Arachnophobia, "no spiders", what should be important in P:E?

[testerius]

Well, usually every cRPG is about fantasy world where are many monsters, races and other things that are characteristic for this kind of game. Project Eternity is the successor to Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment. I really like these games and play them very often but I got small problem.

 

Oh, yes I don't like spiders because I afraid of them. Well, I don't scary small spiders but I don't like big tarantulas (big black) because they are really scary for me. If you play Skyrim you must know that there is many spiders which are really terrible and many players (women, men) can't play this game because they scary. I think spiders monsters are not very important to include them in every cRPG game. In my opinion, good cRPG game has:

• great story
  
• great dialogues (example Planescape Torment)
  
• freedom for player, I can do quests what I want and when I want
  
• interesting characters
  
• and GOOD atmosphere of the game (example Fallout 1)
  

Back to topic about spiders. Why don't include them in game? It is easy. People who have arachnophobia can play that game and enjoy story, world, many of us prefer great dialogues as Planescape Torment, so I hope we can play that game like we want. Of course combat is fun too but I think if you create other monsters and enemies (humans, elves, dwarves, wizards, dogs, orgs, ghost etc) that would be okay. Spiders are not important, they are useless and people who don't like them will be able to play without any fear.

 

I know that for some of you may be strange but in fact cRPGs games are not only to kill spiders. We don't need them in every fantasy. That's it. Let me know what do you think.

 

Regards.

[Nerei]

I am personally not afraid of spiders, actually I find them to be interesting creatures and I have more than once had fun examining them through either a magnifying glass or a microscope.

 

That said I tend to agree with you, if for slightly different reasons. For one the tendency in games to let you fight rats and big bugs initially tends to make you feel like a glorified pest exterminator.

Further I find them illogical and it irritates me when I have to fight big bugs, large insects are practically impossible, both their respiratory system and basic morphology prevents this. Spiders have a slight advantage in respiration but from what I remember can still not support a body the size of a cow. Yes I know this is fantasy but I would still like a bit of realism, especially if there is alternatives. Just replace the huge spiders, insects etc. with some other animal, goblins or something.

[Cultist]

They are scary, but so are bears, wolves, pumas and other animals. That way developers sould remove other monsters because some people have phobia of cats and dogs. Sorry, but that is a bad way for RPG. That reminds me about petitions from some parent organization akin to "Concerned Mothers" to remove drugs and brothels from Fallout, because that was a "bad influence".

I have various tarantulas and scorpions for more than 15 years already. They are animals just like others. I know in fantasy setting they may get unique abilities and agressiveness, but insectoid monsters today are a traditional monster category. It would be unresponsible for all others to remove this category.

[Rabain]

Create a simple slug/worm animation, everywhere there is a spider replace it with a worm if the Player has selected "no spiders" in the options menu. It can even use the same attacks as well as web etc.

 

Arachnophobia is much more widespread than fear of other animals so the argument that bears etc are also scary doesn't really mean much. Spiders exist on every continent and in pretty much every human environment, bears, wolves, pumas etc don't wander around every town and inside every house.

[Wirbowsky]

I think it must be a very severe phobia for not being able to play a game including spiders at some point. I suppose there are plenty of people not wanting to be near a real spider but being able to cope with one in movies, books or games

[Humanoid]

Besides the, ahem, adult mods, spider-replacement mods are probably the first ones that pop up for any given Bethesda game. Trickier with MMOs where modifying game assets tends to be frowned upon. I trust that whether it be by developer initiative or by modder support, it should be a quick fix for Eternity.

 

 

That said, I'm bored of spiders, so would support just having them around for no one.

[LadyCrimson]

Where do snakes fall on the list of biggest phobias around the world? My mother was horribly afraid of those, to the point of not even wanting to generally see them on TV (she'd look away).

 

I think there is a point where trying to cater to every fear or other possible condition can start to detract from an entertainment's initial concept, if that makes sense. But I don't really see not having spiders, specifically, as one of them. Unless there's going to be a plotline about a spider worshipping cult or something, maybe. I think things like spiders get used precisely because a lot of people, even if they don't have any serious phobia, find spiders "icky or creepy" so it's easy to use them as enemy fodder or to denote bad/evil. Same thing with snake-like creatures.

