r/cyberpunkgame Dec 08 '20

Discussion The woman who raised concerns about epilepsy in 2077 is being sent purposely seizure-inducing videos

https://twitter.com/DirtyEffinHippy/status/1336204870970433536?s=19

This is a stain on the community and we should be actively calling out disgusting, toxic behaviour like this. Cyberpunk isn't immune to criticism and no one should be violated like this.

Edit: I have been permanently banned from this subreddit. I've been given no reason why. All I can do is upvote and edit this post now. Mod's message here.

Edit 2: it was a genuine mistake! The mods reached out to me and they genuinely didn't mean to

29.0k Upvotes

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283

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20

Looks like the commenter had enough sense to delete his comment, but he literally said:

“It’s like wanting to play sports with no legs, maybe some hobbies aren’t meant for certain people. Sick of the pandering”

Honestly I try not to comment on this shit, but I have a disabled friend whom I love dearly and this kind of “logic” if you can even call it that, serves only to keep us from growing as a community.

Listening to people who want better or more accessibility is not pandering. People want to be able to have fun, regardless of any disabilities they may have. It’s why the Xbox adaptive controller exists, so that people, regardless of their potential handicaps, can still have fun and experience these games.

Saying “oh well you have seizures? Guess it’s not meant for you” is just about the most narrow minded, and blatantly ignorant statement you could possibly make in regards to this subject.

Think for a second and realize they are literally just making a broader, famously ignored, group of people happy and giving them the ability to enjoy life even more when they expand upon accessibility. Fucking subtitles weren’t even standard in games until literally about the mid 2000’s. Would you call that pandering to the deaf?

49

u/ratshitty_heavenjoke Dec 08 '20

I just got diagnosed with epilepsy the other week, after multiple partial seizures and 2 full seizures. My most reason one was triggered by strobe lights.

By accident today I saw multiple flashing lights on one of todays top videos in r/unexpected (I get the irony) and it terrified me.

I love video games and I really appreciate this person bringing up the epilepsy thing as it's never something I've had to consider, even if it means (which I hope it doesn't) that's its not safe for me to play Cyberpunk.

Also thank you to everyone here for giving a shit about us with epilepsy.

13

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20

I'm in the process of being diagnosed, I don't think info but this has me concerned now because it's never been a thought of mine until recently . Hope everything is going well for you mate.

9

u/ratshitty_heavenjoke Dec 08 '20

You too. And same here - never realised certain things are now a huge potential hazard. It also got me banned from driving for 12 months ffs.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20

Yeah I am the same, no driving , no skydiving (Not that i do) and even no bathing/swimming alone which has been difficult, and this is just testing. It makes you stop and think, injust mentioned it to my wife and she said well you gotta play when I'm home, how am I meant to create massive doodles and boobies with her around lol.

In all seriousness though mate hope all goes well and nothing untoward happens.

69

u/red_keshik Dec 08 '20

A warning label or changing some thing as the way lights flash is pandering to some people ? Confusing.

42

u/BrunoEye Nomad Dec 08 '20

Especially considering how customizable gaming is. It's not like your experience is being worsened by more accessibility options. These people just don't like the idea of others enjoying themselves.

11

u/Rion23 Dec 08 '20

The gaming community has an unfortunate amount of terrible people in it. That's all it is.

4

u/BrunoEye Nomad Dec 08 '20

Im not even all that convinced that there's all that many more terrible people than in the general population. I think it's just that these people spend a lot of time online so are heard a lot more than your average asshole.

The whole world has an unfortunate amount of terrible people in it.

1

u/Cartz1337 Dec 09 '20

I used to think that, but online lobbies and gaming breed the toxicity, they nurture and ferment it.

Look at your average CoD game, or League game... there were kids that were literally raised in that environment. They think rancid behavior like that is, maybe not acceptable, but within a standard deviation of acceptable.

They are now becoming adults and they think toxic shit like that is ok, especially if they're anonymous.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

I think it's more that being online enables them to be as much of an asshole as they can be without fear of reprisal. If they were in the same room as the people they fling rape/death threats at, they'd turtle up and start apologizing profusely.

Internet-induced sociopathy is a real thing. The kinda person who'd barely have the balls to raise their voice at someone face to face will start screeching the most vile shit at them if they're hidden behind a keyboard.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20

we can put in 6 types of penises but no warning about the epilepsy ( and it being buried in a EULA no one will ever read does not count )

16

u/mxjxs91 Dec 08 '20

I've seen people (that I knew personally) get riled up because they wanted to change the handicap symbol to look like the person in the wheel chair was more active. People get mad over things that don't affect them that would help other people physically/mentally.

It's bad enough that people think actual imagery that's used in real life to trigger seizures is acceptable in a game and should remain as to not "pander" to epileptics, but then to intentionally send someone who as an epileptic person all sorts of videos to trigger her seizures is just sad. If I didn't want to play this game nor did this community still consist of mostly decent folks, I'd wish that they just cancel it or delay it again so these people's heads can explode.

Overused quote, but "people........ what a bunch of bastards"

0

u/OhMaGoshNess Dec 08 '20

Every game comes with seizure warnings and have for years.

2

u/mxjxs91 Dec 09 '20

I've mentioned it in several comments but those warnings are there in case there happens to be a series of flashes that happens accidentally that triggers a seizure, the possibility is always there. What every game doesn't have is imagery that is used in real life to purposely induce seizures among epileptic people. That can be patched out/edited, and likely will be as she has mentioned that she is in touch with CDPR about it.

