@ZOS_GinaBruno

Hello Gina,

I was told I should reach out to you, and made a forums account just to do so. I'm told you're an advocate for making ESO more accessible, so I'm reaching out to you specifically.

I'm a big fan of The Elder Scrolls series (it's gotten me through some hard times in my life), and ESO is no exception. But ESO in particular has a significant problem. It's a huge problem in a lot of games, and it's an excess of flashing lights, and/or an inability to turn off effects.

Unlike the other TES games, I can't just avoid using magic, because there's an additional variable...other players. (Also bosses in ESO seem to use a lot more magic that included bright or flashy lights than previous games)

I have a photosensitive neurological condition (I'm not going to give diagnostic specifics because it's private and this is a public forum), and it makes playing my favorite game quite difficult. On many days, I pretty much can only do treasure maps and fishing. I like treasure maps, but you can only do so many, and the same for fishing. Unless I'm having a Very Good Brain Day, I can't do dungeons or trials, or most World Bosses, or even many Delve bosses. Sometimes I can't even go into towns because other players are spamming Templar AOEs.

Essentially, this post is a plea for more options. There are many, many things that can trigger, so it is basically impossible to make a Photosensitive Safe Mode. So the best option is to have options. To make it so players can turn off certain things if they need. There's a great article on the subject by LauraKBuzz. For me in particular, the thing that tends to cause the most visual problems is sudden change in contrast.

I can't speak for everyone with neurological conditions, so if you decide to implement this, I would advise talking to many more players, and perhaps checking out CanIPlayThat. I suppose some people might be helped by a No Effects option, and I might use that on particularly Bad Brain Days, but please don't just stop at that. I know it's a pain in the butt for all involved, but only having two ends of an extreme scale doesn't help all the people in the middle. I for one would rather not have ALL effects turned off, because that would make it hard to know what the heck is going on. But I do have suggestions for Specifics.



Things that would help me specifically.

- Add an option to remove the black-white fullscreen flash that appears in many dungeons and other content. I know that it is there to help hide the sudden change in scenery when moving the players to a new location, but it is a surefire way to wreck my brain. An example of this is in Elden Hollow II, when you go through the portal to fight the giant...thing. I think the boss is called Murklight? (it's been a while since I played it, for obvious reasons, so my memory isn't perfect).

-Add an option to dim Templar light abilities. Light Spear, the AOE dots, ect. I've never played a Templar, for obvious reasons, and I mostly avoid them in general, so I can't tell you much about specific abilities.

- Also add the option to stop the flickering animation of the light abilities. In my opinion at least, it would be better to have a static, non-flashing spear of light (the player animation of stabbing is fine, it's the flickering that's the problem) than no spear, or the spear as it is.

-Add the option to dim or disable the flicker/flash of lightning and fire effects, for the same reason as Templar lights. For example, the Firestorm attack used by Pyroturge Encratis in Black Drake Villa, that fills the room with flame, is an extreme example, but even like, braziers mess with my brain.

- Basically add the options to turn off any flicker or flashing animation. Preferably sorted by type of animation, but I'd be happy with anything at this point. I'd rather deal with a janky looking static sprite than have my Brain.exe stop running.



Not Photosensitivity but related:
-Add the sound option to not hear music boxes. Music boxes in particular mess with my brain, and I've been in houses and guildhalls where I can't find the music box or don't have permission to turn if off, and it renders the space unusable unless I turn off the sound completely.


Not Photosensitive or Related but I'm A Softie:
-Add the ability to turn off death screams for mobs. Killing animals in particular makes me Very Sad because Autistic Hyperempathy, and as someone who recently had two dogs pass away, the wolf death scream is heartbreaking


-Pi

(PS, if I think of anything else, I'll add it in the comments later)

[Edited to remove Name from Thread Title]