DEAF PIRATES VS PVP

  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    I have a friend who is color blind & deaf.
    I figured I show him the game and sail with him, he found some the settings to fix the colors but yeah unable to hear was troublesome.

    But after explaining how players fight and what to look for, he discovered tactics that helped.
    Even if he couldnt hear the gun fire, the amount of damage and the damage indicator helped. If he knew a player was nearby or passing ship, he pay attention for any Mermaids or sat by his (Sloop) wheel where he could see both ladders.
    Since he is always moving on his ship, of he saw those Rats where they shouldnt, he knew he had a hole somewhere, even after or during a Ship vs ship he always double checks below deck.

    • And he is on PC

    So..for those on Pc..how would Vibration work? Not everyone players with a controller, and Ive never heard of a vibrating mouse or keyboard.

  • FaceYourDemon
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder

    @sailorkek said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @timedsatyr79799 no? I'm just saying the people who don't like this idea because it "spoils stealth play" are probably the type of player who has a fully manned galleon but still decided to board and spawn kill instead of just using their cannons to sink the ship.

    Ahhhh my favorite..... the smell of cremated pirates into the air as I spawncamp them.
    Exclusive delight reserved to the gods...

  • HiradC
    Lord
    Insider

    Its a difficult thing to balance, rare def want to make the game nore accessible, but then a lot of the accessibility functions can be used by all to make the game easier e.g nameplates on fish.

    There is a skill in recognising specific sounds of boarders, Mermaids etc which would be completely negated by say a subtitle saying splash. I don't think vibration is the way to go as that only works on xbox and not pc.

  • Bieltan
    Seafarer

    Its a tricky one. On the one hand I do understand OPs position, audio cues have increasingly come into a kind of prevalence in gaming.

    On the other, if you add something like vibrations then able players will absolutely use that also to heighten their awareness.

    There is no easy answer here, I hope both sides can at least understand that - best suggestion I've seen is the tightening/slack on the ladder ropes.

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @bieltan said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    Its a tricky one. On the one hand I do understand OPs position, audio cues have increasingly come into a kind of prevalence in gaming.

    On the other, if you add something like vibrations then able players will absolutely use that also to heighten their awareness.

    There is no easy answer here, I hope both sides can at least understand that - best suggestion I've seen is the tightening/slack on the ladder ropes.

    What D3ADST1CK posted addresses is.

    just add cues that could be something but don't guarantee it.

    Those that are benefiting through accessibility will have something to work with and those that aren't get noise that could be an indicator or not.

    It's not perfect but it can effect accessibility in a positive way without significant impact on boarding opportunity.

    and have an option to turn it off so people that have adapted to how it has been can continue on with what they adapted to.

    Boarding awareness is something that random crews have improved on significantly anyway. On average, crews are just much much better at this than in the past so the negative impact would be less due to many crews improving over time. It's awesome to see even if it's a pain. Crews with even just some experience just really know how to put pressure on those ladders more often now.

    The deck shot is more than just a clip or a highlight it started becoming more of a thing and goal because of the improvement on ladder guarding.

    It creates an opening for balanced accessibility options imo.

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    @vin-the-rat said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @almtychcknpoo said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @vin-the-rat said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @almtychcknpoo said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    They literally added rats in the ships for those who are hard of hearing or deaf...a visual cue so they know when there is water in the hull.

    Wait, wut? Is that why the rats are there? But I only ever see rats below deck, where I would see the water anyways... or am I missing something?

    Keep in mind, I'm an almost 100% slooper.

    The rats below deck scurry up to other parts of the ship if there is water in the hull. You might not notice it if you aren't deaf but that is something the definitely incorporated for the hard of hearing/deaf community.

    Wow! I had no idea.

    This rat is going to drown. 😅

    I decided to try Xbox Cloud Gaming last night and hooked up a controller to my phone - I'm going on summer vacation soon and wanted to see if I could still play my games without having to take my console with me. I tried several games before eventually getting to Sea of Thieves, but the results were always the same - massive input lag. Everything I did was delayed on screen, which made it difficult to navigate. I even found out that SoT supports on-screen tap controls, if you can believe that. I didn't know it did that. If you want maximum hard mode, you should try it! 😅

    I sailed in an open duo sloop for about 45 minutes doing this. I had no idea if the other pirate could hear me, and typing was a pain, but I let him know what I was attempting. He responded by saying, "****!" 😂

    But I sailed, for the most part, just fine. I was also able to kill skeletons on islands as well as animals and ocean crawlers and phantoms too - though aiming was kind of hard and took longer. Digging wasn't a problem either. In essence, I felt like I was more in a support role rather than an active one due to my limitations, but despite that, I still managed to have some fun.

