nevergonnaloveagainthewayiloved:
make playable characters disabled you cowards
in which way disabled? there are characters who have ptsd, depression, soxial anxiety disorder or other psychological problems, there are characters with missing body parts or with an illness. but there is no point in having a playable character who cannot leave the house and even the bed, unless you make a game around that one character and the events indoors, and even that already exists. i wonder which games you mean in which you want disabled characters added and which disabilities you are talking about. do you want to hunt zombies in a wheelchair? or as a blind? or as someone who cant even walk for a minute before they are too exhausted to even walk another step? do you want to solve crimes while lying in bed with brainfog and in huge pain? do you want to face the enemy while being a blobbering mess of anxiety who cant even breathe? you should demand that at least sims will add more illness as character traits, and even they already have the anxious, depressed, easily throwing up loner sim who randomly falls sick every other day. do you want a game where all you do is lie in bed, watch tv and take meds? sims sounds right. they should add that.
so I made this post intentionally vague because we need more playable characters with any and all types of disabilities, but thank you for asking, I always love a reason to elaborate! honestly, what I meant was “give me a playable character who uses a cane or crutches, because I’m desperate to play as a character who has a body like mine.”
I don’t normally play video games or app games, but I started playing @thearcanagame yesterday, and it’s been really strange and kind of frustrating for the game to tell me that “I” did something that my body can’t do, such as walk up a tall flight of stairs; it totally broke my suspension of disbelief and took me out of the fantasy game mode my brain was in whenever it said something about me walking and I was like “but where’s my cane though?”
and yes, I know this is a fantasy game; obviously my character’s body is inherently doing things my body can’t do, such as magic. but it’s part of a larger issue of ableism and exclusion of disabled people in all forms of media; even if other characters in games might be disabled (without going into the ableism usually involved in which characters are disabled), it reflects that creators on some level don’t expect disabled people to play their games when they don’t include disabled playable characters.
as for the rest of your response: yes. fuck yes, I want to hunt zombies in a wheelchair, and I want people with low vision and chronic fatigue to have the opportunity to play as characters that represent themselves while kicking zombie ass. Fuck Yes, I want to play as a detective with severe chronic pain. yes, I want to play as a hero who has panic attacks. do I want a game where all I do is lie in bed, watch tv, and take meds? honestly, yeah, because sometimes taking care of a fictional character reminds me to take care of myself.
what struck me with the question about solving crimes while laying in bed with brain fog and intense pain was how that’s what I’m doing anyway—if I’m playing a crime-solving game, I’m doing that while laying in bed with brain fog and intense pain. so why not have a character who’s doing the same thing I am? you phrased this as if all of those situations are impossible to include in a game (they aren’t) and as if no one would enjoy playing them (we would). there is so much potential for the inclusion of disabled characters and their stories. abled creators just need to step up their game.
As someone who has zombie survival on the brain and uses a wheelchair
We can be badass
You walking people? Already at head height the zombies have to bend down and try to get to my head hah!
Also Boudicca wheel attachments so I can de-foot them, just long ass twirling swords of death!
Tie a pole to my chair arm and I’m a spinning vortex of death just be wary of dizziness
Have a charachter who has access to maps restricted because of their cane or because of innaccessibility.
Have a Doctor game where you play a chronically ill doctor and are fighting to get help from doctors and get help for your patients with doctors who think you are all drug seeking and in an inaccessible hospital.
Have pain meters which stop running and jumping
Have fatigue meters which deplete rapidly
Have a hero worth a cane in games
Have a cart racing game where someone in a wheelchair is being pulled by giant wolves.
A romance game where one of the options is in a wheelchair
Have a RPG where the character is notably limping
Have games where the good characters are disabled not the bad.
Have a detective game where the time limit is because of the characters endurance for standing at one time.
Have an RPG where I can use my crutches as weapons because trust me they work even on 6ft2 body builders.
It’s not that difficult to come up with ideas. It’s just putting in the effort.