It does indeed >.< Funnily enough, I had an assessment type thing yesterday that was related to my mental health and autism to do with a benefits review, and the lady asked me if I’d had my autism all my life… and I was just kinda stunned >.< cos like, well, yeah, I was born with it. Just because I was only recently diagnosed doesn’t mean I suddenly caught it like a cold or something o.O They say the people conducting these assessments are trained health professionals and yet it seems they don’t even have a basic understanding of autism >.<
And then she went on to ask if my autism has gotten better or worse throughout the course of my life… and again, I didn’t really know what to say because I didn’t even know I was autistic until I was an adult >.< but either way, what does that even mean as a question?! It is what it is. It doesn’t go away and come back like other mental health stuff can. I’ve had it since I was born and I’m stuck with it until I die x3
And yeah, it’s like they do everything in their power to make it difficult for people with disabilities to contribute and be valued members of society, all while claiming they care when they clearly don’t :(
Tbh, I think I would always want to make them free in some capacity even if I could make money from them in another way because I feel like, yes, it would be nice to get paid for the stuff I create, but I also wouldn’t want a price tag to prevent people from accessing it if that makes sense. Cos not everyone has money to spend on games, and if they weren’t free in some form, it would prevent those people who can’t afford to pay from being able to play, which would just feel wrong to me >.<
It’s kind of a shame that honesty systems don’t entirely work, haha. Cos like with itch, there is always the option for people to donate and give what they can afford, and there are some amazing people out there who do exactly that :3 or they go to ko-fi or something and donate there instead where I don’t lose a chunk of the donation to US tax x3 But I have a bad feeling that those sorts of generous people are the minority >.< I imagine there must be plenty of people out there who play free games here on itch, do have spare money that they could afford to give to devs, but choose not to because the game is free and so they go spend that spare money on something else that they’re forced to pay for if they want it because it isn’t available for free, like a coffee or a sandwich >.< haha.
Which is fine! People are free to spend their spare money on whatever they like. It's just, I think people forget sometimes that if devs don't get enough support, they might not be able to keep making stuff. I've seen several small studios and solo devs have to quit making games because they were forced to go work a 'normal' job to survive, leaving them with no time left to do dev stuff :(