Disability, Difficulty, And The Discourse That's Lost The Plot (The Jimquisition)

[@mtwall5933]

"People need to learn the difference between challenge and inconvenience" fucking THANK you

[@XX-jn8co]

Yeah I don't get how dying because you had to answer the door mid-way through a fight is a difficulty thing, that's just inconvenient design. A pause function should be a standard part of games and, really, has been for decades because gaming is something you do around stuff in your life. It occurs to me typing this that maybe those people simply live a life where other people are always around to cook, answer the door and such

[@Kirabetas]

That or they live a life where no one comes to visit, tries to contact them, etc. Remember, you aren't a "HaRdCoRe GaMeR TM" if gaming isn't something you do around stuff in your life, but is your life. That takes it from a form of entertainment you partake in on your free time to a literal part of your existence. It's not a hobby, it's a lifestyle choice. This paragraph hurt to write only because I've known people who embody it.

[@RoguSpanish]

And hell, if removing the pause button is a "challenge", why stop there? Why not make it so your character can get injured and have to be patched up in a hospital and then take days in REAL TIME to heal? None of these pussy-ass potions for fake gamers, real gamers crave the challenge of waiting a month or two for their character's broken bones to mend!

[@albert2006xp]

But that's the thing, they don't want to. Because they might not overcome challenge but they will overcome inconvenience. They want to feel skilled. So their ego gets tied to inconvenience and design that is purposefully built to give the illusion of difficulty (such as Elden Ring not telling you what order of difficulty and number scaling the zones are in, hoping you walk into a fight that's too much for you that you will sleep through later when you did everything in the right order).

[@albert2006xp]

@@Kirabetas Oh shut up. Don't use this to be anti-hardcore. These people who are against difficulty options are not hardcore. They don't know what difficulty is, they were just tricked by a game into thinking they are skilled so they defend that illusion to maintain their ego. Sorry that our lives are free and don't have to be bothered, doesn't make us all into pathetic casual Elden Ring fans. Hardcore players generally stomp in multiplayer games for a challenge or play games for the difficulty in games that are actually difficult and give you the difficulty settings to make it actually difficult. Difficulty settings are a pretty much mandatory thing to make a game difficult. Because if a game is beat by more than 1% of its players on a difficulty I would never class that as difficult.

[@Carn_Is_Done]

1:58 That person really tried to justify their dislike of that no-death mode by suggesting supporting disabled people with accessibility options is as bad as supporting Nazism and the KKK? :O (and Nazis weren't particularly nice to disabled folk in general). :O

[@PanEtRosa]

yeah, 'cause they actually believe that. to them, all those things are forms of weakness, and that's the real enemy, the real danger to society.

[@Jelly_Skelly]

@@PanEtRosa Exactly. Putting accommodations for the disabled in the same category as condoning racism says A LOT about that commenter.

[@Tolly7249]

Yeeeeah... frankly I think Steph was being too kind in censoring their name, that kind of disgusting attitude needs to be dragged into the light.

[@meatmobile]

Its the same deal as calling someone a commie or 'gender taliban' or whatever. They dont know what the word means, just that theyre a snarl word they can lob at people they dont like.

[@Carn_Is_Done]

@@meatmobile Oh yeah, I only recently saw that 'gender taliban' one and by JK. And I'm like... wow... since when did Trans folk and allies start executing transphobes? Or being a s**cide bomber running into a TERF protest mob?

[@poposterous236]

I like how the tweet's argument basically boils down to, "Listen, you don't like racists, right? That's how we feel about disabled people."

[@Vanilla_Dpad]

I'm still speechless over that bit, imagine typing all that out, reading it back and thinking "yeeaaah that's a sensible comparison".

[@akaimizu1]

To me, it feels worse. It’s basically comparing iconography behind movements that include those who want to eradicate or subjugate entire demo-graphs of people; to the inclusion of accessibility features for those with disabilities.

[@Br1cht]

I think the point he tried to make is that one thing doesn’t come alone. It never does, giving people without ability an easy mode wouldn’t be bad in of itself but they always put in other stuff with it.

[@greenredblue]

​@@Br1chtIt's a terrible argument, and a false equivalence. People who venerate racist iconography are demonstrably racist. The "extra baggage" they might bring with them is entitlement and hatred. People who want to enable more players to enjoy their product are _game designers_ and savvy businesspeople, and whatever "extra baggage" they bring with them are likely to be *other gameplay features.* If someone has a legitimate problem with _those features,_ then they have every opportunity to complain about them directly. Instead, they're using the vague hypothetical to justify an irrational position on a completely unrelated topic.

[@what.5693]

@@Br1chtthe next question would be what accessibility features are an indicator of and why is it a bad thing. The only real answer is that the devs care to some degree about more people enjoying their game, particularly people who are disabled. There is no reasonable explanation for how this is bad let alone as bad as supporting nazis.

[@joshreichardt2485]

It should be self-evident that your joy in playing a game should not be diminished by someone elses joy just because they play it differently. Unlike most resources, joy is unlimited, so enjoy it!

[@jimballard1186]

I think it must therefore be self-evident that what the Hardcore Gamers feel toward games is not joy. Dunno exactly what it is, but given that they want no one else to see their hobby, I'll guess it's shame.

[@nerdjournal]

is that the internet verson of live laugh love? lol jk

[@cernos7230]

It should also be self-evident that you don't have to force yourself into every game that exists

[@Elwaves2925]

@@jimballard1186 Maybe they feel an EA level sense of 'pride and accomplishment'? 😁 Seriously, it's a sense of msguided elitism those hardcore gamers feel, the sense that they are better than everyone else because they supposedly played on the hardest mode. They are not better.

[@TTRPGSarvis]

⁠@@Elwaves2925But you can also get pride and accomplishment from playing a game with an Easy Mode on "Nightmare Ironman Fucks Your Face" mode. Because that can also exist alongside easy modes.

[@GentleIceZ]

"I mean, if you gotta go answer the phone, or take a shit, it's like, 'Tough shit if you gotta take a shit!' You gotta take a quick shit! You gotta have turbo turds! I'm trying to play the game, I've got shit stains in my pants, and an answering message on my phone that says 'Sorry, I'm playing Ghostbusters II on Nintendo.' What a selfish game. *Bottom line, have a fucking pause button, Goddamn it!* " - The Angry Video Game Nerd on the NES video game adaptation of Ghostbusters II

[@desmondbrown5508]

It's ironic that no one argued that was wrong, and even thought it quite funny. Now it's somehow "sacrosanct" to mess with basic features like this.

[@AlteredNova04]

I can't believe that the angry video game nerd went woke like that, lmao

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

Now they would call AVGN "woke" for that.

[@CraftyArts]

Its only incorrect when a minority says it.

[@unit--ns8jh]

wow the wokes ruined AVGN now 🙁

[@JustSomebody5]

It's worth noting there's a mod on Nexusmods called 'PAUSE THE GAME' originally uploaded about 3 days after Elden Ring was released.

[@soultundra7869]

Yeah... but people shouldn't have to download mods to perform a basic function that is available in 99.99% of other games

[@Eon2641]

@@soultundra7869 Accurate, but it's information worth spreading around so people know it exists.

[@Patrick-Phelan]

Which really shows the hollowness of their arguments, assuming that mod's comment section isn't unbearable. Then again, their argument is bad either way. If the mod's comment section isn't unbearable, they're inconsistent. If it is, consistent, but stupid.

[@greggreg2027]

I cant even find a mod that returns a removed gameplay option in Darkest Dungeon. And that thing has been out for 8 years. Games should stand on their own without mods.

[@soultundra7869]

@@greggreg2027 Indeed. Mods should be there to add flavour and extra touches, not provide necessary function.

[@rasengdori13]

The option for a pause button in offline Elden Ring, a feature that any normal, sane, and rational person would agree with, genuinely caused commenters in Alanah Pearce’s video to wish her and more game developers lose their jobs in 2024. Nobody hates game developers more than gamers, and that needs to be a topic for a video in itself. I don’t think any other hobby has more toxicity ingrained into its culture.

[@abadenoughdude300]

The internet, where people have an insufferable need to have the most extreme opinions imaginable about the most irrelevant topics.

[@mjc0961]

"I don’t think any other hobby has more toxicity ingrained into its culture." Allow me to introduce you to Star Wars

[@randomtinypotatocried]

@@mjc0961Yeah it's been a trash fire still the original movies according to my pops who was heavily involved in the fandom community at the time

[@cv5953]

Corpos have done a great job of making customers hate the labor class of the companies they buy from.

[@Patrick-jd1ku]

@@mjc0961 to be fair, the venn diagram of terrible star wars fans and terrible gamer chuds has a lot of overlap

[@hummens44]

"Having no life is not a skill" - shots fired at the Great Unwashed

[@wabicajo]

This whole comment is an isekai anime, also true

[@TheSleepyowlet]

@@albert2006xp The argument was about Elden Ring not having a pause button for when the doorbell rings or your toddler wants something. Imagine writing a wall of text waxing poetic about skill and difficulty while also missing that particular tidbit.

[@PrimalSion]

@@albert2006xp what a massive novel just to cope with being trash at a hard game

[@mojojojoke8028]

@@albert2006xp Nobody's reading all that so congratulations/sorry about that depending on context.

[@theomegajuice8660]

@@albert2006xp No one is impressed by your gamer skill. I can not stress this enough. We all want a fun gaming experience, not a 2nd job you pay to do

[@Romanticoutlaw]

this is like insisting on throwing yourself down a stairwell instead of walking down the stairs because somebody built a ramp next to it

[@mandolinbee]

I know you're just being silly, but believe it or not, I've been verbally accosted for being "the problem" because I use a wheelchair and ramps and accessibility are "special treatment". So... the angry at ramps people exist. i wish they used your idea more. 😂

[@SharienGaming]

@@mandolinbee yeah they would be doing the world a favour if they did... i get angry at how much cars are given special treatment while some sidewalks are barely even wide enough to accomodate a wheelchair that parking garage has gotta be there - what adding an elevator? why would we need that, theres STAIRS over there *sigh* and im not even affected by most of those problems...

[@hazukichanx408]

Yes, and then when people ask why, you go "Well did you know the confederates used stairs, huh, huh! And the third reich! And the KKK, they walked on stairs too! I reject your woke stairs! Self-YEET!!"

[@hazukichanx408]

@@mandolinbee Alarming, the lengths to which people will go just to... what, even? Find someone to look down on, make themselves feel temporarily taller, I suppose. Convince themselves that they are "strong" because they don't presently suffer from crippling injury, chronic health conditions or whatever else may very well be lurking a few years in their own future. And because _right now_ they don't need "special treatment", well, nobody else deserves it either! Myopic bloody wankers.

[@ReikuYin]

​@@SharienGamingI've had an interesting conversation with people like that with the advantage of a location where I live. Someone was bitching about elevator and accessibility ramps in the subway and how it encroached on "able bodied people" and I looked at them and asked, "Have you been to the CN Tower?" They said no but have considered going. So I said, "So you'll use the stairs to get to the top? All over a thousand of them? (I've done a climb for charity in my younger days.)" And they said something along the lines of "Why would I do that when there is a perfectly good elevator?". So I threw it back at them saying, "Well you are "able bodied", why would you need it?" Their answer was, "Faster and it's convenient." So I said, "It's nice to have that choice huh?" Don't think they understood anything I was trying to say to them.

