Like many games before it, Cyberpunk 2077 is at risk of causing epileptic seizures. A journalist who dared to speak about it was targeted by cyberstalking raids. A situation which shows how the question of accessibility in video games is still so little explored.
This Monday, December 7 marked the end of the embargo around Cyberpunk 2077, undoubtedly the most anticipated game of this end of the year. Among the first criticisms relayed was a Game Informer article : he explains that the game can induce serious epileptic seizures, without this being mentioned in a warning message by the studio.
This is true, except for a few lines in the end user license agreement, namely this block of text that people get used to hovering over as quickly as possible.
American journalist Liana Ruppert, who is prone to epileptic seizures, described her unfortunate experience with several scenes from the game: “ While playing Cyberpunk 2077, I had a big epileptic seizure, and on several occasions felt that another was likely to be coming. », She described. In her article, she lists several elements that can induce a crisis: flashing animations, scenes that take place in bars and nightclubs, but especially the ” sensory dances Which are an integral part of the main campaign. They are therefore inevitable.
On several occasions, V’s character is invited to watch a VR movie that he or she can then analyze layer by layer, and don a headset before they can watch it. ” The helmet passes in front of the character’s eyes and shows a rapid succession of flashing white and red lights, precisely like the material used by IRL neurologists to induce a seizure when they need to make a diagnosis. », Continues the journalist.
A journalist raises the problem … and is cyberbullied
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for games to be liable to induce epileptic seizures, and for them to include a warning message intended for the public – which was not yet the case with Cyberpunk at the time the testers had them.
In her article, Liana Ruppert specifies in particular that she can no longer fully enjoy games like Dead Space. But what was originally a simple warning to future players caused a stir, no doubt for several reasons: the Game Informer article fell at a time when the first reviews, generally good but far from being unanimous, revealed big shortcomings of the title (ranging from a plethora of bugs to artificial intelligence concerns, to name a few).
Of course, Liana Ruppert’s main intention was never to crucify the developers or to bring down the game, as she later explained, but to warn potential players while opening the debate on the issue of accessibility in video games. This case also had a resounding echo when the journalist relayed it on her Twitter account, before being the victim of cyber-harassment: she declared to have received hundreds of videos (disguised as support messages) with flashing images intended to induce epileptic seizures.
Unfortunately, it is often the case that any journalist voicing the slightest criticism of a game – in addition a highly anticipated title like Cyberpunk 2077 – suffers from insults, threats or other violent messages on social networks, in line with the harassment campaigns mainly carried out against women, journalists or players, who continue to plague the community since the Gamergate.
Accessibility in video games: a question very little explored by the studios
In the process, CD Projekt announced that the game will have a clearer message for players. ” We will add a separate warning in the game, in addition to the one that already exists in the CLUF. Our team of developers is currently exploring the possibilities of a more permanent solution, and will implement it as soon as possible. », Could we read on their account Twitter.
Thank you for bringing this up. We’re working on adding a separate warning in the game, aside from the one that exists in the EULA (https://t.co/eXpPn73VSK). Regarding a more permanent solution, Dev team is currently exploring that and will be implementing it as soon as possible. https://t.co/lXFypnSit2
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) December 8, 2020
This incident has something to revive the debate on better accessibility of video games. While most studios are starting to look into the subject, through options such as increasing the size of the subtitles or implementing a color blind mode, there is still a long way to go.
The problem of epilepsy is just starting to be taken into account, in particular by Microsoft, as explains another article by Liana Ruppert, but the question remains complex. This year, videographer LauraKBuzz explained, for example, that it would be too dangerous for developers to specify that a mode is completely secure for people with epilepsy, because of the wide variety of potential triggers.
