On Gaming while blind, and why I will punch every fan of FromSoftware straight in the dick
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2022 5:32 pm
https://twitter.com/cat_pretentious/sta ... 4992368641
My twitch has been unwatchable the last two weeks because everyone is playing either Horizon Forbidden West or Elden Ring, neither of which I can play. I've never played Dark/Demon Souls either and know very little about them. I have picked up that they are known for being outrageously hard to complete, the type where you go on a crazy adventure of hacking and slashing, dying over and over, learning the exact combination of stats, skills, equipment and timing necessary to complete a run, then sit back and bask in the your meaningless accomplishment before doing it all over again. There is no easy mode, you win or you give up like some kind of miserable giving-up-type person. From that description, you might think I know quite a bit about these games, but I assure you, my entire exposure is limited to dumb online jackasses. And I know it is wrong to judge a work based on the mouthbreathing morons who consider themselves fans, but these cunts really make it hard.
Should a game have difficulty modes? IDK. I guess I do, since I bothered to write up this paragraph. But it never occurred to me to think really hard about it. FromFans have! And they are not for them. The game, they say, should be frustratingly difficult with no undo button, because that is like life. This is not me making fun of them, this is what I have read these actual humans actually say to defend their passion. The mockery is further down, but first I feel the need to underscore a point for the people in the back. The question isn't over whether playing on easy mode makes you a worthless cuck beta. (because obviously it does) The objection is over having the option. Including this choice would harm the developers' creative vision. If you play it, die a bunch and get frustrated, then put the game down and never touch it again, hey--that's okay! Not every game is for every kind of person. Some games just aren't for you!
Alright, so it has one difficulty mode. Fine. Oddworld had one difficulty mode, and I played it... mostly no problem. Accept this attitude is far more pervasive than mere difficulty modes. It extends to every facet of the game's design. Altering any aspect whatsoever is an insult to the 40,000 hours of crunch the developers poured into this perfect work of art. (making use of the exploits is just fine tho!) At one point in the tweet thread I linked above, I am told that adding the option--the option! Adding the *option* for an audio cue to go along with visual attack animations would be unacceptable, because of-- and I quote--"what the game is." Why should I, as someone who might be interested to play the game, expect a developer to code features to make it easier? "Asking artists to alter their art walks video games as art backwards." The nerve of me, expecting that a game be as playable for me as it is for other people.
They even have a term for my wrong and shitty attitude: toxic entitlement. Which is pretty rich coming from guys (and it is a 100.8 percent probability that this entitled horseshit is coming from men) who choose to spend time going after people for daring to criticize their favorite video game. But I digress! Another more revealing quote from the manchild: "I'd rather a smaller set of people experience this in the pure ecstatic endorphin rush that it is than more people experience a diluted watered down version that's been done in other titles over time. If that means people are excluded due to audio cues, or needing visual tells and telegraphing intrinsic to the souls series, then that may be how it has to be. Or again, adapt and overcome like it teaches."
Adapt and overcome.
Hey, you with the fucked up legs? WALK IT OFF, PUSSY.
And the thing is, it's not just this one idiot. Nearly every interaction I have had with someone about how I'm not gonna try it if they aren't interested in designing it for people like me to play, the response is some version of this angry shrug emoji. Hey man, not all games are designed for all people. Nor should they be! It is okay that you can't play with your weird broken eyes, because mine work just fine so I can. You can play all those little weirdo blindy games that were made for weird little blindy people like you. It's just how life--and therefore video games--should be!
If you're wondering why it's hard for people with disabilities to play games, this is why. He went on to claim that adding such options would cause the games to lose popularity and sales would decline. I'm not sure what data he was using to make this assertion, but one simple fact shows how utterly full of shit it is: DS was remastered for PS5, and all these panting shills bought it. How can this be? Artistic intent ruined! Do you know how carefully these games are crafted? Every tick of every patrol rout for every NPC is calibrated to the hardware capabilities of the PS3 generation! You can't just plop that in a new console and expect it to run the same. And those textures sure look nice--in fact, they're too nice. It's distracting to me and I hate it. So you can beat it if you like, but a real gamer would snag a used console, risking death at the local pawn shop. (Or buying it off ebay for a cool $250, abusing the exploit of having more money than sense) If you're not a real gamer, that's okay! Winning isn't for everyone. Life is hard, and so should playing video games.