 

How far does one take it, tho? No realistic looking spiders, but what about fantasy creatures with spiderish features such as multiple, spindly legs and fangs for teeth? Does stuff like that trigger phobias too? Just curious.

[evdk]

I rather would not constrain the developers vision just because a particular monster might set somebody phobia off. On the other hand if the game is devoid of giant spiders I don't think I would shed a tear.

[Dronios]

http://fr.wikipedia....iste_de_phobies Delete everything of out the game ? Nonsense. Edited October 21, 2012 by Dronios

[Cultist]

http://fr.wikipedia....iste_de_phobies Delete everything of out the game ? Nonsense.

Sociophobia – fear of people or social situations.

Dragon Age 2 already did that.

But my personal favorite is this:

Necrophobia – fear of death and/or the dead

[Umberlin]

Odds are several decently sized spiders have crawled in your mouth, while you slept, repeatedly over the course of your life, so a few big spiders in a game won't hurt you.

 

[Piccolo]

I suffer from pretty bad arachnophobia, but even I agree that the developers shouldn't feel constrained or obliged to avoid using certain content; especially if they have some brilliant idea for incorporating spiders into the gameworld.

 

That said, if they don't have any brilliant ideas for spiders and they're just going to be thrown into the game as a generic enemy that adds nothing to the game at all, I think it's perfectly reasonable for the developers to take arachnophobia into consideration when deciding if there's anything better they can come up with.

 

Basically, arachnophobia should be a small consideration, but never one that gets in the way of good design ideas.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Piccolo

[norolim]

I'm afraid of heads. Could the devs please not include heads in the game? That would be awesome. There are many thing more important for a cRPG, than heads. Like hands, for example...though I don't feel too comfortable about hands either. So, no hands, either, please.

[testerius]

I'm afraid of heads. Could the devs please not include heads in the game? That would be awesome. There are many thing more important for a cRPG, than heads. Like hands, for example...though I don't feel too comfortable about hands either. So, no hands, either, please.

 

So, it's begin as Skyrim's forums...

 

I said that developers shouldn't add spiders into game because they are not too important. They could replace them example goblins, orgs or human enemies. I know someone who don't afraid them thinks it very stupid idea but you should understand it. I think it's not hard make a option in game called "replace/remove spiders". I don't have problems with Icewind Dale's spiders because they were low quality and they don't big as tarantulas (check The Temple of Elemental Evil)). Well, check out Skyrim. How many people download mods for "no spiders", people like cRPG but don't like these insects.

 

The best solution is implement feature for not spiders, if you a little scary of them you know how it feel. I prefer fight vs other creatures.

 

So much from me, I hope devs should do sth for us.

[HansKrSG]

I have emeotophobia, but I don't expect games to not have puking in them because of that. I am sorry for anyones phobia, having them is not easy, but I can't agree that developers should take in consideration every common phobia when making games.

[Fimbul]

So if people are afraid of death, you may not die in the game?

It's a game! Be thankful that you get an extra kick out of it! If you're afraid of them: Fight'em, purge'em, hit'em with a stick and kill'em with fire!

 

I personally don't have any particular fear or phobia, so excuse me if I lack a little empathy.

[Calmar]

I don'tmind spiders enemies, but generally they're just so overused in RPGs. Most people find spiders at least slightly revolting or downright horrible, stirring these feelings is basically as original as using rape as fool-proof device to establish a character as terribly evil.

 

Odds are several decently sized spiders have crawled in your mouth, while you slept, repeatedly over the course of your life, so a few big spiders in a game won't hurt you.

 

 

[Piccolo]

Whenever I see an arachnophobia topic on the internet, it always amazes me how many people just don't get it. Typical comments the OP can expect like "Most spiders are harmles, get over it" or "It's just a game" miss the point completely. Phobias are often completely irrational (with the sufferer being aware of this) and often extend to imagery. This separates them from rational fears like a fear of dying, or being afraid of a dangerous animal, which don't typically intrude on a person's day-to-day life very much at all.

 

Perhaps people who don't actually suffer from a genuine phobia are simply incapable of understanding. To them, it must seem silly and extremely trivial.

[rjshae]

Giant spiders aren't scientifically plausible creatures anyway. They can't get enough blood to their outer limbs. But what about a spider-shaped reptile with a chitinous body shell? Would that still scare an arachnophobe?

