Deaf gamer seeks subtitles support
by Kyle Orland 
{ Apr 27th 2007 at 11:45AM }
Kotaku has reprinted an interesting letter from a deaf gamer asking the ESA to support subtitling in video games. The lack of subtitling means a game's story is often incomprehensible to roughly one percent of the population. Not only that, but audio-only cues are sometimes important to the gameplay itself, such as the beeping bomb-detection device in Metal Gear Solid 2.What's worse, deaf and hard of hearing gamers often have no idea whether a game will cater to them going into a purchase. Game packaging rarely notes the availability of subtitles, and game reviews rarely mention audio accessibility (GameCritics is a notable exception, including a deaf and hard of hearing section in its consumer guides).
Game accessibility doesn't stop at hearing loss. Developers are working on audio-only games for the blind and The Switch Project supports simple, one-button games that "can be played by anyone, no matter the disability."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Crono @ Apr 27th 2007 11:48AM
Even as a non-deaf gamer, the option to turn subtitles on or off would be great.
Especially when trying to play halo and your buddy is recovering from a really nasty hangover. Silence is Golden.
Steve @ Apr 27th 2007 11:58AM
It doesn't seem like it should be all that difficult to add CC information to the video signal if the developers don't want to add subtitle support.
samfish @ Apr 27th 2007 11:59AM
Yep, I'm all for making subtitles in games standard.
Someguy @ Apr 27th 2007 6:54PM
Ah subtitles. I remember back in the day, Relic didn't plan on Homeworld 2 to have subtitles. However, the community had a deaf member and required that Relic had subtitle support. They did add the subtitles for the final product.
Todd @ Apr 27th 2007 12:08PM
This is when a vibrating controller becomes increasingly important. I'm looking at you Sony!
Jack @ Apr 27th 2007 12:14PM
Well to be fair, Metal Gear also subtitles 99% of everything that is said in the game.
Almack64 @ Apr 27th 2007 12:15PM
@4
I agree this defintely is one truly legit reason for force type feedback. Some type of captioning should seriously be just as standard in video games as it is in movies and television.
I think what ever company actaully starts branding their games as hearing-imparied accessible, will actually see some sort of climb in sells.
Olly @ Apr 27th 2007 12:25PM
Half-Life 2 had subtitles in addition to captioning back in 2004. If you turn on CC in that game it'll give you a message whenever a zombie groans or there's an explosion.
Gavin @ Apr 27th 2007 12:27PM
I'm color blind and I find it impossible to play certain games, especially puzzle games. It's not that I can't see colors, it's just certain shades look incredibly similar. For instance, light green often looks just like yellow to me. I would love the ability to tweak the shades or colors of games to make them more discernable to myself.
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Apr 27th 2007 12:34PM
This is one of those areas that people just don't look at and it ends up reinforcing the disability. There's not a whole lot that can be done for blind gamers in the average game, but this is an easy fix. So are fixes for color blind gamers. (Imagine your color blind friend trying to work the Geo Panels in Disgaea.)
If you want to look into growing the game market, why not start by bringing in the percentage of people who actively WANT to game already, but can't?
SomeGamerGuy @ Apr 27th 2007 12:38PM
I am very happy with the support this is getting. I have a daughter who is deaf and so of course she has friends that are deaf and her friends have parents that are deaf. When some of the parents come over they love playing certain games on my 360 while others are very hard for them. The difference being of course that the games they want to play are subtitled for almost all of the important information. The games that are not subtitled are a lot harder for them to play.
A lot of FPS games give you the option to turn on subtitles but most just do it for the cutscenes. Oblivion is great because you get subtitles for almost everything.
If you want to know how much subtitling would help try to watch a movie with the sound off and turn on the captioning. Now do the same with a video game. Movies subtitle everything from voice to the screeching of a tire.
Shadow @ Apr 27th 2007 12:39PM
Gavin:You can do that internally with your TV. I know most people don't like to mess with their TV settings since 99% of the time they're fine how they came when you bought it, but it's usually easy to set things back to normal. Most new TVs use a number system for their settings, so a pen and paper will do wonders. You'll probably want to mess with your color and tint settings to see what you can come up with.
I know how you feel, though. I play a bit of dark themed games, and they ALWAYS think it's a good idea to put almost no light sources in the game and no in-game brightness control. So what I end up with is blaring the brightness up on my TV, and then having to turn it way down when I pop in Mario Sunshine. It would just be a lot easier if devs would take the five minutes to put settings into the game.
