I don't know who said this line: "Everything before a but is bullshit". It fits guess. You are insensitive because you are ignorant. However there is a reason why it's said, ignorance is bliss. (I'm messing with you. Just joking don't take it serious.)

Well I guess with phobia it's like with sex. You can read and watch all you want, but until you experience the emotion yourself you will never fully understand what's all about. Which is a good thing. At least in case of phobia, less with the latter.
Phobia is more than just fear or be scared and I'm not sure how to explain it. It's like explaining how it feels to burn a finger to child that never had.
It's probably the difference between knowledge and experience. To read about it and to actually feel the pain.

Skyrim had a mod that replaced all spiders with bears.
Legend of Grimrock has mod support. I doubt the devs would add such a mod but perhaps the fan community will.

If you look at the design sketches, the mock-up of the settings screen shows controls for Blood and Spiders. Perhaps this is already in. They were certainly thinking about it up front. Here's a quick capture of the design sketch showing the spiders option.

At least you have a phobia of something that is generally regarded as an evil thing. Personally I'm fruitphobic and it's a pain because fruit is constantly portayed as healthy and good and it's a torture to watch people eating them in movies, tv, ads, etc.

I'm pretty afraid to die, so dear developers, please make my characters invulnerable ;-)
.. or maybe I do it myself, by killing all the spiders up to level 50.

I really hate spiders too, but I'll kill the crap out of them in this game. Can't wait.

Fear of spiders I understand. Fear of cartoon spiders is a puzzle to me.

/sign

I am arachnophobic. Nervertheless I understand the argument that it's pretty senseless to consider phobias in video games. But on the other hand it's exactly as Dragoon001 wrote. It is not a matter of being scared. It is on a hole different level. When seeing arachnids I am really, really disgusted which leads to the problem that i get goosebumps and my hole body tenses up. If this happens I am no longer in a state to enjoy the game and I need some time to come down after the occurence. All in all it is a hindrance to totally enjoy the game I am playing. If I want to play a nerve-racking Survival-Horror video game then it would may be part of the game. But i like games which are kind of RPGs and i want to relax while enjoying story and vibe. I don't need the nerve-racking factor. ;)

People who treat phobias lightly just don't understand what phobias are.

now that the game is out, can someone confirm if that "spider slider" shown in concepts is real and that they are optional?

Sounds neat if that is actually a game option, but I never understood it. I have arachnophobia, but pictures or especially 3d rendered spiders don't bother me at all (or any creepy crawly for that matter)

Now seeing one not 5 feet in front of me for real is a whole other story. *grabs a golf club and starts knocking out some walls* lol

No such thing in the game options.

thank you for that piece of info.

Spiders are a big and unavoidable part of the game. Level 3 is full of them.

Ugh! No spoilers please. No need to say in which level you will encounter them. Takes the surprise out.

A phobia is an irrational fear, wouldn't that mean that you have no rational reason to get scared by them?

If someone was to ask you why you were scared of spiders wouldn't you have to say that you just are? (eg. not because of their looks or what they can do)