Deaf Gamers of the World Unite! Or: why aren't subtitles standard?

There should be a law to force them.

I hear just fine but I still use subtitles. Why? Because its sometimes hard to understand what some people say and because I set volume on low at nights so I wont bother people. Plus its also easier for non-native english speakers to understand by reading.

And of course theres the people with hearing disabilites thus is should be a standard.

Exactly, glad someone brought this up. I always play with subtitles on. There's nothing wrong about my hearing, but I'm not a native speaker, and so it could be easy for me to miss something, especially during an action sequence. Subtitles are a good thing.

Wholeheartedly agree. Every DVD has to have them and so should every game. Same as every building has to have a ramp, everything on TV has to have an option for subtitles.

I wouldn't use them for western games but I would much rather have japanese dialogue with english subs in japanese games than the awful dubbing.

There should absolutely be an option of subtitles for the hard of hearing in every game which has spoken dialogue.

I agree completely. I rarely use subtitles myself, but I can see where you're coming from. Not having subtitles just alienates a group of gamers. The reasons for not having subtitles could be numerous. Developer laziness, have to meet a deadline, that group of gamers isn't very big....

None of these are good excuses, however. Subtitles really need to be standard; deaf gamers deserve to play, too.

I'm not deaf but I 100% agree with you. I don't want to turn TV to max just to hear some dude in the background. Devs, if you're listening, make subtitles standard!!!

While I'm not deaf and do agree with you, a whole lot of games DO have subtitles anyways, at least in English in my experience. Particularly RPGs.

I agree, there should always be an option for subtitles for the hearing impaired. It really should be required.

Valve also really deserves some special recognition for the work they put into their HL2 games regarding captioning. Their system is great.

I agree, there should always be an option for subtitles for the hearing impaired. It really should be required.

Valve also really deserves some special recognition for the work they put into their HL2 games regarding captioning. Their system is great. duxup

What was remarkable about the set up is that not only did it display pretty much every sound you could hear in a closed captioning fashion, it also did so with color coding for what type of sound it was, and used colored dots to show /where/ the sound was happening in relation to the player, making it possible to play the game even if you can't hear anything.

Here's a video of the mod in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnLyKbCjlog

While I'm not deaf and do agree with you, a whole lot of games DO have subtitles anyways, at least in English in my experience. Particularly RPGs.

SemiMaster

Thankfully, you are correct. Most games these days do indeed have the option for subtitles. Which makes it all the more infuriating that the option is not standard. I've said it before, I'll say it again: how hard can it be to put text to the words in a game? Ubisoft lost money on me because of that-I canceled my preorder and spend my money elsewhere. I truly hope that Assassin's Creed 2 (as well as Splinter Cell: Conviction) have subtitles.

If nothing else, there should be a place on the back of the box to indicate whether a game has subtitles. If it weren't for an employee at my local Gamestop playing his copy on the store 360 to find out if the option was available, I would have taken my pre-ordered copy home-and been doubly crushed that I had wasted my money on a game I couldn't understand.

[QUOTE="SemiMaster"]

While I'm not deaf and do agree with you, a whole lot of games DO have subtitles anyways, at least in English in my experience. Particularly RPGs.

PseudoFinrod

Thankfully, you are correct. Most games these days do indeed have the option for subtitles. Which makes it all the more infuriating that the option is not standard. I've said it before, I'll say it again: how hard can it be to put text to the words in a game? Ubisoft lost money on me because of that-I canceled my preorder and spend my money elsewhere. I truly hope that Assassin's Creed 2 (as well as Splinter Cell: Conviction) have subtitles.

If nothing else, there should be a place on the back of the box to indicate whether a game has subtitles. If it weren't for an employee at my local Gamestop playing his copy on the store 360 to find out if the option was available, I would have taken my pre-ordered copy home-and been doubly crushed that I had wasted my money on a game I couldn't understand.

Seeing as Nintendo is not big on voice overs, might I suggest some games like Super Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy, etc? They have a lot of text. Only thing you might be missing is the sound effects proper, but you will at least get instructions on how to play written out.

I completely agree.

I sometimes put the subtitles on just so I can better understand what is being said, the latest example being Portal. It can be hard to understand what exactly that female robotic voice is saying, and subtitles let me focus less on trying to decipher the voice and more on actually playing.