    Anyways, the reason I bring this up, is because it gave me a renewed appreciation for what I am capable of, and it humbled me to think that this must be similar to what some pirates with disabilities may go through - and they don't have a choice like I do.

    It also made me realize that its accessible nature might be a contributing factor as to why this game is so generous and lenient with lower end networks or devices. They're trying to maximize ways for everyone to set sail.

    I sincerely hope to see the input delay I experienced last night eventually become a thing of the past, but it was nice to kind of see how hard other kinds of pirates may have it.

    So, the next time you find an easy mark, consider that it might not be due to lack of skill or experience - it might in fact be because of something else entirely.

    Just some food for thought to chew on during this discussion.

  • Lucky11
    Commander
    Insider

    @wolfmanbush
    In regards to all three of your points (@D3ADST1CK, @bieltan):

    Would it make sense to incorporate the wind with the ladder idea? Maybe depending on which direction the wind is blowing, the ropes attached to the ladders could tighten or loosen? That way the visual is still in effect, giving people a potential heads-up of a potential boarder. Along those same lines though, as D3ADST1CK noted, there is always the possibility that the ropes tightening/loosening could get lost in the "noise?"

    If there is a change in the winds that you are unaware of, it could prompt you to check the ladders if you see the ropes tighten. On the flip side of things, you could write off the indicators of a potential boarder to nothing more then a change in the winds and chose not to investigate your ladder. (especially if you are in the middle of doing something else). It could be a potential balance between accessibility and an unfair advantage, while at the same time, being a balance of security and paranoia.

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @lucky11 said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @wolfmanbush

    Would it make sense to incorporate the wind with the ladder idea? Maybe depending on which direction the wind is blowing, the ropes attached to the ladders could tighten or loosen? That way the visual is still in effect, giving people a potential heads-up of a potential boarder. Along those same lines though, as D3ADST1CK noted, there is always the possibility that the ropes tightening/loosening could get lost in the "noise?"

    If there is a change in the winds that you are unaware of, it could prompt you to check the ladders if you see the ropes tighten. On the flip side of things, you could write off the indicators of a potential boarder to nothing more then a change in the winds and chose not to investigate your ladder. (especially if you are in the middle of doing something else). It could be a potential balance between accessibility and an unfair advantage, while at the same time, being a balance of security and paranoia.

    Stuff like this is the creative thinking I personally like to see on this sort of thing. Definitely something that could be looked into and tinkered with.

  • Nabberwar
    Lord
    Insider

    What about just throwing out the climbing sound clip altogether? For real, rather then add more queues, and thus neuter the already limited stealth play, and just put everyone on the same playing field as those who are deaf?

    Spotting boarders is more of a visual thing anyways. Stealth is already hard to do, with mermaids already heralding your presence, it wouldn't really be that drastic of a change. Its a very simple change to make on top of it. Removing a sound has got to be easier than creating some accessibility feature that would require a menu toggle as well as the actual implementation.

  • Lucky11
    Commander
    Insider

    @wolfmanbush
    Thanks for the words! I don't know how much I'm helping here, but I want to at least try.

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @nabberwar said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    What about just throwing out the climbing sound clip altogether? For real, rather then add more queues, and thus neuter the already limited stealth play, and just put everyone on the same playing field as those who are deaf?

    Spotting boarders is more of a visual thing anyways. Stealth is already hard to do, with mermaids already heralding your presence, it wouldn't really be that drastic of a change. Its a very simple change to make on top of it. Removing a sound has got to be easier than creating some accessibility feature that would require a menu toggle as well as the actual implementation.

    Valid way to look at it.

    To me that is a more stagnant approach to not only accessibility but generally moving forward with features and environmental changes. I personally am more interested in building things up through creative approach rather than just taking away, even if taking away does address the issue/goal.

    When specifically thinking accessibility I like to think of things like "let's move forward together" rather than just removing something which imo doesn't include as much as I would like to see with accessibility.

    @lucky11 said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @wolfmanbush
    Thanks for the words! I don't know how much I'm helping here, but I want to at least try.

    Significantly, the answer is significantly.

    Your presence is always bright in a thread.

  • Vin The Rat
    Marauder
    Insider

    @galactic-geek said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @vin-the-rat said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @almtychcknpoo said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @vin-the-rat said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    @almtychcknpoo said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    They literally added rats in the ships for those who are hard of hearing or deaf...a visual cue so they know when there is water in the hull.