And if you're playing on a portable, forget about it.
A_Zombie @ Apr 27th 2007 12:48PM
I'm glad that the users of Kotaku and Joystiq are showing their support. I am deeply grateful :)
Blue Sam @ Apr 27th 2007 12:56PM
I praise for id who put patch on Doom3 with subtitle, it become more helpful to know what's going on.
However, for Resident Evil, I'm very disappointment that everything are on audio until I finally actual understand what happen, thank to Resident Evil: Deadly Silence on Nintendo DS - everything is subtitle. It been too long.
REUYL @ Apr 27th 2007 12:56PM
I'm all for subtitles. They helped a lot when I was playing Bully at 2am and my headphones were broken.
AdamW @ Apr 27th 2007 1:07PM
I definitely support this, even though I can hear fine. It helps tremendously to have the option for textual reinforcement of in-game sounds/speech, in case the outside noise becomes a problem, or just because you sometimes completely misunderstand what was said.
I always watch TV and DVDs with subtitles/CC, and while it occasionally ruins dramatic reveals by a few seconds, it's usually helpful. There really isn't a downside to this sort of thing.
Raikage @ Apr 27th 2007 1:21PM
Good for him, I know deaf gamers everywhere will appreciate what he is doing.
ASL FTW
Tony @ Apr 27th 2007 3:01PM
I've thought about this so many times. There's a LOT of games that deaf people, or even those hard of hearing, simply can not enjoy on any level. At this point, I'm still surprised when I find a game with no subtitle support and they're ridiculously common.
I always turn subtitles on in games, personally, but I like to be positive about what's being said sometimes. It's really common for games to be mixed in such a way that dialogue gets covered by music or other sound effects. I remember a big one, albeit years ago, was a section in RE near the end... I couldn't even hear what Barry and Jill were saying over the music.
I really can't believe this is still an issue, to be honest. I hope it gets more headway.
Th3 Ripper @ Apr 27th 2007 1:52PM
I too am colour blind and have huge problems playing games like Hectic for the 360; I even struggle with map builders for Unreal.
Developers need to be more aware of the market and start to cater for a wider range of people!
NeverSage @ Apr 27th 2007 3:10PM
"I really can't believe this is still an issue, to be honest."
Yeah, honestly I had never really noticed whether or not games had options for people hard of hearing. I just assumed that in this day and age they would take disabilities into account. It's ridiculous that they don't.
Shadow @ Apr 27th 2007 3:38PM
Tony: I know what you mean. I remember Sonic Adventure 2 was REALLY bad. I don't know who was in charge of the audio, but they should be fired. The same thing happens with movies, although sometimes it's just because the actor slurs their words or is just incomprehensible.
We really do need to get some standards going on in the industry. Imagine how much of an uproar there would be if Spiderman 3 or even Talladega Nights came out without subtitles, but nothing is said when Resident Evil gets released with no subtitles. Can anyone even imagine how hard Metal Gear Solid would be without subtitles? I would hate to have to be stuck to a player's guide, and having to read the story on the internet.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Apr 27th 2007 3:55PM
One thing about this guy's letter, though. Being able to hear the dialogue doesn't make Perfect Dark Zero's plot make any more sense. Ya gotta stick to multiplayer in that one.
Sidepocket @ Apr 27th 2007 4:23PM
@ Blue Sam
I remember that whole fiasco. It was not actualy id, it was a mod team made of deaf people. I met that at GDC 06.
They did not have subtitles and the gamers were telling deaf people to fuck off from videogames. Discrasefull people. Makes me ashamed to be a gamer.
A_Zombie @ Apr 27th 2007 5:01PM
SidePocket,
I had no idea :(
brein @ Apr 27th 2007 5:53PM
As a deaf gamer myself, there have been plenty of instances where I have been basically locked out of completing a game because of a sound-based challenge. But I am also faced with the need for 'real-world' accommodations fairly often, and my response to this is the same. By stopping and thinking about the 'worse case scenario', in this case the needs of the deaf, a developer can greatly improve the usability of their game for everybody else. There are plenty of instances where a non-sound based substitute would be useful, enough that I'm fairly sure that most people can think of them. In my eyes, a developer providing subtitling for the deaf is a developer who is actually gives a damn about real quality.
