UPDATE 4/16: It's since been revealed that this Reddit post was apparently made by an "educator" who did it as an exercise to show their students how easy it is to "manipulate public opinion and discourse through social media." A person with disabilities was not actually banned from Path of Exile for using a macro needed to play the game properly.

Original story follows.

The games industry has been making a lot of progress in increasing accessibility in recent years, which has been a great thing to let more people play the games that they love. Although there is still a lot of progress to be made across the industry, as evidenced by a Path of Exile player with a disability who has come forward saying that they were banned from Path of Exile for using a macro they need to play the game.

Path of Exile is a very popular action RPG that sees players spending an extensive amount of time on a single character grinding to get the best gear for their builds. This particular issue involves the game's "flask buffs." Players have 4 flask buffs equipped at a time that all need to be activated every handful of seconds to keep the buffs active, which is extremely important during Path of Exile's endgame.

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Reddit user poelegalthrowaway00 posted to the legaladvice subreddit asking whether or not it would be worthwhile for them to get a lawyer after they were banned from the game for using a macro to activate their flask buffs. The player explains that after an industrial accident they have no use in one of their hands or some fingers on the other, making it physically impossible for them to hit the four keys required to activate the flask buffs while playing. It would be impossible for them to play Path of Exile without using the flask buffs, making this particular situation very tricky as the macro the player was using technically violated the game's terms of service.

In a comment on the post, the player does say that they reached out to Path of Exile's support team before using the macro and received a template e-mail that said any macro doing more than one action at a time is not allowed in the game. The player also states in the post that they have spent hundreds of dollars on Path of Exile, making the possibility of never being able to play the game they clearly love, or its upcoming sequel Path of Exile 2, all the more painful.

The player's situation is a tough one, especially since Path of Exile developer Grinding Gear Games told the player that the macro was not allowed in the game before the player started using it. However, the player's inability to play the game without the macro definitely makes it a difficult case. Hopefully, Grinding Gear Games will reach out to the player and works with them to find a solution without legal action that will lead to Path of Exile and its expansions becoming more accessible to players with disabilities.

Path of Exile is available now on iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

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