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Deaf Gamer: Subtitles, please

kotaku.com — Kotaku reader A_Zombie contacted us about an email to industry trade association Entertainment Software Association. He contacted them regarding the lack of subtitles in gaming. Not sure if ESA is the place to go with this concern as the ESA is the industry's "voice." Regardless, here's the letter: Dear Sir or Ma'am, I am a deaf 20 year old ..

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 28, 2007

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  • Tygell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+122And for people who don't want to wake up their significant other while playing games in the middle of the night.
  • thiagoleon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+95Subtitles are good not only for the deaf, but also for non-native english speakers (english learners?).
  • nreynolds, on 10/12/2007, -7/+79no one heard about this?

    ZING!

    I feel dirty for making fun of deaf people, but I like to treat everyone equally, so I should make fun of everyone right?
  • BassCadet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+59I have no problem with subtitles as long as you give people the option to TURN THEM OFF.
  • cyrix, on 10/12/2007, -7/+63"I hope I can hear from you soon."

    Anyone else find the closing of his letter....well....a little ironic?
  • aldenhg, on 10/12/2007, -7/+58WHAT?
  • djSyndrome, on 10/12/2007, -1/+49I'm hard-of-hearing (only one eardrum), and I still believe universal subtitles would be a welcome change. All of the current systems have more than enough power to make this happen.
  • rnwen2750, on 10/12/2007, -6/+53And for people who can hear, but have a hard time comprehending the words unless they can see the actual speaker.
  • threepio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+46I'm not hard of hearing and I agree with you 100%. There's no reason why this shouldn't be done and every reason why it should.
  • Azimuth1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+43"At one point I was fighting in buildings shooting at mobsters and all of a sudden I'm fighting a midget skinless Chinese dude with a sword in some alternate dimension. That did not make sense for me at all because... who was that Chinese dude?"

    That game's story didn't make any sense to me either and my hearing's fine.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+42How am I supposed to shank the deaf guy in counterstrike if the subtitles say:

    CAUTION: OPPONENT APPROACHING FROM THE REAR WITH KNIFE DRAWN.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -9/+47I'm not deaf but I still prefer subtitles in all my games and movies.
  • masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33They're especially good not only in games with cutscenes, but games like Half-Life where you might miss what's being said simply by facing the other way, let alone if you're in a gun fight.

    @arith:

    Press the home button on the wiimote, click on the wii remote settings at the bottom of the screen, and then lower your remote volume to zero.
  • JazzFlight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+28I'm pretty sure this story isn't asking for mandatory "always-on" subtitles.

    It should just always be an OPTION.
  • mykos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I never really thought about this issue, because I don't really know any hearing-impaired gamers, but it makes a lot of sense. All the dialog has been in text format somewhere anyway, why not?
  • grevvvvvv, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17yea i wish i could turn the subtitles on my tv off. OH WAIT.
  • korosive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Anyone who played half-life 2 might have found the "Closed Caption" option. It would not only display dialog, but also sounds. If a brick fell, it would say "thud", or other things, such as "grenade blast", the idea was cool, and I have never seen it. Maybe they could implement this type of thing in more games.
  • Arith, on 10/12/2007, -5/+17@Tygell
    Hear hear!
    Also, I wish there was a way to mute my wii-mote, the stupid thing is too loud at night.
  • superdigg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11"I may be deaf but I do have most of my hearing left over."
    Huh?

  • gislib, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14I know a deaf girl who used to play Counter Strike. Ok.. maybe there's no dialog in CS, but sound does matter. The way she did it was to use headphones, turn up the volume to max and use the vibrations she felt to lead her on.

    It was pretty cool, although I felt sorry for the headphones.
  • poornbroken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10i'm for subtitles... i play late at night, and missing the story because you can't turn it up (roomates are light sleepers, they complain of the noise the keyboard makes... in the other room.)

    other times, its just too darned loud, and subtitles would be nice in that occasion too!
  • ClunkClunk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10@merreborn

    I'm sure they'll translate them to douche for you.
  • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11How else will the professor (Farnsworth) play games without subtitles?
    I sure as hell wouldnt want him going WHAAAATT?? every 5 seconds.
  • JrGhoull, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9i'm hearing impaired (was vborn that way) and i can relate to his to some extent. i personally dont play video games that much but i watch movies all the time and wouldnt understand a damn thing if it werent for subtitles (am watchin dawn of the dead with substitles as we speak).its important that the game companies address this kinda stuff early on so that when theres a large...almost out break, of hearing impaired people (think ipod) so if by then they have a good easy solution to gettin subtitles into games, that'd be great. also it'd be pretty damned cool if the companies would give some consideration to the partially disabled people so that they can enjoy video games just as much as the rest of u (not quite so ***** people) do.
  • ujjwal, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11@copblowme,

    A bubble with "TAP TAP TAP" for footsteps (think XIII)?
  • BlackAdderIII, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I'm a software developer, I agree with you whole-heartedly, and games developers I know probably will, too.