[@guitarzero1836]

Steph as a disabled uk citizen the part about how the uk treats disabled people hits hard. I’ve always said we are treated as second class citizens. I’ve lost count of the amount of jobs that rejected me because I use a wheelchair. I left my last job because they called me into the office and point blank asked me if my taking slightly longer to use the bathroom was an excuse to get away from my work and run out the clock. The disabled toilet was being used as a filing cabinet at one job I interviewed for. I have to jump through enough hoops in my real life I don’t need that shite in the virtual world.

[@PaulTheFox1988]

@bleh329 it does, it has the disability discrimination act 1992, and the equality act 2010 as well as multiple laws surrounding employment, but unfortunately these laws aren't always well understood by either the employers, or the people they're designed to protect. It's also the fact the legal aide to persue claims has been massively cut so the poorest in society struggle to afford legal fees, and because the losing side would have to pay court costs, if the disabled person bringing the legal action loses, they'd be out of pocket by hundreds of even thousands. Finally the delays to the courts have meant that cases are delayed by months or even years. In other words, disabled people are sol and completely alone in defending themselves, and while Citizens Advice Bureaux are excellent at providing help, they're limited in what they can offer I'm hoping that the new labour government can strengthen the legal protections for workers as they pledged in their manifesto, and extend and enhance those protections to disabled workers

[@cas4047]

yeah many people I know get questioned about their disability than help from the systems. A couple of times I've been told even if I get an offical diagnosis there won't likely be any help for me and how it'll be a waste time or waste of NHS resources. Most jobs I have worked at talk about how they will hire anyone but when working there it was more than obvious a wheel chair could never fit most spaces or only had steps. Honestly even jobs with disability confidence on the job ads I don't trust because they might not assist to certain disabilities. Good luck with any jobs you find and yes to giving our games more options to help us enjoy it more! It's nice to just chill in games than battle the game it's self to even play it.

[@NukkuiskoHyvinVaiPois]

I'm neurodivergant and in here education (unlike jobs) is a right that's supposed to be open for everyone and schools need to accomodate accordingly. After a year of constant fighting to get fucking anything, I off-handendly said to the (nice) school nurse that the school is lucky no news outlets got interested when I sent them my story Suddendly the school was very interested in having talks with me, I even got to meet the person responsible for all financial decisions. And by that I mean they berated and blamed me for an hour, saying shit like "we've had multiple autistic students and I who never talk to students - most of whom are 16 and don't know their rights - never heard any complaints so clearly the issue is you". Have really high hopes for employment when this is how the places that are legally required to accomodate treat people

[@Beckit-Mog]

​@cas4047 I just wanted to say, it's not a waste of NHS resources for you to seek diagnosis for any condition you think you might have. If all it gives you is peace of mind, that is a good enough reason to do so. And let's be honest, if you get a diagnosis, you are getting more than that. Even if there's no medication to help (one I've heard a lot around autism), simply knowing what the issue is and understanding yourself better helps, and it also opens up avenues for getting support. I'm saying this as someone who is disabled and has seen the NHS from the professional side too. If you want diagnosis, if you want to know, that is enough reason, and it's never a waste.

[@JackPowerX]

Battletoads had a pause function. Ninja Gaiden had a pause function. Two of the gold standards of Nintendo Hard™️ had pause functions. And they were *still* hard as balls. There's no excuse for this shit.

[@greggreg2027]

Contra had a pause button.

[@DannyboyO1]

@@greggreg2027 Also had the konami code.

[@maskoblackfyre]

Sekiro has a pause function

[@dandan3045]

There isn't, nor are you forced to play it knowing it doesn't have a pause function.

[@jon9828]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qX-rmGRjmpx5jtEsi=Fu1AfwZCdnKijCsP This seems relevant to the conversation. (It's a video by the channel "illusory wall" on the topic of pausing in fromsoft games).

[@Rubberman202]

Something similar happened with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's remake just over a month ago; the game has a gauntlet known as "The Pit of 100 Trials" and the idea is that you go through 100 floors filled with increasingly powerful enemies to gain useful items and badges. Every 10 floors there's a "break" from the enemies to give you your reward, as well as the option to go back to the entrance, but doing so means you have to fight your way back to that point all over again. The remake adds the ability to skip to 50 floors once you've reached the 50th floor the first time, but it also has something that feels a bit more unintentional; see, in the remake, when you die in battle, you get three options: return to the title screen, go back to the last save, or "Try Again". Choosing "Try Again" has to go back to the entrance of the room you were in and basically allows you to retry the battle. There was a huge fuss over this when it was discovered since this also applies to Pit of 100 Trials battles, too, and many felt it defeated the point of a gauntlet and its inherent difficulty. As for me, though, I figured the traditional challenge is still there, if you still want to take it, and besides, battles in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door do have a random element to them thanks in part to the stage elements (that is, the battles take place on a literal theater stage and sometimes props drop on you or the enemies or other weird/wacky shenanigans happen). It'd suck to have to go back to the beginning of the pit just because of random bad luck you had no way to plan for or work around. But again, the option to play the Pit like it used to is still there, you can choose to either try again or go back to your previous save, so if you still want the traditional challenge, it's still there if you want it. Of course, people go on about how "now anybody can get these treasures instead of actually working for it" or something like that, it goes back to the "story mode" option Steph brought up in this video. Now, on one hand, I get that the idea behind the Pit is that it's a risky venture and that by taking the challenge your efforts are rewarded, but at the same time, it's not like the Pit is a cakewalk now because of the new "Try Again" option, the enemies are still tough and you still need to prepare to take on a lot of them, even if you now have the option to retry certain rooms. Some people just seem to take issue with the idea that what was once exclusive to select players is not being a bit more accessible; maybe this isn't what they're consciously thinking about, but it definitely comes of as people wanting certain parts of games to be more exclusionary, to draw lines in the sand between the "true, hardcore gamers" and "filthy casuals". It's all very petty and childish, if you ask me. ...Besides, the final prize of the Pit isn't even all that great, if you ask me.

[@MetalJoshi156]

See I was thinking "ugh, got to do the whole pit again just to fight the new boss" then was completely over the moon when the option to skip 50 floors became a thing (which by the way, people need to have already BEATEN the Pit to unlock anyway lmao) Star Ocean: The Last Hope had an optional endgame dungeon bit like the Pit but it's randomly generated with i and the superboss at the end taking HOURS to get through. And there's NO save points at all or options to skip through after clearing floors. I would have KILLED for those quality of life improvements that TTYD remake introduced. It's the best remake I could have asked for my favourite game. The gatekeepers can go screw themselves.

[@resileaf9501]

Gamers™ often confuse quality of life for lack of challenge. Fitting, considering the subject of this video.

[@alexbrangan2885]

​​@@resileaf9501Ultrahard difficulty by way of bad QoL started as a mechanism for arcade machines to hoover up all your quarters. If you wanted to "git gud," you had to empty your pockets. Much like everything else about gaming as an identity/lifestyle brand, it all comes back to pride in giving corporations your money.

[@FelisImpurrator]

More importantly, who gives a damn if other people can get it or not? It's the height of insecurity to be so obsessed with how others play games.

[@aturchomicz821]

Return postage failing in chapter 8 is still such a funny troll to me😭

[@lewa3910]

Personally, i think your the fakest gamer if you cry about an 'invincibility mode' being part of a game's options, when literally everyone as a child would look up cheats for that very option back in the day

[@Carn_Is_Done]

Right? And sometimes those were a pain in the butt to input with complex sequences of codes or passwords. But some of these folk still memorised them cos they couldn't do without. How many people still know the Konami code for 30 lives on Contra? :P

[@jingbot1071]

R2 R2 L1 R2 Left Down Right Up Left Down Right Up. Now all the fake gamers can tell me why I don't "Deserve" every weapon at once while dodging the overpowered M16.

[@banquetoftheleviathan1404]

Getting their self worth from a videogame

[@Eilandfreier364]

I never did. It always felt like cheating and was very unrewarding for me. Maybe it is because I'm competitive person but I frequently stop playing games that are too easy but never because they are too difficult.

[@sageoftruth]

This pretty much. I understand people being passionate about something and wanting others to get as deep into it as they are, but as a kid, I cheated all the time. Game Genie, iddqd, Power Overwhelming... and I still turned into a challenge seeker as an adult. Now, I see easy modes and even cheats as a convenient ice breaker for people who need help jumping in. Interest comes before mastery, and I'm all for making it easier to get interested.

[@livelongandtroll9108]

I shouldn't be surprised that someone managed to compare accessibility options to NAZl DLC but Gamer's™...uh... found a way.

[@cv5953]

Don't bring Jeffrey Everloving Goldblum into this. He's an angel

[@1wayroad935]

Discourse like this is the reason why companies think that they can outsmart gamers all the time.

[@sauce1101]

not sure about gamers, but they're right about "gamers" I also have no idea what I mean! :D

[@MonEyRuLess]

And they can!

[@LadyDoomsinger]

And... arguably why they're right 😒

[@mephdlop]

I think we need to pause this conversation for a moment.... Oh, wait....

[@Topcatyo.]

And frequently do

[@Danbecker000]

If you don't want to play on "easy" mode, just choose a different difficulty setting. That's like getting mad at a game for having a colorblind mode. "Why is this setting in the game?" For someone else that needs that setting.

[@AllegraPersephone]

The color blind mode actually looks nicer or at least nice and different. Some people who are not color blind actually prefer it.

[@Danbecker000]

@@AllegraPersephone NGL, never tried colorblind mode but now I think I'll at least check it out. If it's easier on the eyes then that'd be great.

[@MintyCoolness]

They seem to believe that an option they might not ever choose is terrible speaks of their need to pandering only to themselves...

[@rolfs2165]

The thing I don't get: they get mad for a game having an easy mode, because it's (allegedly) all about difficulty. But has anyone heard them complain that Diablo and other games lock their harder difficulties behind having to complete the game at least once?

[@YouPlague]

@@Danbecker000 Try it in Witcher III, it's so much better for the witcher sense.

[@Luxury_interior42]

As a chronic pain sufferer who loves souls games, a pause button would be really helpful

[@0LoneTech]

That's not even a game function. It's simply not running the game. I have a 1980s laptop that does this for *any* program; a mechanical switch that stops the processor clock. That should essentially be the reaction to losing connection with those battery powered controllers, anyhow.

[@dyalani643]

Fun fact: You can pause Elden Ring, but it's convoluted and requires like 4 button presses. Basically if you open the menu explnation on an inventory item it will pause the game. So there is no reason not to have a pause button.

[@sdgdhpmbp]

Gotta use what ya got. Playing on PC, I learned how to pause on the keyboard in case my controller's battery runs out. I could just charge it before but eh.

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

How not having a pause button challenging you just raise your hand up to any low level grunt to own you or hide like a coward look challenging

[@SilverLuna07]

Another way I use is to just exit to main menu. The game saves constantly and exiting and reloading the game takes like 2 seconds. But as you pointed out, there is literally no reason the offline game shouldn't pause when in menu.