I think there's a demographic that this would appeal to outside of just those who are hearing impaired, which makes it all the more confusing as to why it's taking so long for this to be uniformally implemented in games these days. That said, even if it didn't appeal to another demographic, I still think it should be implemented, like you said, to simply expand their audience to include the hearing impaired.

I totally agree, you should start a petition and send it out.

Maybe if you get Assassins Creed for PC there might be a subtitle mod released? I know some games that had subtitle patches added after release.

I'm not deaf but I 100% agree with you. I don't want to turn TV to max just to hear some dude in the background. Devs, if you're listening, make subtitles standard!!!

azad_champ

Definately agree that the subtitles should be in. Whats funny though is that i never use them because im legally blind and though i "MIGHT" be able to read the text i usually read to slow to keep up so hearing is the way to go for me. This would be nice as well but us disabled people are a minority wether you wanna hear that or not we are so i doubt you wouldsee this become standard for such a small sub set of gamers.

And before anyone ask's im legally blind which is very different from blind. Basically my left is useless and my right eye isnt so hot. It makes some games harder no doubt. I really don't think theres anything developers could do to makes things easier for me. That is ok though i get along ok and absolutely love gaming and do quite a bit of it.

I have many other health problems so gaming literally is life for me keeps me sane. And since i cant really read books anymore(something i loved) games provide some good interactive stories(books).

Actually who knows about the subtitle thing i know some developers have done stuff to accomodate color blind people.

I wrote to the National Association of the Deaf regarding this, and this is the response I got:

Unfortunately, there is no law requiring video games to be accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Seems the most we can do at this point in time is write to video game producers and ask that they caption their material and suggest that doing so may increase their sales by up to 10% (the estimated percentage of deaf and hard of hearing people in America). I've seen a few blogs about this, some with information about games that have captions/subtitles or other visual cues. Can't remember where I saw them, but am sure it was through the blog aggregator http://www.deafread.com/

Rosaline

Rosaline Hayes Crawford, Esq.

Director, Law and Advocacy Center National Association of the Deaf

So what should be done? Get a law on the books? Get the game makers to voluntarily standardize subtitles? I'd prefer the latter, as it seem politicians are always on the lookout for excuses to talk trash about videogames as it is.

A petition is not bad idea...but it would seem that since most game companies have such a thick corporate bureaucracy to wade through, getting noticed by the game developers themselves would prove most difficult. What could be done to get the attention of the people who could change things?

The User A_Zombie Wrote a great letter a while back regarding this, and was even featured on Kotaku, Maybe you should Pm him and see where his letter now stands.

http://www.gamespot.com/users/A_zombie/

FEAR is most guilty of this. Not only was there no subtitles but the talking was very low. Much lower than any of the sound effects in the game.

I don't see why Assassins creed doesn't have subtitles. I was kinda surprised to not see them there either. All games should have them.

FEAR is most guilty of this. Not only was there no subtitles but the talking was very low. Much lower than any of the sound effects in the game.

I don't see why Assassins creed doesn't have subtitles. I was kinda surprised to not see them there either. All games should have them.

jks22112

Yeah, FEAR was terrible in that regard. As somebody who can hear stuff fine, it is still frustrating when the voices are not louder than the background music and sound effects.

F.E.A.R. is another game I was greatly looking forward to until I found out it didn't have subtitles:(

It really is indeed frustrating because like I said in my letter about PD0, I have no clue what the hell is going on. Especially in Halo 3 there were no subtitles during gameplay and a lot of mission objectives were given over the intercom but I can't hear ANYTHING because I'm blasting aliens and explosions are going over and I didn't know a mission objective had just been bought up.

I contacted MS, Sony and Ninty about this and I had YET to recieve a response from them nor from ESA which I sent the letter to.

It really is indeed frustrating because like I said in my letter about PD0, I have no clue what the hell is going on. Especially in Halo 3 there were no subtitles during gameplay and a lot of mission objectives were given over the intercom but I can't hear ANYTHING because I'm blasting aliens and explosions are going over and I didn't know a mission objective had just been bought up.

I contacted MS, Sony and Ninty about this and I had YET to recieve a response from them nor from ESA which I sent the letter to.

A_zombie

What do you expect them to say? There is no law forcing devs to include subtitles. I suppose platform manufacturers could force it themselves through the approval process.