Kylearan @ Apr 27th 2007 7:45PM
All for it. People who can't hear shouldn't be deprived the joy of playing games. Period. A subtitle option should be standard on all games that have dialogue.
Furthermore, any type of immersion that could help determine where sound is coming from (Lost Planet is really good at breaking up the sound channels; let's have an option or interface for some type of directional physical feedback or visual cues), so deaf people can feel or see where and when something is happening.
Rubang B @ Apr 27th 2007 7:47PM
All games should have subtitles. Every 15 minutes this bus stops right in front of my house and I can't hear anything for 30 seconds. It always happens during the most important parts of a movie or game too, and drives everybody nuts. They would also help if you don't have headphones and don't want to make too much noise. The lack of subtitles isn't a deaf gamers only issue. I can't believe they aren't mandatory in all games; this is ridiculous. This is just as bad as an arcade that's not wheelchair-accessible.
On the other end of the spectrum, Nintendo made a sound-only game that you play with your eyes closed: Sound Voyager for the GBA. You try to slalom between noises and catch chickens and build a song by adding one track at a time just by listening and looking for it. Only came out in Japan though. Part of that wacky Bit Generations thing. I played it once and it was radical.
catalyn @ Apr 28th 2007 12:17AM
I'm deaf latino guy I'm hardcore gamer I live in nyc. I use hearing aids i hear noise sound I know things but I have alot problem againist video game without subtitle SDH "subtitle deaf and hard of hearing" or [CC] (you didnt understand "sdh" google wikipedia "subtitles" read on SDH. I'm fuck frustration play "shooter" like halo, resident evil 4 then I give up on crap resident evil 4 then i throw them out my hearing friends had play resdient evil 4 he enjoy well but he disappointed that resident evil 4 without subtitle. he respect to me he understand what i can't hear without noise sound. example movie action, "did you hear something fall or run footstep" how do i hear something it's make noise? now developer won't make create subtitle sdh or CC then developer piss me off, disappointing me all days time. If developer is refuse create subtitle sdh or CC. like (donald trump) you don't want create subtitle sdh or CC in video game then you're fired!!!! what are your boss/ceo going to do? it developer jobs it require must full 100% subtitle sdh or CC with both sound effect now. Yeah metal gear solid 2, gear of wars, star wars has pass subtitle 99% and 1% sound effect. where is easy opition on or off? Because SDTV, HDTV, DVD, HD-DVD, BLU-RAY have passed on subittle sdh both CC, some theater movie too already. I don't care what another hearing people dislike subtitle and CC, they so dumb go to easy opition off subtitle that's all. If developer don't listen us well i will match fire on game burn! I ain't buy games anymore without subtitle sdh both CC. this manys games is not enough waste your time that is why they developer lost money. they don't realize that 1.5 millions deaf the people out there who's can't hear gamer. And sony finally get virbation controller back! (sony idiots) when I buy PS3 well I enjoy playin xbox 360. so where is Massively Multiplayer Online CC? is live CC? are they hire relay person typing to live respone on CC? come on! bring full subtitle sdh both CC right now. one good question: why video game isn't pass on subtitle SDH both CC? If developer disrespect deaf us. it's should shame on developer. If i Beat you out in halo 2 do i look like I'm dumb? you loser and I win then game over! what's wrong with you? you need respect them deaf gamer! we're human begin!
P.S. deaf the people isn't stupid who's can understand reading on english that's education help deaf the people learn lesson english
SimonB @ Apr 29th 2007 12:58PM
Do you people have any idea of the effort that goes into video games? It's not like you can just sit down on Friday night, subtitle the thing and re-compile it again on Sunday night..
Don't get me wrong, I think that the idea of subtitle in games is a really good one, and one I too would benefit from.
But, But, BUT -
If I may be so bold as to suggest that it shouldn't be mandatory, that it's not something one has the right to.
Certainly, it's not unreasonable for one to expect that the courtesy will be extended, and that a title will be subtitled, BUT - it's just that a courtesy.
We've all got it better than we've ever had it, and look! We're still complaining about how much better we deserve to have it... :rolleyes:
Meredith @ Jun 8th 2007 10:14AM
Don't forget, http://www.deafgamers.com/ has been compiling deaf-friendliness for videogames for a LONG time. Incredibly valuable resource for just about all gaming platforms available.