> Would suck to give up video games entirely though.

You don't necessarily have to do that. I'm adding voice recognition into the game I'm working on right now, for example. It helps that it's a turn-based strategy game to begin with, though.

And there are players that manage to play games with limited or no mobility in their hands at all, with the right accessible controllers.

Playing games on PC has been a trigger for me for a long time and gets uncomfortable quickly. I got a PSVR2 headset last year and it's a great way for me to play games and not be in the same mostly static position all day. I can play games on it without any discomfort (other than wearing the headset itself which isn't great if it's a really hot day) and you can switch up sitting/standing which I also like.

I have a Quest 2 and I've had to limit my playing of it not because of wrist RSI but it seems like I tend to accidentally overextend my upper forearm muscles anytime I play anything twitchy in it, like Beat Saber or action games, and my forearm muscles stretch or tear or something and take a while to heal back up. Super annoying.

I don't think I'm doing anything too crazy with it either, so it's a little worrying, since it's happened pretty much every time I've played it lately.

> I'm adding voice recognition into the game I'm working on right now, for example.

Very cool! I've also found that it's helpful when the game supports different controllers too. I absolutely cannot play games with keyboard & mouse but plugging in an Xbox controller to the PC is completely fine. I'm sure people out there have the opposite experience as me, too.

Yeah, I can't do WASD movement that often anymore without pretty bad pain in my fingers (noticed how bad it got for the first time with Halo Infinite), so I prefer using a controller myself nowadays.

My game will definitely have controller support also (most of it does now, a few screens are a little spotty I'm planning to fix in the next month or two, and I don't yet have multiple controller support, that may have to wait until later). But it's also fully playable with just clicking a mouse as well.

I felt the exact same. The mounting pain, seemingly leading up to needing to take extended medical leave, the feeling of helplessness where interacting with computers in any capacity was excruciating, and feeling... just utterly useless was terrible. Everything I do/am felt like it involved my hands. Talon took me out of that. It was difficult to learn while in pain (if anyone reading this has the spare cycles, I highly suggest learning before you need it), but it entirely freed me from that downward spiral. It's a kind of security that (temporary) health can't quite match – knowing that the accomodations for disability are there, and are really good. Being abled is a temporary state. (For example, I lose the use of my hands while I'm eating!)

There was a book I can't recall the name of, in which one of the characters (a human) is stranded on an alien planet. He agrees to a certain type of relationship with his alien benefactor, but doesn't understand the cultural implications of what he's agreeing to. His fingers are lengthened through a medical procedure, so long that he can't hold anything, can't work, can't ever exist on his own again – he exists now only as a thing of beauty, a token for the alien to show off. He spends his days in what I picture as a courtyard in a roman villa, to be shown off to guests. This confers social status on his owner because of the resources it takes to keep a helpless sapient being fed, clothed, and happy. (The last one is debatable.) It is seen as one of the most intimate types of relationships in this culture. I think about this a lot.