why I am not really that disappointed with the rumours about the Jorogumo turning out false - it means we still have the chance for an actual spider instead of a Woman with spider-features
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no in order to actually trigger the phobia you need the killer to lay eggs and if you don't stop it in time a giant swarm of spiders start crawling around the map and attacking survivors
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We've already argued about this already, so I won't dredge those talking points up regarding phobias...
However a strong consideration for why people are against that idea is that it basically means arachnophobia sufferers basically gate keep such content, and is likely why we got the announcement saying it'll never happen... I myself as someone who has had arachnophobia get so annoyed by it, because a Spider killer would be a great killer to touch on my fears, which is something I would love to have back in DBD.
How are they gate keeping? Well think about it as if you were a developer. To actually create a Spider killer with an arachnophobia accessibility option, you have to go through all the work of creating said killer as you do for any other... which as we all know is not an insignificant undertaking.
However now you also have to dedicate time and resources to researching arachnophobia, all the different variations and trigger, and then build various handlers on top of your killer to mitigate those issues. There isn't some handy widely available plugin or feature you can just slot into your game engine like you can for color blindness, you need to do the work yourself in the design of the killer. Likely you have to compromise several areas of your killers design, given that to accomodate arachnophobia you have to effectively make it 'less spidery'... which itself begs the question why are you even doing a Spider killer in the first place?
You then have to do extensive testing to ensure it complies with the accessibility requirements, and then you can finally ship your killer...
That is a lot of additional work to put into a killer... and time is money... any sensible business person would simply say "we're just not gonna bother doing a Spider killer, and will do something else instead".
Sure Monster Hunter did it, they literally turned the spiders into blobs... and sure these are OK in the context of monster hunter, but this would just be plain stupid in DBD.
So basically this industry shift to "arachnophobia accessibility" in gaming basically means none of us can have spiders, cause it's a waste of time trying to implement them along with implementing a passable replacement for the feature.
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but we already have precedent that this gate keeping is not even happening with the Clown.
The devs have stated they wouldnt add a Clown killer because Coulrophobia is so widespread but then they went back on their word and still added the Clown without any further consideration.
Now we have the Twitter statement that handles both a potential Spider killer as well as accessibility features and I get why people may get confused and draw a direct connection - but its been confirmed these two statements are indeed separate from one another and its not a direct causal relation at all..
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I'll have to take your word on that as I wasn't part of the DBD community back then, but the same logic applies. If BHVR had stuck with the argument that we can't have clowns because of Coulrophobia, we likely wouldn't have the Clown, despite the Evil Clown being a classic horror tope in the genre.l.
The fact we don't have an accessibility option doesn't prove that it's not viable to include accessibility options… but the fact BHVR went and did it without one after voicing those concerns does kinda indicate that having to include accessibility options for phobias is something that poses a problem for character development and design...
So I'd say my point still stands... why go to the effort to try to make an Arachnid killer, if you have to strip back and limit the concepts and ideas around it for being too spider like? Even if that isn't the direct reason BHVR doesn't want to do an arachnid killer, it's certainly a factor that would also sway their position if they are likely to take flack for not including an "arachnophobia accessibility" option.... which let's face it... they absolutely would.
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it still boils down to assumptions and miscommunications and people getting worked up over these instead of actually looking at it rationally and constructivley
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