[@garbageboy8857]

Yeah, I get why you can't pause in online play, but it should be there for offline play. Didn't sekiro have a pause function?

[@albedobandito1289]

If you're on console you can also hit the home button and suspend gameplay. I get that the menus being real-time are a part of the game, but making this ability system-dependent is an oversight for sure.

[@FrankenSteinsGate]

"I can't believe Alanah would do something as disrespectful as comparing child-rearing to living with a chronic disability! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to compare a no-death option in a single-player game to the Holocaust, because those two things are literally the same."

[@jimballard1186]

Underrated comment.

[@lochlucille]

That tweet... God, how depressing. I did the dumb thing of looking up more of the guy's tweets, and yeeessshh, it is grim...

[@friskyxbadger]

I didn't choose to be disabled. She chose to be.

[@arcadia9589]

@@friskyxbadger but she's not and she didn't? Put some more points in Int.

[@nomisunrider6472]

She didn't even compare it to a chronic disability! She said it was a situational disability! And frankly as a chronically disabled person who needs accommodations, I like that terms like situational disability are breaking down the idea that people are neatly divided into 'disabled' and 'not disabled'. Everyone will be some form of disabled at some point in their lives, that's why we need accessibility.

[@NukkuiskoHyvinVaiPois]

A quote from the former Bioware writer David Gaider: "And the person who says that the only way to please them is to restrict options for others is, if you ask me, the one who deserves it least." Plenty of people were angry when in DA II (2011) characters would flirt with you unprompted regardless of your gender. The quote is a part of Gaider's reponse to a particular post, which said Bioware neglected straight male gamers (poster's words not mine) who should be the focus because they're the majority and "no homo" option being ommitted further proves their point. Also the romance options being an elf and poc is "exotic" and another point towards the straight whites getting ignored.

[@Sonichero151]

I played Dragon Age 2, the flirting I got from the companions wasn't even a blimp or concern. I just went "eh, that's cute" and kept playing.

[@Zeverinsen]

It's almost like they had to experience a tiny bit of what it's like to be a woman for 5 seconds, and didn't like it 💀

[@jeronimo196]

@@Zeverinsen if I roleplay a heterosexual male paladin, I don't want to experience what it's like to be a woman. Shocking, I know. @NukkuiskoHyvinVaiPois - wait for someone to make a "no homo" mod, see how fast they get banned on nexusmods. See how long the "don't restrict options for others" principle lasts.

[@Liberty_or_Ded]

This is your brain on social activism rot.

[@NukkuiskoHyvinVaiPois]

@@Liberty_or_Ded Sure Jan 😂

[@crusaderofpassion1381]

The thing that gets me about the Alanah Pierce nontroversy is that Gamers(tm) are saying that she is basically demanding an easy mode, but if you look at the friggin title of the video, she actually DEFENDS the difficulty in the DLC.

[@aliquidcow]

I took her as basically saying 'these are things that are considered 'disabilities' in game-development terms' and that it was up to the developer to decide if and how to take these things into consideration. It was a nuanced point about how they may actually choose *not* to cater to certain things if they think it is detrimental to the game, but they should at least think about it. But then the internet does not do nuance.

[@technopoptart]

yeah but she's a giiiiiiiirl, with, ew; opiiiiniooooons can't be having _that_ in this day an' age, can we?

[@shoestringVA]

“Not all games are for everybody” is supposed to be in regards to genre and gameplay mechanics, not accessibility! I almost exclusively play platformers, rpgs, and hack n slashers. As such, I really don’t have any interest in business management games. Will I kick and scream when other people enjoy those? No! Cause I’m not a skeleton warrior.

[@vvitch-mist20]

Everything has to be for everyone these days. Look at social media for anything, not just video games, so people just come to expect to be catered to. When they aren't catered to they feel like it's the worst thing in the world.

[@Laezar1]

There are some accessibility features that can be incompatible with a game but for the most part they're largely compatible and have no reason to not be added. Like, if your game is based on color puzzles and optical illusions with those colors then yeah it's understandable why you wouldn't add a colorblind mode (though would need a warning that the game can't be played while colorblind). But if your games has visual puzzles that just happen to use color to code information but could be done otherwise then no a colorblind feature doesn't hurt your artistic vision of the game or the player experience. And if a fighting game adds simple inputs and lets dyspraxic people play it maybe don't start whining about instant DP and play the other fighting games that are made for you specifically at the exclusion of others lol, people using "not all games are for everybody" to mean "this genre that I like should exclusively have games that caters to my specific design preference even if it excludes an entire group of people" is so fuckin annoying.

[@Eilandfreier364]

Stop using disabled people as a shield for your own egoistic desires. Disabled people aren't children. If you have ever had a disabled relative you'd know that they hate nothing more than being infantilized. They need better input methods, configurable keyboard bindings, high contrast mode, audio guided menus, custom controllers, etc but not easier games. Stop conflating your lazy a** with disablied people, you're doing them a disservice.

[@mrcaos999]

The problem is. Accessibility features are fine. But people still cry for "easy mode". But if you asks them why: "because i want to play the game excacly like i want." It's basicly the same as complaining in Cal of Duty that i have to aim. Because i not want to aim in my egosh++ter game. The souls community becomes more and more toxi'c because they offer tips and solution. But then have to engange with people that simply not want to engange with the RPG mechanics of the RPG game.

[@vvitch-mist20]

@@mrcaos999 That's how people wanted it. They wanna enjoy Souls games without the thing that makes it what it is. I hate difficult games. I get no joy out of it however I still enjoy Souls games. I love watching other people play it and the character designs and story are compelling to enjoy it. I would just hate having to replay it over and over bc I keep dying. I also don't have time to spend grinding to get good so hard games aren't for me. People gotta get comfortable watching other people have fun.

[@originalslothking]

It's funny that when the AAA Games Industry puts forward "it's optional!" as a defense for their manipulative push for microtransactions and many other forms of monetization in games, everyone just accepts that excuse and goes along with it, however when the ability to access the game you want to play EVEN if you're disabled is added to the game the Gamers™️ flip the fuck out over something that is LITERALLY ACTUALLY COMPLETELY OPTIONAL TO EVERYONE.

[@ReverendRaff]

Bingo! The hypocrisy is unending.

[@abithefallenhuman921]

To quote the DOOM twitter: You control what buttons you press

[@ventusvanitas7544]

The thing is, accessibility and difficulty are often confused with each other. We should have accessibility, but not difficulty sliders. I mean, let’s say an easy mode exist for souls games, but that ain’t solving a deaf or a color blind person’s issue, right? Exactly

[@ventusvanitas7544]

@@ReverendRaffnah

[@klisterklister2367]

​@@ventusvanitas7544 why do you keep bringing up colorblindness? What does this have to do with pausing a game? If I need to take a shit I want there to be a pause button.

[@thedogmaticdirector]

What confuses me about the "Pause in Elden Ring" debate is that during the tutorial area, the game actually does pause! Which means the game has always been capable of it. So why is it not an option when you're, at least, offline?

[@LearnedAndVile]

The funny thing is, you actually CAN pause in Elden Ring at any time by going into your inventory or equipment or anything really, hit the select button to bring up the menu help options and selecting 'menu explanation'. The game will completely pause. You can do this at any time (even during combat), and it even works online!

[@CamiloFHSC]

@@LearnedAndVile Holy shit! Really? That's good info to have, thanks!

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

​@@LearnedAndVileHonestly, it sounds so beautifully broken, it goes all the way back to pure genius

[@nekolalia3389]

Explaining chronic pain to someone who has never gone through it is like explaining an eldritch horror. Their experiences with pain have always been tempered with the security that at some point it’s going to end, and to imagine that could possibly not be the case is impossible. You’ve lived it, or you’re fundamentally oblivious to it.

[@BriBCG]

I don't even bother trying to explain mine to people, I learned long ago there's no possible way for them to understand. Nearly everyone will experience it at some point since that's just a part of aging. The part that does annoy me is that people will say 'you look fine!' just because you're not constantly looking crippled or complaining.

[@Pro-gressive]

I've never had my experience summed up so eloquently, thank you.

[@RowdyRodimus]

It's even worse when the doctor says the whole "you look fine" thing. Like some of us don't grit our teeth and just try to get through the day without complaining as much as we really want to. I leave the complaining to everyone begging for prayers for the healing of their paper cuts that it seems everyone on my Facebook list sends out.

[@Josh_Quillan]

@@RowdyRodimus That's a red flag on your doctor, right there. If my doctor came out with shit like that it would be my last dealing with them.

[@JayEyedWolf]

​@@Josh_QuillanIt is, but unfortunately not everyone has the freedom of choice for doctors. Small towns might only have one or two, period. You might only have one doctor on the local busline, or only one within driving distance who is also covered by your insurance. Specialists often require recommendation to get an appointment, and you can't count on your primary doctor nor your insurance accepting your reasoning not to see that one again. Hell, doctors in general are often not taking patients because their caseload is already way too high, so this might be the ONLY doctor who you can even get an appointment with. It's fair to be appalled by doctor behavior, but it's not fair to imply that subpar care resulting from seeing that doctor is somehow the patient's fault, that they "should have" known better, made different choices, etc. I doubt very much that anyone would stay with a doctor who disrespected them if they had other options, so it's more productive to consider why they wouldn't feel they had a better option, and what, if anything, you could do to help with that-- both at scale and in your personal life, for anyone who might be in the same boat. TL;DR - Doctor-shopping is a privilege that not everyone has. If you do have it, consider if there's anything you can do to share that privilege around!

[@LSDnSideBurns]

Having your front doorbell ring is like boss music for Millennials.

[@DrErikNefarious]

Easy mode, which was a thing in games for a long ass time, are now comparable to *checks notes* facism.......WHAT?!

[@Planag7]

Indeed one of my favorite versions was from the Sega Saturn version of Sonic jam. It's almost a ridiculous version of the game, but somehow? It's a fun time still. Never came back in any other version though

[@Gloomdrake]

@@Planag7sonic is fascist?! /s

[@luketfer]

To be fair, a lot of those games from the 80s/90s/early 00s which had an easy mode would often take the piss out of the player for selecting it AND limit the content. There are numerous games where they would pretty much say to the player "play this game on normal or harder in order to get the real ending". Not only that but because of the Rental culture in the US and EU, game devs would purposefully crank the difficulty up so people would keep renting the games. Battle Toads and Streets of Rage 3 are two examples of this where the difficult selections are actually one step higher than they are in Japan. With US/EU Normal difficulty being Japanese Hard difficulty.

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

Easy mode is a "woke" now.

[@TheNefastor]

Compared, but not comparable.

[@otasatic]

"Having no life is not a skill." Brutal. And so apt 💅

[@Eilandfreier364]

Being unable to accept that not every game is made for you isn't a skill either...

[@osric1730]

@@Eilandfreier364 Grow up. That argument holds water only if a game has to be adapted in a manner that affects the gameplay of others. Nobody is asking for that, so get your head out of your proverbial.