    Wait, wut? Is that why the rats are there? But I only ever see rats below deck, where I would see the water anyways... or am I missing something?

    Keep in mind, I'm an almost 100% slooper.

    The rats below deck scurry up to other parts of the ship if there is water in the hull. You might not notice it if you aren't deaf but that is something the definitely incorporated for the hard of hearing/deaf community.

    Wow! I had no idea.

    This rat is going to drown. 😅

    lol

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    @nabberwar said in DEAF PIRATES VS PVP:

    What about just throwing out the climbing sound clip altogether? For real, rather then add more queues, and thus neuter the already limited stealth play, and just put everyone on the same playing field as those who are deaf?

    Spotting boarders is more of a visual thing anyways. Stealth is already hard to do, with mermaids already heralding your presence, it wouldn't really be that drastic of a change. Its a very simple change to make on top of it. Removing a sound has got to be easier than creating some accessibility feature that would require a menu toggle as well as the actual implementation.

    I don't like this at all, because boarding is already the meta, and this would only ensure that it stays that way. I want there to be multiple ways to win, and have those methods all considered as equal options.

  • HedgeDog1741
    Rogue

    @grimreaper-k14 tucking would be completely impossible with vibrations on the ship but i do understand where you're coming from.

  • KittyKins2959
    Ship Mate

    Perhaps a small visual cue? Maybe the ladder ropes having a tiny bit of animation. From how I see it the ladder seems to be boards attached to ropes on either side, if that is true and the boards aren't attached to the ship itself (Like the one on the Mast) then they should be somewhat swaying as the ship hits the waves. (Like the bell does) When a player then is attached to the ladder that pattern of the ropes moving changes ever so slightly to hint that there might be something afoot. Nothing to drastic obviously but a tiny difference in its swaying pattern.
    Just an idea 😅

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    @kittykins2959 I like the visual queue idea, but don't know if it'll be prominent enough to be recognized for that specific purpose unless it's directly stated, which is counter to immersion and discovery.

  • hammerz73
    Master
    Insider

    Seeing as there is already an audible for someone boarding and it's subtle and unreliable I wouldn't be opposed to a visual clue when someone grabs a ladder, you are just adding a sense that can detect it. However if they were to go fully visual like Fortnite with directional footsteps and shooting indicators, then everyone will just turn that on like people do in Fortnite. It's a conundrum for sure.

  • Fanghorn13
    Marauder
    Insider

    @GRIMREAPER-k14

    Hi... i believe that there already exists a tool you are describing (just need to look long enough on the internet).

    On this website https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1038250/ you can find the software called Sonic Radar 3 that should satisfy your needs... it is an editable postprocesing overlay tool, that will show you directional sound. It may not tell you that you have an enemy on the ladder, but it may give you the approximate direction of a sound that may be coming from someone holding onto the ladder.

    I would suggest you and your friends to give this software a shot and try to fine tune the details... and if it will work for you then you might just use this tool when playing even other games than SoT. If not then try to look for similar 3rd party software options. After that you can pile up all your research and raise a more coherent suggestion that the Rare developers can work with.

  • Magus104
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @grimreaper-k14 This is a tricky problem. Because I can imagine not being able to hear stuff would be a big problem. This game has so much from the ship creaking and leaking and the sounds when a player boards if their weapons already drawn you hear them redraw it after they get up the ladder.

    But adding vibrations would give all controller players a pretty big advantage. Similarly like if they were to add subtitles for all actions then every play were just turn on subtitles to hear enemies. Im sure im in the minority but with multiple monitors if I suspect someones around I just load up the app and check to see recent players and see if ive been in the vicinity of another player recently.

  • lafrules
    Commander
    Insider

    I am a firm believer in better accessibility and i hope something can be worked out for you. Rare does have many assessibility features already. At least more than the other games i usually play.

    However, i don’t know if vibration would be the best answer to this as i can foresee it becoming a real balance issue with the other players. You see, many people miss the boarding sound even with a good hearing as it is very subtle. So i guess it would have to be a very subtle vibration as well (if there is such a thing) to make it fair for everyone.

  • CookingGiant
    Marauder
    Insider

    I really like the ideas using rope ladders or cues on the tightening or the slack I loved it when rats were introduced because it made me be more aware stuff napping on my ship also I just like to watch them run around in my ship but I definitely think something visual to do with the ladders would be the best approach

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