[Hormalakh]

I'm sure there'll be a mod out soon enough OP when the game comes out, so you should be OK.

[Shadenuat]

Projecting your own problems into outside world and irrelevant areas like games instead of getting treatment seems like a hit nowadays.

OTOH thanks to designers lacking any imagination giant spiders (and dragons, by the way) are so overused that if I'd make a monster manual for game, arachnophobes would sleep well knowing there won't be any. Seems like any RPG has them in their trailers, and developers have a bet of some sort of whos spiders would be the largest and awesome than of their rivals.

Let's add giant armadillo bugs instead, which could commune with player telepathically.

[norolim]

I'm afraid of heads. Could the devs please not include heads in the game? That would be awesome. There are many thing more important for a cRPG, than heads. Like hands, for example...though I don't feel too comfortable about hands either. So, no hands, either, please.

So, it's begin as Skyrim's forums...

The kind of phobia you have is insignificant. It's just one of many phobias and one of milions of individual requests the players may have. It's not possible for the devs to tailor the game to everyones needs and wishes. If they did this for you, they would suddenly face players requesting thousands of things for religious, cultural, moral and other valid reasons. As a result they'd never make a game. I'm sorry for you phobia mate, but please don't expect the game to be made specifically for you (and perhaps 20 other people, cause I don't think there would be more than 20 people suffering from such a severe case of arachnophobia interested in this game).

[Nerei]

Giant spiders aren't scientifically plausible creatures anyway. They can't get enough blood to their outer limbs. But what about a spider-shaped reptile with a chitinous body shell? Would that still scare an arachnophobe?

 

Unless you change the morphology it's not plausible no matter what respiratory or circulatory system you pick. If I make my spider 10000 times larger it's effective muscle strength becomes 1/10.000, which would not be enough to support it's body. Add to that that the effective strength of the chitinous outer shell or internal bones also drops rapidly compared to the mass of the creature and it effectively will shatter when it hits the ground.

If we want to be scientifically accurate the creature would really not resemble a spider very much as it would have to have quite sturdy legs and a much reinforced body to not die from gravity

[Hormalakh]

Giant spiders aren't scientifically plausible creatures anyway. They can't get enough blood to their outer limbs. But what about a spider-shaped reptile with a chitinous body shell? Would that still scare an arachnophobe?

 

Unless you change the morphology it's not plausible no matter what respiratory or circulatory system you pick. If I make my spider 10000 times larger it's effective muscle strength becomes 1/10.000, which would not be enough to support it's body. Add to that that the effective strength of the chitinous outer shell or internal bones also drops rapidly compared to the mass of the creature and it effectively will shatter when it hits the ground.

If we want to be scientifically accurate the creature would really not resemble a spider very much as it would have to have quite sturdy legs and a much reinforced body to not die from gravity

 

This is a little off-topic, but some spiders (jumping spiders) use their "muscles" by pushing fluid into their limbs, making it stiffer and allowing them to move. The muscles in these guys' legs is otherwise too weak for this type of movement.

 

http://science.howst...ids/spider6.htm

 

Very interesting creatures, spiders. too bad they're always shown as being "evil" and "disgusting."

Edited October 21, 2012 by Hormalakh

[HansKrSG]

Whenever I see an arachnophobia topic on the internet, it always amazes me how many people just don't get it. Typical comments the OP can expect like "Most spiders are harmles, get over it" or "It's just a game" miss the point completely. Phobias are often completely irrational (with the sufferer being aware of this) and often extend to imagery. This separates them from rational fears like a fear of dying, or being afraid of a dangerous animal, which don't typically intrude on a person's day-to-day life very much at all.

 

Perhaps people who don't actually suffer from a genuine phobia are simply incapable of understanding. To them, it must seem silly and extremely trivial.

 

I do understand phobia (as my own is very severe, its hard to get you to understand this over the internet, but trust me, my phobia is real and I know what its all about), but I still can't ask the developers to cater to my phobias. There has been times I have stopped seeing a movie, or playing a game when they touch too close to my own phobia, and personally I hate when it happens, but deep down, I know that my phobia is just one of many. If you were to remove anything that could touch on anyones (even among the relatively common ones) phobias, you would have to restrict yourself a good deal when creating your art.