Santa Monica Studio writer and former IGN Editor Alanah Pearce recently claimed in a video discussing Elden Ring’s DLC Shadow of the Erdtree that having a 2-year old is a situational disability.
A screenshot from Elden Ring (2022), FromSoftware Inc.
Pearce stated, “I’m not actually asking for an easy mode. That isn’t the intent. Here’s the thing I want to spell out when accessibility is concerned.”
From there she listed out a number of types of disabilities, “There are also multiple kinds of disabilities especially where gaming is concerned. There are long-term disabilities. There are situational disabilities. There are temporary disabilities.”
Specifically discussing Elden Ring, she said, “It counts as a disability where Elden Ring is concerned if you have a kid. You have a 2-year-old, you’re trying to play Elden Ring, you can’t pause. That is a situational disability that you have where the game not having the option for you to be able to pause, for example, is a hindrance for your particular disability, a situational disability.”
She continued, “You may need to pause to stop your kid from putting a fork into a socket, a power outlet.”
A screenshot from Elden Ring (2022), FromSoftware Inc.
Pearce then stated, “And there are temporary disabilities. You break your wrist, you sprain your wrist, you temporarily have trouble playing video games. You would need something to help you to press certain buttons to play Elden Ring.”
“The third one: long-term. People who have long-term disabilities,” she said. “I do. I have tendonitis in both of my wrists from playing too many video games. Unironically, that is a thing. From tapping too much. That means any rapid button mashing in any game, I’m going to have a lot of trouble with unless there are accessibility options to prevent that. It’s part of what I worked on God of War Ragnarok. That’s part of why I made an accessibility award show to highlight this particular thing.”
A screenshot from Elden Ring (2022), FromSoftware Inc.
What do you make of Pearce claiming that having a 2-year-old is a “situational disability?”
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