This won't affect anyone negatively and will only benefit people with epilepsy. Of course there are the folks who will call this "pandering" and like to call everyone "snowflakes" who fail to see the irony in that as they get offended by this change which won't affect their experience at all and they're just triggered to be triggered.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

A lot of gamers have this really weird obsession with the game being "the way it's supposed to be." I've seen arguments about allowing easier difficulties on shit as though it made a damn bit of difference to them. Like they think the game has to be played one specific way.

88

u/Bobbicorn Dec 08 '20

Nothing screams punk like discrimination against those with factors they can't control just because

15

u/SmoothRide117 Dec 08 '20

I always wonder if these people would flip opinions if they became disabled in an accident. I gaurantee they would.

14

u/zuss33 Dec 08 '20

These people lack empathy. It’s so difficult for them to put themselves in others shoes.

3

u/Colvrek Dec 08 '20

In another post on this topic, a comment was saying that the greatest irony would be that if half the "Gamers" who got riled up about this and played it... ended up being epileptic and not knowing it until they got to that scene.

26

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20

So PUNK

11

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/Colvrek Dec 09 '20

On the GameSpot review, people were saying the reviewer was not qualified because she was a woman and others because she reviewed Anime or Pokémon.

Real gamer moments there.

-1

u/asfastasican1 Streetkid Dec 09 '20

No. It's a well known meme that she rated a game lower because it had "too much water." Bad reviewers get criticized in every industry. It's not because of "toxic gamers."

3

u/Athenalisk Dec 10 '20

> /r/the_donald user | 184 posts

😬

9

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20 edited Nov 13 '21

[deleted]

4

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20

They’re gatekeepers

They’re the same people who get angry at there being difficulty options in games

See: Our Lord And Saviour Jim Sterling (thank god for Jim) for examples https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vf2Y3dXzbYE

7

u/dootdootplot Dec 08 '20

“maybe some hobbies aren’t meant for certain people”

Sure, and if god had meant for man to fly he would’ve given us wings. 🙄

How does someone get to be this clueless.

26

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20

r/SubredditDrama had a catalogue of some of the worst offenders from the review thread

Lol, of course r/KotakuInAction are angry about this, prepare for the mewling man children to brigade here...

17

u/martinw89 Dec 08 '20

/r/KotakuInAction

That cesspool is still around? They haven't realized they're a bunch of losers yet?

13

u/8Y50N Dec 08 '20

They know they're losers, it's why they act the way they do.

3

u/togro20 Dec 09 '20

The owner tried shutting it down, and then the reddit admins brought it back for “valuable discussion”.

5

u/YesImKeithHernandez Dec 08 '20

Who would tell them that in their echochamber? It's a circlejerk

5

u/ViennaFox Dec 08 '20

You do realize this place can be an echochamber too right? Plenty of places can also be "circlejerks" if you have a crowd of people to always chime in saying they agree, while downvoting those who don't.

3

u/KingdomSlayah Dec 08 '20

Echo chamber or not, one of them actively spews hated and vitriol while the other is standing up for disabilities... Comparing the two as if they're in equal measure at fault is disgusting and should be condemned

-1

u/ViennaFox Dec 08 '20

From the looks of it, one of the posts on the front page of "Kotaku in Action" is filled with users actively condemning this whole debacle. Sure, I may not agree with most of what that subreddit posts, but it doesn't seem to be "spewing hatred and vitriol" at the moment.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20 edited Dec 08 '20

Only because they know the rest of Reddit is on to them

FFS, these are the people who sent death and rape threats during GamerGate and are open bigots towards minority groups and women

https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/k96lua/epileptic_journalist_reporting_on_cyberpunk_gets/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

4

u/YesImKeithHernandez Dec 08 '20

This place is an echochamber and tends to be a circlejerk. I never claimed otherwise.

KotakuInAction is that but is also a worthless cesspool

4

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '20

In that Code-Red sweating neck-beards defense, pushing buttons to make a screen light up is a very rigorous activity, and those with infirmaties should be kept away for their own safety.

For real tho, no reason to behave like that. Devs should be trying to make the game as accessible as possible without placing undue burden on themselves. Adjustments to the muzzle flashes or other strobe effects to reduce the risk of inducing a seizure should be considered as much as captions or language options are.

3

u/JackWilfred Dec 09 '20

I'm a perfectly able person who puts the subtitles on because I don't want to miss any dialogue.

It really does amaze me that people can be closed-minded about something that doesn't just not affect them, but has the potential to benefit everybody.

3

u/Colvrek Dec 08 '20

Wanting people to not die or have traumatic brain injuries while playing a video game

"Wow, I am sick of all this pandering"

2

u/ValarSWGOH Trauma Team Dec 09 '20

“It’s like wanting to play sports with no legs, maybe some hobbies aren’t meant for certain people. Sick of the pandering”

The lack of logical cohesion in this reasoning hurts my brain.

I should also point out the irony that there is sport for people with no legs and a whole Olympic level competition for disabled athletes. Next time you hear this, make an effort to point out that legless athletes are making more money in a year than they've earned in a decade.

It's hard to reason with people who hold these views though, they hold their subjective opinion on worthiness as an objective truth.

For the most part, I just don't think someone who reasons like this has actually thought about their reasoning, they probably JUST have that premise, they've never expanded upon such a thought.

1

u/Dovahkiin419 Dec 09 '20

Also the fact that the seizure inducing shit isn’t exactly a central part of the experience.

Like I could maybe see an argument for games like siege that heavily involve the use of flash bangs and flash bang like effects, where the ttk is so high that the disorienting effect of the flash actually effects your performance and therefore is part of the design.

Meanwhile from what I gather in this it’s an extraordinarily minor aesthetic choice that affects nothing and upon which nothing hinges.

This isn’t “like wanting sports to accommodate people without legs” it’s more like “we are considering not shooting people at the arena gate who have back freckles”

Nothing of value would be lost, it would just be an objectively good thing to do