We have not received permission from Kilion to share the quoted post.
Nothing.
Why is this the 'argument' people use here anyway?
I really don't feel like getting into it, but for the sake of at least once:
A lot of these are partially physiological overdrive reactions, and arachnophobia in particular is a reaction that is very visual. Games, particularly MMOs,
utilize
their spider mobs specifically in places and in ways that even people with minimal fear of spiders experience as 'scary' or intended to be, most of the time. This is in contrast to even snakes for most games (though I could see an argument for this one in MMOs at least, too).
Your list of other phobias are things that players can easily avoid and have personal control over in almost all MMOs. Very few games 'force you to fly without warning', and the fear of heights and flying are often different in game form vs not, whereas arachnophobia is usually not. Most games that trigger tryptophobia do it by accident, or certainly don't 'do it almost randomly, taking people by surprise or cutting off entire parts of the game'.
As for 'the work required', this is also something that doesn't hold up, but I trust that Intrepid knows that 90% of even remotely sensible spider movements, attacks, or behaviours, in MMOs,
can
easily be substituted with blobs/slimes, which are among the least difficult things to add or animate.
This is why arachnophobia is the one Devs fix. Empathy, I guess...
Ah well, good luck OP. I hope my trust in Intrepid isn't misplaced, and you only have to endure their 'bashing' until Intrepid makes some statement on the matter. But, since you already said you plan to stand up to it...
Aegis away.