    Of course, making extra stuff happen can be a lot less trivial than it seems - which is why accessibility should be considered not an extra, but a core feature.
  • Arith, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12@masamunecyrus
    Thanks! :)
  • Snappywave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Subtitles is a must. We are talking about almost 50 percent of next gen games out there that do not have subtitles. That's how I feel because I am a hard of hearing gamer myself too.
  • daridave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7But if assign subtitles to a core on the PS3, you lose 33% of its power... /sarcasm.

    Seriously I'm not deaf, but I always use subtitles in games (ironically, never in movies)... so they should always be there for those who need them, indeed.
  • echonull, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9The IGDA would probably be the most pertinent agency to contact: http://www.igda.org/accessibility/

    The International Game Developers Association's Accessibility special interest group advocates for solutions to just such issues. They had a very strong showing at this year's GDC, and I heard accessibility-related issues raised over a dozen times in the three days I attended. The issue of designing games that everyone can play is indeed under consideration by professionals in the industry, and it's hardly something to be callous about.

    [edit] Ah, it's also linked in the comments. Well, credit where due: http://kotaku.com/gaming/if-dvd-movies-got-.em%27%27%27/deaf-gamer-subtitle-please-255742.php#c1356517
  • CriX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I always watch movies with subtitles on. I appreciate all the effort that goes into the visual and audio production of movies and games, but if you miss some dialog it can make a huge difference in your ability to understand the storyline.

    Listen up, EA! Subtitles! Ya!! Good call on games like Half-Life. With some games becoming more cinematic this feature could only add to the experience. Most of the game time is spent fragging anyway... let's make sure we know WHY.
  • belfastbiker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I fully endorse this - my mums hearing is crap - she uses subs where possible. As wel as subs in games, there should be visual cues when you get him, when you land a strike, and to describe sfx.
  • JorgeGT, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I agree. I am a native Spanish speaker, and while I can write and read English properly (most of the time :P), it's a bit difficult for me to understand the voices in videogames.
    In FPSs like CS, DoD and Battlefield I have no problem, but in dialogue scenes of other games, if not subtitulated, (like Half-Life series, maybe?) I have to concentrate on voices and I usually miss storyline bits :-(
  • Idietired, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5What about the other advantages to having subtitles in games?

    Yeah, I like being able to play them at night (rigged some wireless headphones for that, 'cause that's how I "role"), but what of gamers who are in the process of trying to learn english?

    My family had a japanese student stay with us once, and she learned a TON of stuff from watching TV with the captions on because she could see and hear the words at the same time.

    Video games could (and should) be breaking down language barriers and bringing people together by creating content that everyone can enjoy no matter if they're hard of hearing, learning the language, or still live with their parents.
  • Alisic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I second that motion. It's not like it's very hard to implement subtitles which can be turned on and off. I'm surprised really that the game producers haven't yet begun thinking about people with disabilities, especially since it's become almost kind of an obsession for web designers (providing accessible interfaces etc.), which is good.
  • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Cantonese and Mandarin have the same script ( I think )
    So, its pointless to make Cantonese subtitles when Mandarin usually exists.
    Stop making fun of these people.
    Those people dont WISH to be disabled.
  • grumbel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4ACK, the non-native speaker aspect is quite important. One of the best examples I have seen so far was Fahrenheit, it allow to select the languages of the subtitles and audio independently, so you could freely mix german subtitles with english audio or whatever way you want, many other games sadly don't even allow you any selection at all, bad thing when the localization sucks.
  • Seifey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I really don't see why developers aren't including the option to have subtitles. They obviously have the technology to handle it and it really wouldn't be that difficult.
  • Snappywave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Daveynin:

    I posted your letter here for some people who are too lazy to visit your webpage:

    As being a Deaf Gamer, Subtitles should be an Industry Standard for Videogames.

    While several of my deaf friends and I did have some fun with games such as Halo, Tony Hawk Underground, or The Simpsons: Hit and Run. The one of the biggest thing what really disappoints us, is the lack of subtitles. We hardly understand what the captain is saying in Halo or what the characters are saying in The Simpsons: Hit and Run or Tony Hawk Underground. We can assume that the captain is giving us orders in Halo and there are humorous lines spoken in The Simpsons: Hit and Run and Tony Hawk Underground, but we lose that experience whereas hearing people get to enjoy it. We should not have to feel left out at all like that. Now you may say The Simpsons: Hit and Run and Tony Hawk Underground lose profit from us deaf gamers.

