Asking people to improve is toxic, ageist, and ableist

[MilitaryVet123]

Recently, I wrote a thread on why I was upset that the Bozjan storyline was locked behind a difficult critical engagement that was Extreme level or even Savage level. Thankfully, I completed it recently because I was fortunate enough to have a few friends help me progress through the engagement and offer me tips. But the thing is, not everyone is as fortunate as me. In total, they used 12 Lost Arises on me, which is not cheap at all and I don't see how PUGs will do that any time soon. Hence, my point still stands on the content being much more hardcore than usual for something that should be casual.

In that thread, however, despite me clarifying that I don't want to see hardcore content removed - I only want them to offer casual players an alternative to enjoy the same story - a lot of people asked me to improve and get better at the game. Not only is this toxic, it also ignores the lived reality of older folks and has a tinge of ableism.

It's well known that your reflexes will slow down as you get older. As a 42 year old veteran I can't react as quickly as I could when I was 20 years old. I sometimes die to mechanics that seem very simple to younger folks because I reacted too late. This isn't a matter of me not trying. My body simply does not react as fast anymore.

Furthermore, people assume that it is natural to be able to concentrate on mechanics over an hour. I could not because of my ADHD and I easily get distracted. During the Castrum engagement that I did with my friends, it took every ounce of energy to make myself concentrate on doing the mechanics. However, with the insane chat spam and people all shouting different things in yell chat, it becomes extremely difficult to focus on what I need to do because of my ADHD.

I hope people realize that when you tell someone to "git gud" or to improve when they are concerned about story or usually-casual content being too hardcore, you're being ageist and ableist. Most of you folks are still young. When you grow older like me I hope people around you have the decency to be more patient towards you and recognize that you may not be able to play as well as you could before, instead of how you're treating me right now.

[EmoPanther]

Kinda low hanging fruit on this one, ain't it?

[TheMightyMollusk]

Asking the game to be simplified is slackerist.

[NanaWiloh]

Kinda low hanging fruit on this one, ain't it?

Na the fruit eat the ground with this lol

[Razard]

So the question becomes. Is asking you to improve your troll game toxic?

Because you should.

[LovelyWaifu]

I'm sure there are people who are 42+ that clear savage content all the time. TBH blaming your inability to improve on your age is kind of ageist in itself. I'm sure you have the capacity to improve yourself, but like any challenging encounter it just takes practice. Did you run nd fail Castrum many many times before your friends finally carried you through? If you literally ran it tens of times and were still unable to clear it yourself, I could see the justification that it may be too difficult for average player content.

Also, while I understand being frustrated by a difficult encounter, keep in mind that if everything is braindead easy then for most people it just isn't fun.

[Adventica6]

I'm offended because you're offended. Offend less.

[KageTokage]

I'm slightly troubled by the fact that people haven't learned to recognize his bait topics still despite being constantly present as of late.

[Theodric]

I'm slightly troubled by the fact that people haven't learned to recognize his bait topics still despite being constantly present as of late.

It's no doubt because they secretly enjoy them. It isn't hard to ignore posters who deliberately try to cause a stir even if the moderators don't step in themselves. Then again, even when people do post constructively it isn't long before the constructive threads slip off of the front page...

[DarkMasamune]

Oh it's you again.

Have a nice day.