[@JohnDBlue]

Honestly, I wish having no life granted me some skills. I'd be fucking insane at video games if it did

[@nonasuomi282]

​@@Eilandfreier364nor is being a whiny little crybaby at the notion that people can enjoy things differently than you exclusionary no-life losers do.

[@MilkieMouse]

Apparently my generation didn't grow up hearing that enough, because I feel like I have to apologize on behalf of all millennials for modern gamers today. I played Nintendo, I don't know where they learned to behave this way. But god they make me ashamed to be part of their herd. That's right. If you ever wonder why video game discourse is an utter nightmare, consider this: it is an industry largely dominated by out-of-touch 40-somethings who grew up playing games instead of talking to people. Suddenly it all starts to make sense. You realize the guys who sat around talking about how great they were at CoD, weren't good enough at anything else to mention. You realize they're still like that. Maybe it's a good thing I was never quite as good at games as they were. I might be wallowing in that pit too if not for being bad at games forcing me to find joy in other things.

[@TalesZuliani]

There are zero reasons as to why I should not be able to - pause a game - pause a cutscene - skip a cutscene When it comes to single player offline games

[@darby2314]

In the USA there are people that think being born homeless and never being able to move your wealth status above poor is a 'skill issue'. These are not serious people.

[@Rhysdux]

I've met some who believe that if you're disabled, your parents must have sinned. Oh, and it's your fault for remaining disabled as an adult because you haven't prayed hard enough or gone to the right church. So yeah, to them, disability is a skill issue. Either you or your parents aren't playing the game of life the way it's meant to be played.

[@darby2314]

@@Rhysdux Yikes

[@carlab994]

And the Supreme Tribunal just decided to criminalise living in the streets! Sounds like another excuse to criminalise poverty.

[@Chickenkeeper]

What is it about gamers constantly thinking they're in the Olympics? It's your bedroom, not an e-sports competition. Even with multiple ways to play a game you can just specify what rules you played by if you want to let everyone know how skilled you are, it's done with things like speedrunning all the time

[@pilotpetrov3855]

That's a shot on the dark, but I assume that for some people games are not entertainment for some free time but rather it's their whole identity. And if that's the case they attach their self worth to their achievements in games. It's kinda sad really.

[@coriander_sun]

Yeah, I remember as a kid (~30 years ago) it was not uncommon to say "I beat ___ on hard mode" when talking about your video game accomplishments. We never complained when there was an easy mode, or acted like their existence was a thing that diminished our experience - It was just there, and if we didn't want to use it, we didn't have to. Difficulty levels in games have existed practically forever at this point - It's completely silly how some people are getting themselves all bent out of shape about it.

[@PlatinumPaladin]

It's because these particular gamers are fortunate enough to have absolutely fuck all else going on in their lives. Nothing of any worth or significance. So this is the hill they've chosen to die on.

[@Gormathius]

@@PlatinumPaladin Can't they just choose to, like, not die on a hill?

[@greggreg2027]

lol I read that as "It's your bathroom, not an e-sports competition."

[@theSpaceLumberjack]

I had my daughter when elden ring came out. I had to run away or die from any enemy when she needed me. Which was frequent. I didn't give a flying fuck because she is a human. But I did care that I couldn't fucking pause it

[@tlozmeowcatz7991]

Seriously this. So many people don't have to pause suddenly from being interrupted and so they think nobody else should need to. They can't imagine that people have kids, or live with people with chronic health issues, etc. If they don't want to pause they don't have to, but the option should be there and it wouldn't change a thing if it was implemented for the people that need it.

[@magnaesca165]

this game wasn't designed for people who have lives

[@Sabarok]

Indicators is an accurate answer. A game that gives accessibility options is something I consider to be a positive indicator, making me MORE likely to spend my money on the game, even if I never use that specific option. I have played some games recently and seen a lot of options to change gameplay to make it more accessible and I've thought "This is awesome that more people are able to play this game".

[@elgronk.]

Didn’t know easy mode participated in the holocaust. Need to go back to my high school and have my history teacher (if he’s still alive) explain himself.

[@randomtinypotatocried]

Same with my history professors. Would have liked to known when originally doing my history program

[@cv5953]

Necromancy is woke

[@pixlefox]

me at 10: "the future will have flying cars" 2024: "gamers comparing accessibility to racism"

[@prof.loophole9708]

Love using another crabs treasure innthe background for this argument. This is a souls like with a pause button, disability options, and a one hit kill option. Its also an amazing game

[@saniakshay12]

I used to be one of those Souls people who wouldn't summon and would follow the reddit rules of being a certain level for a boss. But then it hit me, if the boss can clip through objects, get infinite stamina and kill me in a single combo why the fuck shouldn't I just comet azur them to the face, call allies and see their AI break. It was a lot more fun. Also, Pause buttons should be mandatory.

[@spiderlily723]

I think a lot those people straight up don't have FUN. They treat the game as some random Chadness Valuemeter and if you don't do it exactly you didn't 'actually do it'.

[@1wayroad935]

@@spiderlily723 They tie their value as a person to the video games that they play because they can't do it with anything else.

[@dudeguy2330]

I do make a point of not summoning and deliberately leaning toward off-meta builds for the sake of challenging myself, but I have fun doing so because I enjoy the sense of accomplishment enough to offset the frustration. I'm not about to suggest that anyone else is wrong for not playing it that way, though, because that would be ridiculous. It's their $60/70, in a primarily single-player game. They can and should make whatever choices they need to make to get the most enjoyment out of that money, and their decisions do absolutely nothing to affect the decisions I've made to get the most out of my $60/70.

[@glowerworm]

That's part of the Elden Ring difficulty curve though. Elden Ring is much less about mechanical mastery and more about being crafty and cheating back. In Dark Souls the difficulty was necessary to push the game's themes.

[@CrucixX]

@@dudeguy2330 you would think these people would understand that how they enjoy the game personally isn't the standard for everyone... I would understand if the options are forced to the player, but these are options that one can simply not engage...

[@Damian_1989]

I was blissfully unaware until today about single player offline games *lacking a pause button.* The very concept is baffling to me, seriously who are you trying to impress by playing a game without pause?

[@infinitivez]

They just want to be the little children who scream "I can't just pause the game, it doesn't have pause" when being asked to do something important in real life.

[@livlinn971]

Underrated comment.

[@TraaaaaasshBooooaaaatttt]

The thing is, if I have something to do irl, in a souls game I would just homeward bone. It just is kinda dumb that elden ring doesn't have a homeward bone so I would just put in a branch and die and lose nothing

[@TsumibitoPlays]

1:59 of course someone who paid for Twitter wrote that.

[@Carn_Is_Done]

Yeah, I've become kinda sus at the people who still even use Twitter for whatever reason, but especially those who happily give Musko money for it. Major red flag. :O

[@Mischievous_Moth]

@@Carn_Is_Done I would dump a partner for paying for twitter, that's a HUGE red flag these days.

[@pantern2]

@@Mischievous_Moth My brain made a double take and then I realized that's actually sensible. What a bizarre world we live in...

[@Tardisntimbits]

​@@Carn_Is_DoneI only use twitter to keep in touch with artists whose work I like. I would NEVER pay Elongated Muskrat for his dumpster fire, ever.

[@dudeist_priest]

If the game is more accessible, that's more people you brag to about beating it on hard mode. Think, gamers, think!

[@jonathankent1517]

Steph covered this in a previous video (the one about "Street Fighter 6"); the GamersTM aren't really as good at "their" video games as they claim to be which is why they don't want people outside their own little bubble playing "their" video games, because what if someone better at the game than them comes along and proves to everyone how much of a fraud they really are?

[@maskoblackfyre]

The only people who care about anyone being "good at a game" are other people who also want to "git gud at a game".

[@DarthLego46]

Super agree that lack of pause button isn’t difficulty, it’s just inconvenience.

[@arturoaguilar6002]

Yep. I personally like some inconvenience mechanics; but they definitely don't count as difficulty.

[@Blinky_Dorf]

I don't mind having inventory management not pause as a mechanic, but not being able to pause at all is just disrespectful to my time and attention as a paying customer

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

It's not just an inconvenience. It's bad game design. Plain and simple. It's like if your character had a 10% chance of heart failure. It makes the game unplayable for no reason. It's a choice that is either absolutely braindead, or straight up malicious.

[@Vanity0666]

​​@@shytendeakatamanoir9740it's because the games core features are tied to a 24/7 persistent online connection. You can't pause in most online games for the same reason.

[@OctEddie]

@@Vanity0666 But it doesn’t need to be persistently online.

[@chaoticeiris]

I sure love how people who say 'oh shut up and deal with it/get good (unironically)' crowd get the most fucking outraged about just about anything that isn't to their taste, whether it be a game being accessible to character designs they personally don't find attractive. It sure is a... choice they make. u.u These people make me feel so tired.

[@jingbot1071]

Yet you tell them to get good at dating and SUDDENLY THEY'RE OUTRAGED!

[@RayneOfSalt]

@@jingbot1071 lol, I really wanna see someone yell "git gud at social interactions, scrub!" at one of those "gamers".

[@Mischievous_Moth]

@@RayneOfSalt Gamer: "Git gud! lol" Me: "I did, just at something that matters."

[@RayneOfSalt]

@@Mischievous_Moth hah! hell yeah!

[@theomegajuice8660]

@@RayneOfSalt I did actually throw the "git gud" at someone arguing that Soulslikes can't have easy modes because they are only enjoyable for the gameplay challenge. I told them to "git gud" at appreciating the aesthetics, environments and lore!

[@KevinKolpack]

I can definitely relate to having one's gaming be affected by a "situational disability." Back when my family was taking care of my mother with Alzheimer's, any games that required investing long stretches of time at once (e.g. long gaps between save points, online multiplayer games, etc.) were a no-go during the day, as we needed to be able to drop everything and go help her if she was getting agitated or doing something she shouldn't be. Only when she'd finally go to bed at night would I dare to play those games, and even then, I occasionally had to go AFK because she wouldn't stay in bed. So, yeah, I very much prefer it when my games don't punish me for external things out of my control.

[@ohnothimagen224]

I can't believe we're having the same arguments that the AVGN did back in 2007 in his Ghostbusters 2 review. Have a fucking pause button god dammit.

[@tornaghmalumenis6834]

BRUH even Deus Ex has the difficulty mode "tell me the story"

[@LadyDoomsinger]

I'm pretty sure "Story Mode" has been the standard practice in most RPGs for at least a decade, probably more.

[@RoguSpanish]

And while it's not necessarily a mode, in Fallout 3, NV, 4, Oblivion, and Skyrim, you can hit the console key at any time, type in "tgm" and become invincible. Nobody has EVER complained that having that there was an option ruined the game for them.

[@jamesrule1338]

@@tornaghmalumenis6834 DOOM, Wolfenstein, pretty much all the early first person shooters had a wide variety of difficulty settings. And cheat codes that were widely known.