My twitch has been unwatchable the last two weeks because everyone is playing either Horizon Forbidden West or Elden Ring, neither of which I can play. I've never played Dark/Demon Souls either and know very little about them. I have picked up that they are known for being outrageously hard to complete, the type where you go on a crazy adventure of hacking and slashing, dying over and over, learning the exact combination of stats, skills, equipment and timing necessary to complete a run, then sit back and bask in the your meaningless accomplishment before doing it all over again. There is no easy mode, you win or you give up like some kind of miserable giving-up-type person. From that description, you might think I know quite a bit about these games, but I assure you, my entire exposure is limited to dumb online jackasses. And I know it is wrong to judge a work based on the mouthbreathing morons who consider themselves fans, but these cunts really make it hard.
Should a game have difficulty modes? IDK. I guess I do, since I bothered to write up this paragraph. But it never occurred to me to think really hard about it. FromFans have! And they are not for them. The game, they say, should be frustratingly difficult with no undo button, because that is like life. This is not me making fun of them, this is what I have read these actual humans actually say to defend their passion. The mockery is further down, but first I feel the need to underscore a point for the people in the back. The question isn't over whether playing on easy mode makes you a worthless cuck beta. (because obviously it does) The objection is over having the option. Including this choice would harm the developers' creative vision. If you play it, die a bunch and get frustrated, then put the game down and never touch it again, hey--that's okay! Not every game is for every kind of person. Some games just aren't for you!
Alright, so it has one difficulty mode. Fine. Oddworld had one difficulty mode, and I played it... mostly no problem. Accept this attitude is far more pervasive than mere difficulty modes. It extends to every facet of the game's design. Altering any aspect whatsoever is an insult to the 40,000 hours of crunch the developers poured into this perfect work of art. (making use of the exploits is just fine tho!) At one point in the tweet thread I linked above, I am told that adding the option--the option! Adding the *option* for an audio cue to go along with visual attack animations would be unacceptable, because of-- and I quote--"what the game is." Why should I, as someone who might be interested to play the game, expect a developer to code features to make it easier? "Asking artists to alter their art walks video games as art backwards." The nerve of me, expecting that a game be as playable for me as it is for other people.
They even have a term for my wrong and shitty attitude: toxic entitlement. Which is pretty rich coming from guys (and it is a 100.8 percent probability that this entitled horseshit is coming from men) who choose to spend time going after people for daring to criticize their favorite video game. But I digress! Another more revealing quote from the manchild: "I'd rather a smaller set of people experience this in the pure ecstatic endorphin rush that it is than more people experience a diluted watered down version that's been done in other titles over time. If that means people are excluded due to audio cues, or needing visual tells and telegraphing intrinsic to the souls series, then that may be how it has to be. Or again, adapt and overcome like it teaches."
Adapt and overcome.
Hey, you with the fucked up legs? WALK IT OFF, PUSSY.
And the thing is, it's not just this one idiot. Nearly every interaction I have had with someone about how I'm not gonna try it if they aren't interested in designing it for people like me to play, the response is some version of this angry shrug emoji. Hey man, not all games are designed for all people. Nor should they be! It is okay that you can't play with your weird broken eyes, because mine work just fine so I can. You can play all those little weirdo blindy games that were made for weird little blindy people like you. It's just how life--and therefore video games--should be!
If you're wondering why it's hard for people with disabilities to play games, this is why. He went on to claim that adding such options would cause the games to lose popularity and sales would decline. I'm not sure what data he was using to make this assertion, but one simple fact shows how utterly full of shit it is: DS was remastered for PS5, and all these panting shills bought it. How can this be? Artistic intent ruined! Do you know how carefully these games are crafted? Every tick of every patrol rout for every NPC is calibrated to the hardware capabilities of the PS3 generation! You can't just plop that in a new console and expect it to run the same. And those textures sure look nice--in fact, they're too nice. It's distracting to me and I hate it. So you can beat it if you like, but a real gamer would snag a used console, risking death at the local pawn shop. (Or buying it off ebay for a cool $250, abusing the exploit of having more money than sense) If you're not a real gamer, that's okay! Winning isn't for everyone. Life is hard, and so should playing video games.