accessibility for people with mental illnesses

[silver1877]

Good day

(First of all sry for the bad englisch i am not native in this language.)
I have a question about accessibility. my freundinn has shizophrenia but would like to start playing Warframe, the problem is the Chains of Harrow quest(all quest that could trifgger shizophrenia)  and the "hey kiddo" afterwards in the Orbiter is a problem. The question is if there is any way to disable that or if you guys have an alternative solution for that.
I would be glad about a positive answer
with kind regards.

Silver

[(PSN)MYKK678]

8 minutes ago, silver1877 said:

Good day

(First of all sry for the bad englisch i am not native in this language.)
I have a question about accessibility. my freundinn has shizophrenia but would like to start playing Warframe, the problem is the Chains of Harrow quest(all quest that could trifgger shizophrenia)  and the "hey kiddo" afterwards in the Orbiter is a problem. The question is if there is any way to disable that or if you guys have an alternative solution for that.
I would be glad about a positive answer
with kind regards.

Silver

Unfortunately there is no real solution to it as far as accessibility goes. And I don't think one exists in any game either. The Description itself is far too vague too. Don't post it here, but you could find out what exactly in Chains of Harrow is triggering your friends Schizophrenia and PM a dev to see if an option to remove it in accessibility would ever be possible.

Triggers can be multiple things but are usually singular, one sound, one visual, one music cue. It wouldn't be just the entire quest itself, but one specific thing about it. You'd need to find out what.

Other than that the only solution right now would be for you to go to their house and play through the full Chains of Harrow quest for them. Theres nothing that can currently be done about the "Hey Kiddo" moments as it's part of the larger narrative, intrinsic to the games story. But you can at least move his character past a whole quest that they can't handle.

[Pakaku]

I think you can mute the Kiddo if you turn off speech/transmission volume in the settings. If this is an issue with hearing voices or anything like that, then muting the speech in the game might help solve that problem.

Two obvious drawbacks, of course: It won't stop Kiddo from actually appearing, so you might encounter mild(?) visual jumpscares. And every other instance of speech/transmissions will also be muted, which may or may not matter as much if you care about transmission chatter (probably unnecessary if you're experienced enough with the game anyways) or if you'll miss hearing enemy voicelines and grunts (I certainly don't)

It's likely one of the two that handles Kiddo's sound volume, but it just happens so infrequently that it's practically impossible to test which one handles it. So... safest to just mute both

Edited August 21, 2023 by Pakaku

[Yaerion]

Except the tricks suggested above, I'm afraid you can't do much about it.

From what I know, triggers for schizophrenia can be a lot of things, not necessarily the depiction of what someone who has it (or experience similar symptoms) can experience. You can be concerned about the quest of Harrow or the "Hey, Kiddo", but your girlfriend may be fine with those and be rather triggered by the Sentient noises, the lines of a random character in some quest who will resonate in her own life, the cry of Hysteria from Valkyr or the greying from Limbo's Rift. Or... The cat looking at her insistently while staying immobile on the right side of the desk while she plays. It depends on each person's life story, areas of sensitivity and usual type of reactions.

Explain to your girlfriend why you're concerned, and what she should expect in the game, so she can prepare herself and tell you how she feels about it. Seeing artistic depictions of some symptoms of her condition is not necessarily bad nor a trigger, it may even help her feel relieved to see that she's not alone, can play a game and overcome fears, or glad to see awareness spreading, and that you saw a bit of what she can experience sometimes. Maybe she'll also tell you how much her own experience is completely different from what is shown in the game. Whatever she thinks about it, it may help you both to become a bit closer.

If she's ok with it and you are very worried, you can speak together before with a professional about this project (hopefully the regular one monitoring her mental health), explaining what is Warframe and what you are concerned about for her. If it seems safe to try, you can also ask what you can do if you notice that your girlfriend is having a concerning behavior or a crisis while playing (or afterwards), in case it happens for some reason.

Ultimately, she's the one deciding if she wants to try or not. The best you can do is to give her informations and support her ;)

Edited August 21, 2023 by Yaerion

[SpicyDinosaur]

The most triggering thing for me in the game is when one of the Sisters makes a comment that basically comes down to her threatening you with being put in a situation where you might end up (cw sexual assault) ...