[@storageheater]

We're at a point where even the infamously challenging "try try and try again" genre of roguelikes have astonishing accessibility options (Rogue Legacy, Dead Cells and Hades are fabulous for it), and in several cases using them doesn't even disable the trophy achievements. They don't even judge you like Celeste did (before they kindly reworded it) - Rogue Legacy goes as far as chatty and helpful suggestions for rebalancing as you adjust them, and tooltips for why you might want to consider them. I really, really thought this had been resolved

[@aturchomicz821]

Tropico 5 has a difficulty scale that goes from "Very Easy" to "Very Hard". How come Strategy games are the real accessibility stars huh?

[@ImTopin]

We are going on 8 years since the Dark Souls 3 and Star Fox Zero easy mode discourse and 5 years since the Sekiro "cheating the game and yourself" debacle. This song and dance is exhausting and the people who continue to this day to bitch about people wanting the *option* to have a game be easier for your own personal enjoyment have learned Fucking Nothing in the last decade.

[@jingbot1071]

They haven't left their room in the last decade.

[@Elwaves2925]

@@jingbot1071 I've always been against the stereotype of the basement dwelling gamer. It's cheap, lazy and invariably untrue. Except that sometimes it does apply and it does in this case. The gamers you refer to may not live in an actual basement but their intelligence does.

[@theomegajuice8660]

The funniest thing about Sekiro is that always HAS had an in-game hard mode with Kuro's Charm. All the arguments about the game needing to be exactly one difficulty or it would collapse has been provably wrong since the beginning

[@AzhreiVep]

@@theomegajuice8660 Two! There's also the Sinister Bell you can activate to toughen up enemies on top of giving up Kuro's charm to start taking chip damage. And you can stack them! Oh no!!! So many difficulty choices! _And_ it can pause too! What a sad whiny baby easy mode game! /s

[@tyrongkojy]

Thing is, DS 2 had a hard mode. I'm willing to bet NONE of these losers turned it on. or kept it on when they did accidentally.

[@LakeEarth]

As a new father, being "situational disabled" sounds about right. Any nap is a scramble to get some other task done, and you will be interrupted at any time.

[@kokosan09]

"it doesn't cater to ME specifically so it shouldn't exist"

[@ethangonzalez9265]

Wrong. It changes the intended experience of the creators which is the problem. If we changed the constitution to be accessible to everybody but it changed the meaning of the document that wouldn't be good right? It's not about keeping people from doing things you don't like it's about the artists vision and point.

[@Powersd451]

Worse, "It doesn't exclusively cater to ME so it shouldn't exist."

[@Powersd451]

​@@ethangonzalez9265 "Wrong. It changes the intended experience of the creators which is the problem." Literally how is the *creators* including an *option* *intended* to let some people experience the game in a different way doing any of it? Literally how does it change anything for people not using the option? The second part makes no sense and is in no way analogous. How is the people *making the art* giving you more options going against the artist's vision? This makes about as much sense as claiming that an artist installing a wheelchair accessible ramp to their art exhibition somehow goes against the artist's vision.

[@arcadia9589]

@@ethangonzalez9265 The artistry of microtransactions 🤌

[@technopoptart]

@@ethangonzalez9265 uuum, you know the us constitution has amendments right???? those are literal changes to make it more accessible to more people

[@wheelsygamer2203]

i saw that Alana pearce take pass by (misrepresented ) and it raised an eyebrow from me as a disabled and i still thought she had a point, a bit of a poorly expressed one but a point none the less.... now i see that the point was not poorly expressed at all, just twisted and misrepresented.

[@Leo0718]

She has a disability herself and she is a videogame's accessibility advocate. She knows what she's talking about.

[@WanderingRagabond]

The irony of gitgooders disparaging "casual" features, when they're clearly living REAL LIFE in casual mode...

[@MrCrunchytime]

The irony is that they will take the easy way out every single time. They all cater out to meta builds that are uber powerful and make the game stupid easy and will 100% use exploits and glitches that let them ignore or otherwise bypass anything challenging.

[@WanderingRagabond]

@@MrCrunchytime They're the same nobheads that turned Elden Ring into Elden Rivers (of Blood), and they'll have the audacity to police how other people play games and have fun.

[@dandan3045]

And then there is you crying about a first world problem. Seems like you are living life in casual mode.

[@WanderingRagabond]

@@dandan3045 The lack of self-awareness when you people self-report like this is... grimly hilarious.

[@Spamhard]

The extra irony of gitgooders is a lot of them are just truly awful gamers. The ones saying "it took me 50 tries to beat this boss" and in the same breath turn around and deny an easier mode for others is absolutely comical, because theres others like myself who beat the boss 1st or 2nd try and aren't here crying that the game needs to be harder. Soulsbourne games are amazing even aside from any difficulty. Which isn't a brag. Idk how to phrase it properly. It's sort of like watching your 6 year old cousin take the training wheels off their bike, just about manage to ride in a straight line, then scream about how they're actually amazing at riding and their little brother isn't allowed training wheels, meanwhile you're doing black tiered mountain biking trailing just like "let your brother use the training wheels, ffs".

[@blazingsticks]

Even if you ignore the disability angle, sometimes you’re tired or annoyed with a part in a game and it would be real nice to just move on past that part.

[@Romanticoutlaw]

but don't you understand, your value as a human being is dependent on suffering? At least, that's what they seem to believe... 😬

[@MasterofSpiders]

@@Romanticoutlaw They haven't got the impulse control to not turn on "easy mode" when they're stuck, and don't want to lose their true gamer street cred.

[@glowerworm]

In which case you take a break or play a different game for a while, the difficult game isn't going anywhere

[@marcosdheleno]

i feel like most players arent against pausing in a from soft game. but the vocal minority is really loud and make them seem like they are a bigger crowd than they really are. i also feel like there's a diferent argument about pausing, compared to something like dificulty modes.

[@patrickripleyiii134]

Honestly I would be fine with a pause button but people have lost the plot man, it is not a disability or accessibility issue, the worst that happens is that you exit the game to pause and loose boss progress, that is it. If you have children or other responsibilities that constantly take you away from the game at that moment, quit playing games until you have free time or find a game that is built for that

[@RhizometricReality]

In the piracy scene, theres cheats and trainers that offers accessibility. Imagine being so backwards that pirates are more progressive than the connedsooomer.

[@declanbennett1085]

I mean, thats been the case for ages. Just look at all the dogshit DRM implementation where pirated game versions had better framerates and stability than the legit versions. Honestly not a surprise it'd end up leading to better accessibility features too

[@TheFireHawkDelta]

There are games that I'd be literally unable to complete without a turbo button, which I can only get by NOT playing them with legal copies on original hardware. I sometimes consider pirating nintendo games that I already own but couldn't finish, since with an emulator on PC I could actually finish them if I wanted to.

[@RhizometricReality]

@@TheFireHawkDelta nothing stopping you

[@Sonichero151]

Wemod has cheat tables for all from softwares that has a slider for defense multiplier which increases your resistance to damage....... it's not god mode, *it's easy mode*

[@ThisisKyle]

An option that allows you to not die in a video game is by definition not accessibility. That is difficulty

[@emuman09]

Yep and the fact Jim keeps conflating those tells us his all we need to know. And that he spent the whole video whining about other people whining

[@mynameisshift5448]

I think its really telling that they want to compare disability and accessibility to mass genocide and racism. Like whos being discriminated against or killed for being able pause or have an easy mode in a game?

[@YouPlague]

Nah, it was not about the racism, it was just an example to show why not support a game with some features you disagree with. And nobody sane agrees with holocaust, so that's what they went with.

[@GamerBurgerz]

@@YouPlague they chose to compare the supposed "ridiculousness" of pause menus to fascism. Even if a pause menu or some other accessibility feature *were* an unreasonable ask, there's a whole world of other absurd shit they could have compared it to, but they chose something so completely beyond the bounds of the conversation. You don't need to defend the dumbass who wrote the tweet.

[@0LoneTech]

They really went straight for Godwin's law.

[@alanamarko]

@@YouPlague ah yes, my favourite videogame 'feature': nazi shit

[@greed-1914]

This is a case of a 'boycott' from people who were not going to play it anyway. Origins had an easy mode. This has been a thing since the very start of the series. 0 death is just the opposite side of permadeath. There if you want, but optional. And yes, being able to pause Elden Ring would be nice. Pausing mid fight wouldn't make it any easier, and it would be ok to not have to find a safe area in the game just to go to the bathroom.

[@Funchal99]

"Having no life is not a skill" is a quote that should be pinned on every Steam forum page.

[@BriBCG]

Disabling the pause button doesn't make the game harder in any way, what are people smoking to think this? How about we limit the FPS to 10? That would increase the difficulty so everyone would be happy, right?

[@huomin9320]

the stupid part is that the git gud crowd would probably vehemently defend 10 fps caps if fromsoft added it in ds2 and they’d cry that “its always been like this”. especialy since they already do that with the camera and jumping and roll & run being on the same key and pausing and 5 second input queues

[@Vanity0666]

Jokes on you I played Alone in the Dark

[@MilkieMouse]

@bleh329 Stop looking at her butt and swing your sword!

[@NukkuiskoHyvinVaiPois]

I'm assuming some feel like a boss battle is a test of stamina and nerve, the closer you get to beating it the more there is at stake if you die now that you've gotten so far. There's no breather or down-time you get from getting to pause whenever. But if that's your issue, just don't pause. You'd think the group that used to complain about all games being hand-heldy could handle the idea that they themselves are responsible for resisting the temptation of pausing to re-focus, and thus also for the pain and suffering they cause themselves from refusing to pause.

[@BriBCG]

@@NukkuiskoHyvinVaiPois Is pausing to take a breather in the middle of a fight a thing people actually do? I've always just stuck it out and then took the rest afterwards if I was feeling worn out. If anything pausing in the middle would make it more likely I'd fail since I'd no longer be warmed up.

[@johnjessop9456]

This is so exhausting. It's like people complaining about ramps in front of buildings. If you don't like ramps, then don't use them. The stairs are right there! I feel like difficulty settings and accessibility toggles are exactly the same sort of deal: if you don't want to use them or don't feel like you need them, then don't use them. The amount of anger that these myopic, self-absorbed little outrage merchants can muster over the simplest of accommodations to make sure that folks with mental and physical disabilities can play games is staggering.

[@desmondbrown5508]

Right? What baffles me is that this crap was seen as a BENEFIT back when it wasn't formalized and was just in the form of dev menus and unlockable options with codes. But now that it's formalized and in a menu with a different name, NOW all of a sudden it's horrible and awful. I think both FromSoftware and Namco are to blame partly for facilitating this shit in the first place. Their initial marketing built this shallow demographic (no one was pissing and moaning about very optional options in video games before Dark Souls) and we are all paying the consequences of it...

[@Tardisntimbits]

Outrage merchants is the perfect descriptor. Beyond this, I had to stop looking at FFXIV discourse (towards the new xpac), because the same crowd is screaming because the vast majority of us still like the game, and that doesn't fit with their agenda. Ugh, people fucking exhaust me.

[@johnjessop9456]

@@Tardisntimbits I can't take credit for the term, unfortunately. I first heard it from Dan Olsen in his deep dive into World of Warcraft Classic and it felt as applicable to this "discourse" as it did to the NO CHAAAAANGES crowd.

