Merfruit Hurts Deaf Players

Thank you for your consideration.

While I'm sorry to hear about your disability, I have to say what many others probably think but won't say it.

The whole point of this feature is stealth. If they allowed such accessibility option, they wouldn't just give it to people with this disability, but automatically to everybody.

Nothing would prevent me, who has no hearing impairment, to turn it on. So while it may be easier for you, it would also make it easier for me and everybody else. I would just need to be focused on my screen and not worry about sounds to notice if somebody is trying to sneak up. Which means, it's really harder for YOU and everybody else to sneak up on my ship as well. So it's kinda redundant in itself.

It would defeat the whole purpose of this specific feature, and I really like this feature as it is at the moment.

I hope you can understand my view on this too.

Ah yes I remember an old post concerning closed captions for some world elements like dealing with skeleton kegs for deaf players and other surprise threats.
(Disregard the posts about stealth not being part of the game, as those aged rather poorly haha, no hard feelings Rayne)

PVE is one thing but it's a tricky matter to apply these cues without massively nerfing stealth in PVP, or giving ways to counter it for anybody that can just turn the option on, able or not.

@r3vanns It would just indicate when the game client is being told to play an audio que and in what ear. It would give no new advantage if it's simply showing what you are hearing.

@natalie-rar and that indicator is exactly would be the advantage of it. In this game, it's much easier for most people to rely on sight, rather then sound. As if the sound is almost equally important as the sight, both in situations leading to a battle and in a battle as well.

For sight there is no learning curve. What's on your screen is what's on your screen.

Sound-wise, there are multiple levels of how much your ship is filled with water, the sound of someone boarding the ladder, footsteps, etc. All of these are very important and could determine the outcome of a fight. Sound plays a big part in the skill gap between veterans and new players.

Giving such indicator to everyone would absolutely nullify what this season is trying to achieve.

@r3vanns Play this game in PVP without sound... then take mermaids out the equation and you will understand what i am on about.
We need mermaids or Alternate ways to know we are being boarded.

@natalie-rar

Ok first time I tried to explain politely without playing a specific card. Second time I did my best to be polite again.

This time, because you still don't understand, or you don't wanna understand - I'm gonna play that card.

I stopped playing competitive shooters although I love them cause I lost my reflexes, and I'm not as half as good as I was before (younger). It's far away from a disability, and I'm not comparing them as such, but the point still stands.

Luckily, SoT still allows me to use my brain and strategy, along with defensive way of playing to still be able to enjoy it. If it didn't, I wouldn't be playing it.

Feel free to read between the lines. And in case you can't or won't - if it's an issue to the point you can't enjoy a game cause of it, such game is not for you. Play single player or co-op games, or games that are built in such a way that this specific accessibility feature can be made without affecting the whole player base, or it's not needed/based around stealth (where sound is not playing a big part). I'm sorry again, but you're a very small minority, and that's a fact.

If it didn't badly affect the entire idea of stealth, I wouldn't be against it at all. The same way I wasn't against ideas where certain people asked for any sort of phobia accessibility feature (like turning sharks into something else as an option).

@o37gekko said in Merfruit Hurts Deaf Players:

imo it should be squiggly lines, different colours for everything from ships, canons, gunshots, swords, footsteps, and watersplashes
and EXTREMELY subtle cues for sneaking footsteps...

This is kind of close to what I imagine would make more sense and really more analogous to what a person with full hearing experiences. We don't always know what we are hearing, and often players will mistake one thing for another if they're similar - like thunder and cannonballs, for example. Players might hear a "splash" but not necessarily be able to discern what caused it.

I think a colour meter on the edge of the screen either side, showing frequencies of sounds and their intensity, would better represent what a hearing person experiences, and it wouldn't give any tangible advantage if enabled by someone who doesn't actually need it.

If a sound indicator was to be added, it should only be for boarders.

A new boarding sound effect was added a while ago, which is EXTREMELY obvious. One can no longer mistake it for a normal splash unless they are very new to the game.

So adding a visual indicator when someone boards wouldn't really change anything as boarding was made intentionally loud and obvious anyways.

And people who would miss the sound and allow you to sneak aboard are new players anyway, so they won't know about the setting.

@renee-le-mom said in Merfruit Hurts Deaf Players:

@thorumsu said in Merfruit Hurts Deaf Players:

And people who would miss the sound and allow you to sneak aboard are new players anyway, so they won't know about the setting.

New players or players with varying degrees of hearing loss. Not everyone plays with headphones on. But I think it’s okay when sounds are subtle enough they can be missed. That’s life like.

That's the point. The new boarding sound effect that was added a few months ago ISN'T subtle. It is very obvious AND loud. It is made to be obvious for partially hearing impaired people, according to Drew.

The only players who actually don't notice people boarding are new or heavily hearing impaired players.

I would have disagreed with OP if the old sound effect was still in the game. The old one was made to be subtle, and easily confused with waves. The new one is NOT.

Adding a visual indicator that appears when someone boards doesn't change anything as the new sound is obvious to anyone who even remotely pays attention. It would just be good accessibility for those who can't hear well.