Spoiler

a victim of prison rape.

Whereas I had a schizophrenic friend for a long while who I never heard say anything in the game triggered him. I feel for you and your friend, I get very frustrated with the game industry and their treatment of the mentally ill. I deal with a nice collection of illnesses, and I think more people than you often hear about are the same. For me it's Bipolar, OCD, ADHD, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

 

More needs to be done overall. But what is the best way to go about it that aids the most people who are disabled in this way without compromising the game's story and effects where possible?

[silver1877]

vor 13 Stunden schrieb (PSN)MYKK678:

Unfortunately there is no real solution to it as far as accessibility goes. And I don't think one exists in any game either. The Description itself is far too vague too. Don't post it here, but you could find out what exactly in Chains of Harrow is triggering your friends Schizophrenia and PM a dev to see if an option to remove it in accessibility would ever be possible.

Triggers can be multiple things but are usually singular, one sound, one visual, one music cue. It wouldn't be just the entire quest itself, but one specific thing about it. You'd need to find out what.

Other than that the only solution right now would be for you to go to their house and play through the full Chains of Harrow quest for them. Theres nothing that can currently be done about the "Hey Kiddo" moments as it's part of the larger narrative, intrinsic to the games story. But you can at least move his character past a whole quest that they can't handle.

Well the support mention I should post it here so a dev or the community could see it and maybe in future updates the options are there to support mental ill people plus I spoke to her and there are multiple triggers I am going to play the quest for her that is not the problem but the "hey kiddo" will trigger it, and it is not a thing I only think she experiences its more of an awareness thing like @spicyDinosaur said

Edited August 21, 2023 by silver1877

[(PSN)MYKK678]

58 minutes ago, silver1877 said:

Well the support mention I should post it here so a dev or the community could see it and maybe in future updates the options are there to support mental ill people plus I spoke to her and there are multiple triggers I am going to play the quest for her that is not the problem but the "hey kiddo" will trigger it, and it is not a thing I only think she experiences its more of an awareness thing like @spicyDinosaur said

It's a very difficult subject though. How is anyone supposed to cater for all the different triggers for different conditions?

Anxiety alone can be triggered by 1000s of different things, PTSD can send someone into a horrifying flashback by the smallest visual or audio trigger, and your friend is obviously triggered mainly by jumpscares and/or Paranoia.

Keep in mind, I'm not even suggesting your friend shouldn't play the game, they shouldn't have to miss out on it. But this is only something that can be fixed after the fact, not beforehand. Let me give you an example:

Let's say you get put in charge of making a game. You're now in a group meeting to discuss what way the game will play. If "Awareness" is applied beforehand:

- You can't have the character go outside as it will trigger some agoraphobic

- You can't have the character go into space because it will trigger Cosmophobics

- You can't have loud explosions as it may trigger Veterans with PTSD

- You can't have the colour Red as it triggers some versions of Anxiety

- You can't have any surprises or anything in your game without the game pre-warning you as it can trigger the "Intolerance of Uncertainty" part of Anxiety

- Etc Etc Etc

 

It's a no-win scenario. You can't make a game like that. It's far too restrictive. And trust me I could fill a whole forum page with examples of what you can't have in a game because they're potential triggers. It doesn't mean we don't do anything about them after the fact, just that it can't be expected to be removed before the fact.

Edited August 21, 2023 by (PSN)MYKK678
.

[Hexerin]

Reminder that by constantly running away and cowering from your fears, instead of exposing yourself to and confronting them, you only further degrade your mental health. Those fears become more intense, and you end up developing more over time.

[(PSN)Unstar]

1 hour ago, Hexerin said:

Reminder that by constantly running away and cowering from your fears, instead of exposing yourself to and confronting them, you only further degrade your mental health. Those fears become more intense, and you end up developing more over time.

But at the same time, being exposed to triggering content outside of the agreed upon plan between yourself and your mental health care provider can prove harmful and impede the possibility of making progress.  We should probably operate in good faith and assume that the desire to deactivate something from happening in a video game isn't the same as taking absolutely no proactive steps towards personal betterment, as these two things can easily coexist.