[@ethangonzalez9265]

It's not about simple changes. Your asking that paralyzed people be catered to and allowed to play in regular Olympics with special exceptions instead of having to play their own game (special olympics) because you don't care if it negatively effects the intended purpose of the game or its creators. The intended message of art shouldn't be changed to suit a wider audience when it defeats the purpose of the art. That's why many games do have options like baldurs gate which allows easier modes. Because it doesn't effect the game devs original vision or purpose of the game. But in many games changing the difficulty would mean sacrificing intended experience which defeats its entire purpose. If you want easier games, play easier games. You don't go to McDonald's and ask for lobster because that would make it more accessible to your taste. Instead you go to where lobster I'd. The onus is on the buyer not seller to buy a product they want.

[@Caculon]

@@ethangonzalez9265 What does it matter if a player is missing the purpose? It's not like someone from FromSoft would know. Why would they even care? People have been playing games in ways they weren't intended since the beginning. How many speed runs require using bugs? How many people load up GTA just to snip random people rather than complete missions. These guys made the game they wanted which is fine but they could have made it accessable to others (who wouldn't play it otherwise) while others will still get the experience the developers want (which in itself is questionable.) But they didn't. The resturant model doesn't work. It's closer to everybody is at McDonalds and someone orders a big mac without the sause. They want the same sandwich but a little different. With respect to the game. It will have the same art, the same menus, the same moverment, the same moveset etc... the majority of the game is the same. If they really want to be artists then they need to be prepared for people to get different messages and experiences than they intended. That's a pretty big part of art.

[@BanthaWorship]

I used to play video games like they were a job. Then I realized like... why? If I'm not having FUN, every second of the way, then what's the flipping point? I'm not going to give some corporation $10 an hour to tick me off. Pass. I could use that money to buy so many tacos instead. You're not going to rip me off with 60 bad ideas in a trench coat claiming it's good actually. When I was a kid video games were hard and you couldn't pause them and you know what? We all hated this. Genuinely, universally, 0 percent of us were like, "Oh cool, this new game also doesn't treat you like a human and let you pause it to attend to your basic human needs." No one liked it! I remember us all pretty much thinking video games with a pause function being the greatest thing since sliced bread. This weird nostalgia based "make games hard again" concept boggles my mind. A lot of games were hard because they were buggy pieces of @#$%. Let's uh, not glamorize that? Also disabled people are people and if you think they don't deserve to enjoy things, well, you deserve to pay a corporation $10 an hour to make you angry everyday, I guess. No one cares about your gamer score or steam achievements. lol. Don't @ me, I'll be at the cantina eating tacos lovingly crafted for me by the best taco artisan in town.

[@technopoptart]

damn, you shoulda been a poet. this sums it up so well(and also now i want tacos)

[@greggreg2027]

That's a lot of tacos

[@jeronimo196]

I used to watch horror movies. Then I realized like... why? If I'm not having FUN, every second of the way, then what's the flipping point? I'm not going to give some corporation $10 an hour to increase my stress level. Also epileptics and people with weak hearts are people and if you think they don't deserve to enjoy things, well, you deserve to pay a corporation $10 an hour to make you scared everyday, I guess.

[@NoPantsBaby]

Sounds like you just didn't like a challenge and didn't play for the challenge. It's good you realized this. Now go play games meant for people like that and leave the people that play for the challenge to play their specific set of games specifically for them.

[@Jubei66666]

As someone 8 years into a chronic pain adventure, those words hit hard

[@garethmitchell9140]

Those Git Gudders are not going to have kids, so could not relate to Alanah’s analogy. If however she had spoke about having her Mum shouting that her dinner was ready, then that is something they might have been able to relate to.

[@vitgerivaz]

Most git gudders I know have kids. In fact , the most hardcore gamers I know have kids.

[@cv5953]

B-b-but my nuggies are hot! And my honey mussie is cold! I gotta pause the game, Hiro Nakamura!

[@Tasmantor]

​@@vitgerivazthen either thier partner gives them the time to play uninterrupted or they wish they could pause the game. How is either case a defence for not having a pause?

[@vitgerivaz]

@@Tasmantor I'm not against having a pause. But I'm not in favour either. What about MMOs or online games? wanna implement a pause in those a well?

[@maskoblackfyre]

Sekiro had a pause button. So they can do it. But they don't want to. No amount of social media or YT whining will change Miyazaki's mind. I respect him for that. And you know that it's a conscious choice because he himself admitted he's not very good at his own games. P.S. You CAN "pause" the game. Just quit the game and it will "save" your current state AND deaggro all the enemies around you. When you log back in you'll be at the same place your were. Except when fighting a boss.

[@Enjoyurble]

I'm imagining a world where FromSoftware takes over KZbin and removes the ability to pause videos and tells viewers to GET GUD at watching content.

[@azazel166]

Better them than that insufferable South African.

[@ItWasBetterBefore]

@Enjoyurble Then they decide it's not hard enough and patch it so that you can only watch foreign language videos with no subtitles. Better get gud at Korean, Tarnished!

[@Karvosh]

Don't give youtube any ideas

[@zackeryh250]

From soft is not that bad. Certain sects of the community are. I know it's "edgy" to say this, but Darksouls isn't actually crazy hard. There are summons and co-op and broken weapons and, in elden ring, shortcuts that go around bosses and powerful weapon arts. The game can be not for you, but it isn't hard in the way that like kaizo mario is hard

[@klisterklister2367]

I think its easy mode to be able to lower the heat on your stove when your cooking pot gets too hot

[@inevitablenewb]

I literally can't play game(s) without a pause feature. Because kid. If there isn't a pause, it literally isn't worth my money - I need to pause. I might need to just look away and say "ok. I see you went potty" OR I might need to get up and walk away because my kid is vomitting. It's a thing. I LOVE your stance "don't like the easy feature, you don't have to use it."

[@matthewevans107]

We don’t even need to go that far. I need a pause button because I can’t tell a toddler to shut the f up and leave me alone while I beat this boss.

[@Culky]

"Not all games are made for everyone but all games must be made for me"

[@Fragenzeichenplatte]

Funny how "design philosophy" is the argument in defense of having no difficulty settings but when the "design philosophy" is to have a black main character then that is the woke mind virus gone mad.

[@RayneOfSalt]

It's women having a chin that's the woke mind virus gone mad atm.

[@theomegajuice8660]

Or when the "design philosophy" includes a whole ton stuff like co-op summoning, spirit ashes, spells, shields and level grinding all that stuff is arbitrarily deemed "non-canon" ways of playing

[@luketfer]

@@theomegajuice8660 Yeah but lets be honest, those people are fuggin idiots, even amongst the Elden Ring community there has been a change towards people being "oh you didn't beat it solo only" as uber-nerds. The game cheats, so you don't need to play fair abuse everything. You want to Oneshot a boss with that new Thorn Spells from the DLC? Go right ahead.

[@BrickBuster2552]

@@luketfer The game does not cheat. You can absolutely kill the final boss completely hitless with no levels, upgrades, magic, summons, even ashes of war. The game doesn't need difficulty modifiers or a deathless mode because all you need to do is CARE.

[@osric1730]

​@@BrickBuster2552 Bollocks. I have nerve damage in my hands, and to my heart which means my brain is like yours is when you've just woken up. No amount of caring will make up for that. Where you have to redo a boss 10 or 20 times, I'd probably have to do it 1000. My reaction times will never be the same as yours, I can't keep up the pace for extended periods and I can never have the hand eye co-ordination you have. Humanity is not a level playing field. The only good thing about people like you is that you are blissfully unaware that similar problems are almost certain to affect you at some point in life, and when that day arrives, at your lowest ebb, you'll also have the realisation you're a twat.

[@GeekMasterGames]

Can't start my Monday without Stephanie Sterling.

[@FoxTenson]

As a disabled gamer myself discourse like this makes me feel awful and infuriates me. People really do have no idea how crippling some things can be. Like you said the back pain is an invisible one that strikes randomly and can incapacitate you without warning. 4 herniated discs, spinal fusion, fractured spine, screws and plates holding it all together here. You can't even predict if your back will let you out of bed some days. Being able to pause a game doesn't hurt anyone! Freaking games older than the original mario had pause functions why is it suddenly NOW that pausing is bad? Just because someone with kids or disabled would like the option? You have no idea how bad chronic pain is until you have it, its near impossible to describe. My dad who has helped me for over a decade STILL doesn't get it. I swear covid fried some people's brains because stuff like this has gotten crazier and crazier since then. If you feel so slighted that someone other than you can enjoy a game in a way different than you, seek help. Seek professional help.

[@WolfCoder]

Its not even about disabilities, not being able to pause the game is bad when you need to really take a crap or the phone rings or doorbell or you spill your drink. It's a modern design trend I think is baffling.

[@Navelofman]

You used to be able to use Tutorial Messages in Elden Ring to pause the game. I just checked, and they greyed out the use option. Elden ring has the functionality to pause, but they decided to remove it. The only reason Souls games don't have a Pause Button is due to the multiplayer aspects. So if you're in offline mode, there is no reason to disable the pause.

[@theomegajuice8660]

Exactly, you can pause in Sekiro which is the allegedly "hardest" of the games. The only difference it would make in Elden Ring is that you could switch weapons and armor on the fly and there's no animation for it so it could be abused... but honestly who cares! It might even add some fun new strats for speed-runners.

[@ShinobiPhoenix-YT0]

Menu Explanation (under help) still pauses the game. Since it works online too (and I don't know what it affects on the server side), I imagine it's unintentionally, but it's been 2 years and it's still there.

[@Mischievous_Moth]

Kinda makes me wonder if we could mod the pause function in...

[@pokemastercube]

@@Mischievous_Moth the mod exists, just prevents you going online

[@ShinobiPhoenix-YT0]

@@Mischievous_Moth You mean mod a function that just uses the pause already in the game easier and slightly less complicated. edit: while I did write it already, I will state for people to try it on their own. Go to any menu that has the Help Button AND has the "Menu Explanation" option. It's the only one that pauses. Offline it works perfectly fine. Online it pauses the game itself, but I assume some weirdness happen if done when an invader or helper is there and then syncs itself after unpausing (closing the Menu).

[@kyoyameganebereznoff]

“Some games just aren’t for everyone… Unless they’re not for me; then everyone else is just cheating.” If the game having an easy mode bothers you that much, then the game isn’t for you. Why are you throwing a fit?

[@cardhitman89]

I don't understand, this is basically God mode. That used to be the first cheat code people would plug in any game. Why are people so pissed that it's a switch they can toggle now instead of a code?

[@ysucae]

i remember getting shit on by gamers when i expressed disappointment toward fromsoft games having shit keyboard and mouse controls, not letting you toggle block instead of holding it, or letting you pause. what do you mean i'm a snowflake for not wanting to injure myself (with a very common gamer injury, carpal tunnel?) or wanting to go take a walk each hour to exercise and have less pain in my shit, aging, painful body? they had that in doom!! even the most hard-ass games had pause buttons? what do you mean it's nazi-adjacent to want to pause a video game!!!? can't we want nice things for people other than ourselves?

