Alot of it generally has to do with a fear developed as a child due to some form of trauma. That trauma though can vary widely. An actual incident involving a spider like a bite from a venomous spider or seeing a scary movie before they were mature enough mentally for it. But there are other things besides trauma as well that lead to it.
Some people develop it when they’re adults too, and those are almost exclusively physical trauma related.
In both cases though, the fear went unchecked to the point it became a phobia and began to impact their life in a large way.
Fear can absolutely impair someone from playing the game. Therefor accessibility.
Creople?
Probably because other then snakes it’d the easiest to code in the aftermath. Simply switching the model of something is usually easy to code. Versus fear of heights which would require coding the game in a particular way from the ground up which may go against the game inteded vision.
Avoidance is not inherently a bad thing. It depends on when and how it’s used. Exposure therapy can work for some people but only if they’re willing. If you force it they’ll become even more traumatized and “Reinforce their fear” as you put it.
And some can’t be treated or cured. Sometimes the best way to cope is to avoid. Hence trigger warnings. I know people make fun of them. But would you make fun of the war vet who has a panic attack when he hears a gunshot? PTSD is not something that can easily be treated and, in some cases, avoiding the trigger is the only way forward for a person. Therapy is very useful and I fully support it. But it’s not a magical cure. Also different therapy techniques work on different people.
Personally I have arachnaphobia I’ve had my whole life. It’s not as bad or rather it doesn’t disable me to the same degree. Video game spiders usually don’t bother me. But a few years ago blizzard gave an updated model to the classic era spiders and some of them (particularly the tatanchula) is uncomfortable to look at up close. But it usually doesn’t impede my gameplay at all.
I’ve also joined r/spiderbro on reddit as a form of wholesome exposure therapy. Images of spiders bother me a lot less then seeing an irl spider move. The way they move feels unnatural to me. It feels like they’re some kind of cosmic horror invading our dimension.
Still I don’t like killing irl spiders because if I’m killing it I better be eating it or protecting my life. And in the case of spiders neither apply.
1: They’re in Australia
2: Given that phobias can be genetic, it could be a leftover from our earlier days as humans.
3: Yes spiders are small but its the combo of them being small and possibly lethal depending on the spider
Funny thing with phobias is the logic part of your brain could be clearly explaining “This is a spider. There is really nothing to be afraid of if I just let it be”. While your amygdala is going NUTS because screw logic when it comes to phobias lol
Ion talked about the reasoning for this months ago, in multiple interviews. Here’s one: https://www.gamesradar.com/the-next-world-of-warcraft-expansion-features-an-ancient-race-of-spider-people-so-ahead-of-the-war-within-the-mmo-is-getting-an-arachnophobia-mode-to-turn-them-into-crabs-instead/
It sounds like there was a lot of immediate feedback to devs at Blizzcon after the expansion was announced, combined with enough arachnophobic devs to make it worthwhile.
I’m arachnophobic, and there are plenty of games I have trouble with or flat out don’t play because of it. There are certain zones in WoW that I dislike playing in because of it. Not every spider model sets me off, but some do. I was very happy to learn about the new mode when it was announced, and I’ll likely be making extensive use of it.
Phobias aren’t rational. It doesn’t matter whether or not the fear is logical, it’s still going to exist. That said, black widow spiders are extremely common where I live (though thankfully they mostly stay outdoors), and they’re venomous enough to be cause for concern.
Exposure therapy also isn’t the only form of therapy, it’s one of many. Depending on the severity of any phobia or fear, it isn’t even saught after a a first line of treatment instead they tend to use CBT first before even mentioning exposure therapy.
I’m well aware therapy isn’t some magical cure. I’m not sitting here speaking to this extent on a subject that I’ve got no experience in. I grew up with an extremely rare and irrational fear, I was afraid of anaphylactic shock, although having no known allergies. I got a lot of crap for this and it brought me to a bad place mentally and physically as I let it control my life. However, therapy does help and even for those who can’t be cured, therapy leads to being able to be around that fear without it causing major discomfort that affects your life to any meaningful degree in majority of cases.
The success of therapy is competed reliant in the therapist and their ability to develop a treatment plan best suited to the individual and the individual sticking to their therapy.
My stance doesn’t change on this. Bringing up veterans with PTSD is a poor example though, they don’t get near the same amount of attention as people with arcnaphobia although their problem is much more severe and often leads to much sadder and ultimately worse consequences.
My point is you wouldn’t tell a vet to just get over it, or that avoiding their trigger is actually bad for them. Not that anyone has it better or worse.
I also would never tell someone with a phobia to get over it. In both cases I’d recommend they seek professional help. However vets do have it worse and the data shows, thus why I said it’s a poor example.
You’ve taken this stance with me like I’m against the filter, but from the beginning I stated I’m not. I’ve just stated that a filter isn’t a solution.
Edit: I agreed with OP’s point being valid. Since the point wasn’t the filter itself but the door it opens to other things down the road for much less common phobias and at some point it’s impossible to make something for all of them.
While I don’t like spiders I did love to back in my PVP days I use to use the biggest hairiest spider for my PVP pet …Cuddles use to be able to web and stun players…I have even had players that were more powerful then me run away when I sent in Cuddles I deduced they were scared of spiders…she also use to web stun anyone that flew too close to me that was flagged…it was a riot for sure…
We could argue if follower dungeons / Delves, are also a filter for people with social anxiety.
My opinion is, that helping people is not a bad thing at all, especially if it has zero effect on the community.
If someone plays WOW and all spiders are turned into a kitten, so be it. I still see my spiders.
I also heard that avoiding is a personal preference of some people, an automatic response of the brain but it´s not a cure either and that it can be in conflict with a treatment by a doctor.
What treatment may be right is so hard to say, especially since nobody of us is qualified to make such a statement.
I do believe that facing our fears is a step forward, but I would not rule out that I also went for the “avoid stuff” tactics before.
In the end I wish that menthal deseases / disorders, would get the same attention as physical problems.
After the amount of people claiming the game was unplayable to them when they launched dragonriding, I think they did well with adding this setting in advance.
Even if it’s a loud minority, they can be pretty loud.
And I think arachnophobia is far more common than whatever made other people have a strong psychological reaction with dragonriding.
I’ll just say this - a game that caters to everyone caters to no one. Regardless of the statistics, those folks with a fear of spiders have been playing this game just fine for years, clearly they are more than capable of discerning the difference between a rendered spider image and a REAL spider.
And by the way - spiders are awesome. Spider bros forever!
Crabs on the other hand… *shudder*
Can we get an option to replace all crabs with spiders?
I don’t see them adding features like this as a big deal. Provided it isn’t burning a ton of dev time, which I am sure a model switch didn’t, and it actually helps others to enjoy the game. Sure why not but let’s not get carried away here. I don’t want to see requests for Coulrophobia added…