    While me and several of my friends have played games such as Grand Theft Auto 3 and True Crime: Streets of L.A.. We really appreciate the game containing subtitles. When playing GTA3, there are movie scenes between missions with subtitles in which makes it easier for us to comprehend what to do and make the game more fun and interesting. Same thing goes for True Crime, they do have quite a bit of humor and these games make us feel we are more equal to the society into the gaming world.

    Games such as GTA3, True Crimes, and several others had gained popularity among me and other deaf people in community because of subtitles into those games. We do not have to feel the need to take it back to the store for a refund due to discrimination or lack of understanding it. If you wonder, there is about a total of 21 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the US alone. Of course it is population count from infant to old age, and profound deaf to minor hearing loss. If a game could reach out to at least 10,000 deaf gamers, then the companies should think this is still beneficial to them rather than losing 10,000 deaf customers.

    Now, the subtitles are not only beneficial to deaf gamers, but it can be a great for hearing gamers who had to turn their sound off at night to be quiet and can still read and enjoy the game. Having subtitles may as well increase vocabulary and improve reading skills. These subtitles should have an option whether to it turn on or off at the game options’ selection screen.

    Again, the subtitles should be an industry standard for all videogames. When we go out to rent or buy movies, we always look for the Closed Captioned (CC) or English Subtitled. I think videogames should have to add a certain label on game cases like on the back of those DVD movies. These are a way video game industries will give second thoughts about releasing games and realize this is important factor to increase more deaf gamers.

    -Samuel C.
  • tewcewl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I heartily endorse this movement. There are so many games I've rented only to be disappointed they had no subtitle option in where the dialogue is essential for the game like Star Wars: Battlefront and Splinter Cell.
  • Disease, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I want subtitles for my sound effects too

    *bang bang* *click snap* *gush* *bone crack*
  • joshuastarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As a hearing impaired gamer, a game's lack of subtitles is a deal breaker for me. One good example that comes to mind is Doom 3. I had to have a hearing friend help me out on the FIRST level due to the instructions that were being given that I simply couldn't hear.

    I think the game companies shouldn't be quite so quick to write off the niche of people that can't hear that play games. Might be surprised just how many of us are out there.
  • OdinsFury, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Am I the only one that thinks the voice acting in a lot of the games out there is really cheesy? I think this guy makes a valid point and I say all games should have subtitles regardless.

    I prefer subtitles over voice for the most part. I usually turn off the voice acting unless it meets these conditions: The voice acting has to be really good and the subtitles that go along with it can't be ahead of the spoken dialog. If I'm reading the subtitles faster than the voice actors are speaking them it gets very annoying.
  • daveynin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I posted this similar ones in: http://www.dfulmer.net/daveynin/archives/000409.php
  • Tarmanydyn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I personally see something like this being enacted as a "Games for Windows" standard, heck, wide screen support is standard, though I'm sure most couldn't care less, but for those it *does* matter to, they're thankful for it. I think the same can be said for mandatory subtitles, if/when it becomes standard. But that's just regarding PC games, AFAIK, console games don't have any sort of unified standard.
  • stealthyninja, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1(FTA:) "I may be deaf but I do have most of my hearing left over."
    Deaf or not? Couldn't he have proof-read his letter?

    I think every game should have an option available to turn on sub-titles, at the very least for speaking parts with crucial information needed to complete the game.
  • Bahimiron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He should consider contacting the people at Microsoft who are part of the Games for Windows initiative.

    While there's a lot of dopey ***** involved in being an official GFW approved game (such as support for 360 controllers) there's a lot of really positive stuff in there too, like embracing true widescreen support. There's no reason why they couldn't also require support of subtitles as well. It's not like subtitles are some new, daring technology or even something that would require considerable amounts of extra effort or programming dollars. Just a bit of time. Lots of time in the case of some RPGs, I suppose, but if it's done at the same time as the voice-acting, I can't imagine it'd really stall the process.
  • equitium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I was kidding..
  • Snappywave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ALL video games should have subtitle option. I feel that there are too many good games without subtitles. Halo, Halo2, Resident Evil 1, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Codename Veronica, Resident Evil Gamecube remake, Resident Evil Zero, Doom 3 and more. Also all ports of these games.

    Capcom, you have never took this seriously... will things change when Resident Evil 5 comes out????
  • ErZo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Like most people already have commented, this would be something that not only people that (unfortunately) don't got all their hearing would enjoy. Why isn't all games doing this? Note to developers; PREFERENCES, PREFERENCES, PREFERENCES! *chants*

    Is it *that* hard? I always bake in accessibility into my code.. I suggest you do the same, Game Developers.
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