[@cv5953]

Everything they don't like is now inherently woke. They just learned to use a sufficiently vague understanding of a word in order to turn their shitty opinions into a part of the culture war.

[@bighatbondquo863]

Not being able to pause doesnt make Elden Ring harder, it just means that sometimes you die and its not your fault. Thats just annoying.

[@ItWasBetterBefore]

I have always been baffled by the inability to pause Elden Ring. I don't know how pausing would make boss fights easier.

[@inciaradible7144]

I was literally told that it makes the game less stressful and that's bad.

[@ItWasBetterBefore]

@inciaradible7144 Lol! Well sure. That's why I only play Elden Ring the day rent is due while balancing a basket of knives on my head. Because it's got to be stressful.

[@dudeguy2330]

In theory (at least, this is what proponents of leaving pause out of Soulslikes say), pausing while an attack is coming out gives you more time to react to whatever tells the enemy has given, making it more likely that you'll respond appropriately. That can make things a bit easier, provided you can respond quickly enough when the pause ends. In practice, of course, that's an absolutely *miserable* way to play, so if somebody actually wants to subject themselves to it to make the game a bit easier, I don't see why they shouldn't be able to. It's not like that's going to "define the meta" or any nonsense like that. It's also not particularly difficult to design the pause option to make that impossible. At least as far back as 3U in 2011 (contemporary with Dark Souls 1, notably), Monster Hunter lets you pause while playing solo (obviously, pausing with other people is more of an issue), but getting to the option requires you to go 2-3 steps deep in a menu while the game's still running. That means spamming it is entirely out of the question because you have to find an opening of a couple of seconds to pause, but it means that if you need to step away from the game for whatever reason, you can do so on just a few seconds' notice. The other point that usually gets brought up is that pausing "ruins the immersion" of the game, but that argument holds about as much water as a teflon sieve. If a player wants to pause, simply by making that decision, the immersion has already been broken. They've decided that something other than the game deserves their interest, which is mutually exclusive of immersion. Pretending that it can be salvaged by forcing them to figure out a workaround for pausing is just straight up delusional.

[@Walt_Xander94]

​@@ItWasBetterBefore Idk if you're new to Souls, but the games are ALWAYS frustrating & stressful on purpose.

[@hanselthecaretaker]

There is a way to pause, but you have to go into options and hit the touchpad or whatever the Xbox equivalent is to display menu info. Not as fast or convenient as simply hitting a single button, but it’s there. The game can also save/quit wherever and resume at the same point if the player needs a longer break.

[@citizenstrife]

Story driven games trying to tell a story can be played by people wanting to enjoy a story? You don't say! I remember playing AI: The Somnium Files and thinking, "Man, I want to love this game, but the Somnium and QTEs are kinda crap and don't leave much margin for error." The sequel comes out, and they add in a couple different easier settings with less intense deadlines and timers. It's exactly what I wanted. It made it more enjoyable. Oh, and I'd love to see what those same people say if they get into their 40s or 50s and have wrist or finger issues preventing them from doing their blindfolded, no damage, triple enemy HP runs and whine about "THIS S*** TOO HARD NOW!" Go try lifting boxes off the floor or construction work for a few hours before being dicks about stuff being "too hard" and "certain people shouldn't do this like WE do."

[@luketfer]

I'm in my 40s and beat the Elden Ring DLC...used the Mimic Tear spirit ash because fuck that final bosses 2nd phase, it should come with an epilepsy warning the way the particle effects flash and block your line of sight by being between the camera and the player model. That's the thing I think a lot of people forget with Soulsborne games. There is actually difficulty options, they're just not on a menu. Want to play the game on Normal? Play it with Spirit ashes. Want to play it on easy? Summon 2 other players for a boss. Want to play it on hard? Equip that item that does nothing but doubles the amount of damage you take or simply play without Spirit ashes. Want to play it on impossible? Yeah slap on a mod that causes your character to have the 'rot' status on them at all times so your health is contantly ticking down and you have a limited number of healing items to get anything done.

[@LutraLovegood]

@@luketfer That's not the same as a difficulty option by any means. This is all conditional on being in the right place or having the right items and so on. You're already playing without spirit ashes 99% of the time because you can't use them in most places. Mods aren't even in the same ballpark, by this standard any game has an easy mode because you can use mods and hacking tools to cheat, which no.

[@GRAHFXENO]

Dev: "There's an option to turn off deaths, if you wish to use it" Angry incels: "WHAT?!? You're forcing us to use that option because of the woke liberals?!?"

[@TanninZero]

I'm willing to bet that the reason From Software games don't have a pause button is because they don't know how to implement it with their weird a** multiplayer mechanics, not because they think it enriches the game. Arguing "the lack of a pause is part of what makes the game difficult" is like saying "the bad framerate and stutters are part of the difficulty".

[@gabagandalfoftheweed]

Fromsoftware made games with pause functionality before and after Elden Ring (Sekiro and Armored Core 6 respectively). So it's safe to say it's a deliberate artistic choice they made.

[@spiraljumper74]

⁠​⁠@@gabagandalfoftheweedOkay but those games don’t have an invasion or summoning mechanic. Which are the things that make the souls games really special. I don’t actually think Elden Ring needs a pause button, but I wouldn’t mind if it had one. It certainly wouldn’t make the game any easier. I guess I’d be nice if I had to do something during a boss fight and I could pause it instead of just quitting to menu. But it’s not a big deal either way, Elden Ring is very generous with checkpoints and quitting to menu saves your exact position in the world and takes seconds. But it does take you out of a boss fight if you’re in one, because of the way auto saves work.

[@GamerBurgerz]

Interestingly Elden Ring *could* be paused when it was released because the whole game world would stop when reading through tutorial prompts. They eventually patched it out, so clearly they know it can be done. The ER community has also been able to make mods that pause the game.

[@Dragonshade64]

Isn't half the difficulty in a fromsoft game in fighting the user interface? They might keep doing it because they keep getting away with not being as good of a game designer as they think they are.

[@spiraljumper74]

@@Dragonshade64 What? No. Have you played them? The UI is pretty good, good enough you can parry someone and swap out your entire armor set and main weapon in the half second before taking the riposte, just for style. The difficulty is mainly in the enemy move sets and encounter design, and damage scaling in relation to player health. And the older games had really unforgiving checkpointing, which could lead to some annoying boss runs or frustrating amounts of lost progress. Where are you getting this UI thing? I doubt there are more than like, ten capital-G GAMERS on Twitter who are seriously arguing that the lack of a pause button makes the game meaningfully harder in a good way. Because it’s pretty obvious it’s not really that much of an issue given the game’s structure and the inclusion of it would just be slightly more convenient.

[@Spiderman-wt8hb]

Every gamer “discourse” really reminds me how unburdened these people are in their lives. Like, how would they react if a genuine issue came up for them that inhibited their day to day lives. Would they just whine at it assuming it would just disappear. I personally can’t relate to the need for disability options, but I have one thing that these guys lack: empathy and a clear understanding that not everyone is like me. Gaming is something that is supposed to bring joy for an individual and if you are complaining about a game adding accommodations so others can experience that joy, then you really need to look at yourself. Hell, I see more people complain about stuff like this than actual abuse and misconduct within the industry and in the gaming public or bad trends in game design and the general industry. Truly the people who have their priorities in order.

[@aliquidcow]

Yeah, as I just mentioned above, one of the tweets says ‘Do you think she’s the type of chick to park in a handicap zone because she thinks having kids is a disability?’ - many places actually have parking spaces for customers with young children. But I would assume this guy doesn't have either children or any awareness of what that's like. I replied to a point about the whole having-kids thing on another vid, because I felt like people were misconstruing Alanah's hypothetical point about a kid who's about to stick a fork in a socket as 'you should let your kid electrocute themselves rather than interrupt your Elden Ring game'. The response was that 'technically then holding a cup of coffee is a situational disability' - I left off at this point because I felt it wasn't worth the argument, but the counter is obviously that you can put a cup of coffee down, you can't stop having kids. I figured this would lead down the whole 'well you chose to have kids' line which again, I can't be bothered to go down. But basically, I think people like this don't understand that people have a right to get on with their lives and also be able to do things they enjoy when time permits.

[@perunarieska9182]

I'll never stop championing for pause buttons on offline single player games. I don't even have kids and my daily routine doesn't allow me to sit down for long enough times to reach save points.

[@DahVoozel]

Castlevania had a pause feature.

[@ShinobiPhoenix-YT0]

Every Ghosts N Goblins series game too...

[@icravedeath.1200]

Dead cells has one too, so does Deux ex, Deus ex even has an easy mode ffs.

[@Lectrikfro]

Battletoads had a pause feature

[@GibusWearingMann]

Even when pausing might offer a tangibly game-breaking benefit by extending your reaction time, game designers have a solution to that that goes at least all the way back to Tetris: _just block your view of the game._ Devs are really out here _removing_ features that have been well-established since the Reagan administration and insufferable Twitter nerds still can't stop simping for them. I just can't understand it.

[@albert2006xp]

It's really not hard to understand. Games like Elden Ring are designed to trick unskilled players into thinking their skilled without having to go into some actual difficult games or esport games or anything. Defending design decisions that only serve to build up the illusion protects their ego. Removing parts of the illusion means they don't get to feel like a god when they're far from it and they would get humiliated by a game you can't just memorize Guitar Hero type patterns and/or overlevel.

[@theomegajuice8660]

I've watched a few playthroughs of Sekiro (which DOES allow pausing) and pretty much any time someone pauses in a panic to try and use an item etc. they end up breaking their concentration and getting hit hard right after. Short of speed-runners I don't think anyone would be consistently using pause to gain an edge in combat

[@GibusWearingMann]

@@albert2006xp 1. what does this have to do with pausing and 2. why are you being elitist about how people decide to play in their sandboxes?

[@albert2006xp]

@@GibusWearingMann Like I said, they defend the pausing thing because the game taught them to tie their ego to beating the game and how hostile it is towards players. They can't give up any part of that. The game is purposefully made to seem super hard through surprise and obfuscation of things like map level ranges guiding you, random higher number bosses in lower areas, but actually be super beatable by an average person because it's all easily learned through repetition/overlevel. Thus convincing the average person who beats it that they're some elite gamer and tying their ego into defending all the things that probably annoyed them along the way. I don't think I'm elitist. I think people should have difficulty settings and if they want to beat it on easy, go right ahead. Difficulty settings would also allow for harder, more real difficulties that the average player can't beat no matter how much they try. But the no to difficulty settings crowd is against that too, because what if they can't play on the harder difficulty, their ego couldn't take it.

[@GibusWearingMann]

@@albert2006xp wait, is "they" the twitter people I'm complaining about? because if so, apologies for the misunderstanding!

[@elibalin]

If THE GAMERS™had the courage of their convictions, they wouldn't settle for anything less than a loss bricking their computer/console and burning down their home. It must be so frustrating for them to feel they have something to prove but being unable to prove it anywhere but a game.

[@dimitriid]

I've got a new game with an extreme difficulty setting only the most elite of gamers™ Can even attempt: It's called spend a year without connecting to the internet to discuss the difficulty of a video game. Seems simple, they can still play or boycott any game they please they just gotta STFU about it for a year. Hope many are up to this extreme challenge!

[@Vesperitis]

I think I beat that game before. I’ve gone several years without ever complaining about a video game. Not connecting to the internet though, that’s almost as impossible as fighting Malenia wearing nothing but a pot on my head.

[@jingbot1071]

Does it count if you connect to the Internet for other reasons? Because if so, I want the achievement.

[@LifeWulf]

Terminally online should be an official diagnosis and the treatment should be forcing the affected individual to touch grass.

[@Vanity0666]

Terminal implies an end point.

[@LifeWulf]

@@Vanity0666 They stop being online when they die, like with most terminal diagnoses from my understanding!

[@facthunt2facthunt245]

Going out isn't always an option for those of us that are isolated or unemployable. No money and no friends means no reason to go out. Also, you had to be online to type your comment.

[@LifeWulf]

@@facthunt2facthunt245 the difference is I have a job and interact with lots of different people on a daily basis. It’s minimum wage, not a living wage, but it’s something!

[@Jomanmusic]

I am honored that my selfie in front of the doop made the cut.

[@ZMannZilla]

Hey, editor here. I'm a huge fan of your music.

[@markmueller-rougier3098]

Options, especially in things like games or in the ways you partake of your entertainment, are always a good thing. There are options. You don't have to use them. But if they allow more customers to enjoy the service, then that's good for the people who make the game.

[@TheSleepyowlet]

Exactly, and if you can't control yourself and "ruin" your game by using such options, that's a you-problem. Don't put that on everyone else! Seems like a skill issue, tbh. Maybe those pissbabies should just git gud at impulse control...

[@glowerworm]

This is false. Options can result in a worse experience. For example I got pissed at Celeste a lot more often because I had the knowledge that I could always make it easier for myself. If that option wasn't there I would've had an explicitly better time. And in my opinion it would've made the game better thematically to not have difficulty options since it's literally linking mechanical difficulty of platforming up a mountain to emotional difficulty of climbing a figurative anxiety mountain. But I actually allow devs to make their own decisions. I don't agree with difficulty options in that game but I respect their choice to keep it friendly and safe at the end of the day. Just as I respect Fromsoft for using mechanical difficulty to help deliver their themes. I also would have had more trust in the Celeste devs to have perfected the difficulty if there was only one available, but alas. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a difficult read. Could you imagine people saying options should be added to that book for people who can't deal with the formating or gruesome imagery? To use a bit of a mean analogy, I would never in my life require books to have plot synopses inside them for people who struggle with reading those books. That would inherently lessen the experience. At the moment if you want a synopsis you must go online and find one of your own volition-its clearly not encouraged by the author. Similar story for easy-difficulty mods in video games.

[@Carn_Is_Done]

@@glowerworm Celeste is explicitly about anxiety and mental health among other topics and literally designed around being inclusive and having accessibility options and you resent it for that?

[@glowerworm]

@@Carn_Is_Done i don't resent it, I respect the developer's choice at the end of the day. And what I'm asking is for you to do the same about devs like Fromsoft who decide their games are best without options. With Celeste, I was saying that for me personally the game would've been better with no difficulty options, but I recognize that the devs valued accessibility and a broad audience over thematic consistency. I would've personally preferred if they didn't, but I understand why they did.

[@Carn_Is_Done]

@@glowerworm 'thematic consistency'? The accessibility options are PART of the whole production. It's literally connected to why the game was created! Did you not get Celeste? Why would a game about anxiety not have options to easy the anxiety of people with anxiety playing the game? And no. In my opinion EVERY game should have options. Every single one! All them Souls games included. If it don't then it may as well just have a big sign on it saying "not for disabled gamers" so we don't waste our money on such elitist crud.

[@Bacbi]

If you are this upset about Dragon age, I'm starting to wonder if perhaps these people are playing life on easy mode and have grown so bored that they only feel a sense of acomplishment is from "git good" through their digital avatars.

[@Planag7]

Well considering most of the gamers (TM) tend to be very lonely white nerds... Yep that would be easy mode!

[@albert2006xp]

I am upset about Dragon Age. Because it's not Dragon Age: Origins. Which had difficulty options and was a proper tactical RPG which you would pause every 2 seconds of gameplay to issue commands.

[@Bacbi]

@@albert2006xp Which is a perfectly reasonable wish. I too would have liked for it to go more back to Origins gameplay. If the fear was that the audience would reject it I feel like BG3 which is so much more complex has proven that the audience is open for it. But I think there would have been way to make something close to origins. That also could be more user friendly. A mix of Origins and Inquisition's combat, if you will. Alas that version of BioWare seems to be long dead. Those people have moved on to different companies or left the industry. They have clearly decided to go down the Mass Effect route with how the combat is set up. So now the only requirement I have is for them to deliver on the story front. Andromeda might have had the best combat of the series but the story was terrible. Didn't have a single character I managed to grow attached to. Which is the core thing BioWare games needs to get right so I'm really hoping they have learned their lesson. Because if this fails not only will EA likely shut the studio down. What would be the point of them making Mass effect 4 if they can't hack it? I'd rather the IP lie dormant. Until a studio comes along and can do for both ME and DA what Larian managed to do for Baldurs gate. That should be the focus, wanting them to be able to make a game that is as good as something that was made back in 2008. Not this difficulty nonsense.

[@FieldMarshalFry]

I personally found the combat in Origins to be a slog and extremely boring, the faster pace in DA2 I found far more enjoyable, especially as Rogue Hawke

[@MintyCoolness]

They also complain about Veilguard being 'too woke' and it's obvious they never played a DA game, bc that shit was always 'woke' in some way...

[@berbuck]

when both sides are annoying as fuck

[@g0ld3ney3]

FromSoftware has long confused "inaccessible" with "difficult," and we're all paying the price for it with the Git Gud crowd. There, I said it.

[@albert2006xp]

They are not confused at all. It's on purpose. The design is very deliberate. I've analyzed it for a while and it's this: design something that surprises and design around memorization. Then obfuscate to ensure people do things out of order or annoy them with cheap tricks (like the pause) to build the illusion of a hostile game that's hard to beat. The trick is that it's designed to be beat, just not at first. You will memorize attacks and timings, you will figure out which order of scaling the map is in and level up appropriately, etc. You WILL beat the game unless you uninstall, you don't have to be skilled. You don't have to be smart. Any human is built to eventually get those timings. The problem is you get an audience of way too many people that's convinced they're all skilled for beating a game that's literally designed to convince unskilled people they're skilled and play on their ego to make them like the game in hindsight. So they will not give up anything that lessens that illusion. That would make their unearned ego hurt.

[@kudosbudo]

@@albert2006xp Wow nailed it better than i ever did. This is why everyone says its hard but has beaten it.

[@lennysmileyface]

@@albert2006xp Every game boils down to this though, timing and memory. You're not saying anything profound.

[@albert2006xp]

@@lennysmileyface No, they don't. Lots of games ask you to actually think, multi-process, etc. XCOM decisions, doing top tier content in WoW while also piloting your class with its many buttons perfectly (which most people can't do in front of a training dummy). Also, not every game tries to obfuscate how difficult it actually is with every trick in the book. They don't try to mislead you into walking into a high level area (that's not marked as such anywhere but basically is that). They don't put bosses that you don't actually need to fight that weak next to the start of the game. They don't try to take as many cheap shots as possible, kill you while changing graphics options or keybinds, etc.

[@lennysmileyface]

@@albert2006xp You still need to use the right move on the right turn using your knowledge of the game in turn based games. Not every game has level scaled enemies nor tells you what areas are high leveled you're just trying to find issues now. Who changes keybinds and graphics enough in a game you can't pause that it negatively affects their enjoyment?

[@woopvonwoop1133]

Gamers can yell all they want, but companies are still going to put in accessibility modes because they want to make money. They make money by more people buying and playing their game. Hardcore gamers haven't been the market since the Wii released, and they haven't recovered.

[@comyuse9103]

some people still care to make art instead of products

[@DavidManser]

@@comyuse9103 Put aside that those people still need to make rent - which means selling their art Pretty certain that adding features that expand the ability of more people to experience their art is something that most artists want.

[@woopvonwoop1133]

@@comyuse9103 yeah it's called indie games lmao

[@VizualAbstract]

"Having no life is not a skill" is now my new favorite response.

[@catborg780]

As someone with a physical disability, thank you again steph.

[@ystin]

that reply.....difficulty settings are the same as racism?!? my god

[@TakioMx]

Saw that comment on twitter. They "tried" to explain themselves, but it did not help the point. They mainly just kept didding themselves deeper into the mud while pretending it's not there

[@MB-gd1yy]

Right?! Like how can these ppl not hear themselves?! Hooolyy shit!

[@counterhitasmr9196]

Hitler famously modded dark souls to be easier

[@TheDutchMaurits]

I don't think that's a fair interpretation of what they're saying. They are using racism as an example of what they call an indicator. That does not mean every indicator has the same moral status as racism. In their analysis of the situation, I actually wholeheartedly agree with that person. Accessibility features really are an indicator for 'giving a shit about disabled people' (as Sterling put it). It's just very telling of them that 'giving a shit about disabled people' is a design philosophy that they find disgusting. Sterling said it right when they said it's just an admission of being a cunt.

[@arturoaguilar6002]

@@counterhitasmr9196 I should had known that the 60fps patch was his doing...

[@TheTyper]

"The fact so many souls-likes have normalized unpausable gameplay as an integral part of the genre is honestly disappointing, because to me it displays a lack of good ideas." Ooooo that's a good one.

[@FicoosBangaly]

Forget pausing, the major reason I can play some games on Switch and not PC is because I can stop at any time and come back without needing to reach a save point. It's rare that I know how much time I've got before I'm going to get to do something. Not being able to pause is just idiotic.

[@abadenoughdude300]

That's ironic, considering how for years (decades even) PC games had the advantage over console games of being able to save your progress wherever and whenever the heck you want instead of having to traverse for who knows how long to reach the specific spot where you're ALLOWED to save the game.

[@MintyCoolness]

Very true. Sleep mode is the best, especially if I have a bad pain day, and come back later once I feel better, and start off where you ended up~

[@Vanity0666]

Yeah pc should definitely have the ability to suspend the process in the same way that consoles can via dashboarding.

[@thetrustysidekick3013]

At this point in my mid 30’s, I just shrug and laugh but also feel disappointed at the lack of critical thinking. Just play what you want, nobody cares what you think, and to make a post about it is just shouting into the void.

[@LadyDoomsinger]

I feel sorry for the void. So many people shouting at it all hours of the day. Can't get a moment of peace from that noisy upstairs neighbor called Humanity.

[@ALookIntoTheEulenspiegel]

"If you are willing to let people play your game on a super easy difficulty, then that's an indicator that you're a bad developer." ... whu... ? These people really are just mad and don't know why, but are desperately trying to find a reason.

[@IliyaMoroumetz]

Boy, this certainly doesnt sound like the gamers(tm) throwing a fit over the 'story mode difficulty' in Mass Effect 3 released in 2012. Ugh. We really haven't learned anything, have we?