Hi Everyone,

I agree that every game should have subtitles/captions. I run a website called Deaf Gamers and I try to cover as many games as possible. I am hearing but I do care about about deaf gamers and I make an effort to mention whether a game is subtitled or not.

http://www.deafgamers.com/

Another proud deaf female gamer here,

Ya I hate how many games do not make subtitles standard, one reason why I guess I still like the old computer role playing games. Never brothered me in the least to read huge paragraphs of text. Though glad I came here to find other sites to deaf gaming at the moment only one I lurk on and know about is deafgamersonline.com but will now be checking out the others.

Assassins creed was fun just running around but not knowing what is going on or why im killing quickly brought that game down same way I hated Perfect Dark Zero I had no idea what to do so by the third mission I think I started just failing from some unknown objective they wanted me to do. In fact I found playing Rhythm games like ddr or gutiar hero much easier then those two as at least in those all I had to do was push or step on a colored button. In more complex games I might as just give up after the opening cinematic.

I think as more deaf gamers come together online and in other ways we can make a bigger notice by the CEO's in how much more money they could be making if they just made subtleties in the game.

Here are some words from Patrice Desilets, the creative directer of Assassin's Creed, on the subject (courtesy of Game Informer):

"Subtitles are important, and I personally wanted them in [Assassin's Creed]. But, because of time, to include some features others might have to get cut. For example, we are fully localized into six languages." He goes on to say "My personal goal is to include as many usability options in action/adventure games as you see in a sports title. Replay cameras, AI options...but in action adventure titles, those things are often done at the end of the development cycle. Those things are important, but it is also important to ship on time."

So to him, subtitles are a nice option that they will try their darndest to include-if they have time. I bet if he were deaf or hearing-impaired, he might place the option much higher on his list of priorities. For deaf and hearing-impaired gamers-and even many gamers with perfect hearing, judging from some of the posts I've seen here-having subtitles is nothing less than essential to understanding what is going on. Therefore, as a gameplay feature, they cannot be lumped into the same category as a replay camera and AI-tweaking options.

I wonder how many speakers of those six languages Desilets mentioned are as frustrated as we are...

Here are some words from Patrice Desilets, the creative directer of Assassin's Creed, on the subject (courtesy of Game Informer):

"Subtitles are important, and I personally wanted them in [Assassin's Creed]. But, because of time, to include some features others might have to get cut. For example, we are fully localized into six languages." He goes on to say "My personal goal is to include as many usability options in action/adventure games as you see in a sports title. Replay cameras, AI options...but in action adventure titles, those things are often done at the end of the development cycle. Those things are important, but it is also important to ship on time."

So to him, subtitles are a nice option that they will try their darndest to include-if they have time. I bet if he were deaf or hearing-impaired, he might place the option much higher on his list of priorities. For deaf and hearing-impaired gamers-and even many gamers with perfect hearing, judging from some of the posts I've seen here-having subtitles is nothing less than essential to understanding what is going on. Therefore, as a gameplay feature, they cannot be lumped into the same category as a replay camera and AI-tweaking options.

I wonder how many speakers of those six languages Desilets mentioned are as frustrated as we are...

PseudoFinrod

Saddly, It does get to the point where you just wish you could shake them about to try and makes them just a little bit smarter. Some games I can allow a lack of subtitles Rainbow six vegas didnt have any but with a lack of story in the game it was ok as the premise was just shoot a lot of guys.

But then you get games you think with so many languages out there and people who are deaf or hearing-impaired it seems like a no brainier for German subtitles English subtitles and french subtitles. In fact this is how it used to be and maybe still is in most American to another country import is just instead of redoing voice just do a subtitle kind of how Japanese flims and imported anime is only subtitle when it comes here.

I hope that as deaf and hearing impaired gamers now are coming together and forming communities then banding those together soon we can at least have a voice.And make sure this brain dead devs realize the money they will lose out on.

I was quite bemused that Assassin's Creed didn't have subtitles.

Seriously the very concept of the game is designed wherein subtitles would actually make sense within the game world. The whole Animus thing could actually have been used intelligently to explain away subtitles. After all, it's actually explained in game why your character can understand everything in English... why are subtitles a stretch?

Subtitles for a game wouldn't even be remotely as troublesome as they are with a movie or television show anyways.

I have absolutely perfect hearing, but I got used to putting captions and subtitles on things years ago. Becomes habit in an extremely noisy apartment trying to watch something quietly.

Regardless it should be made standard as it typically is in other industries.

EDIT: It was also a bit infuriating in Assassin's Creed, consdering how incredibly low the speech is sometimes. Very hard to understand, especially when you toss in a forced Arabic accent.

I was really looking forward to Assassin's Creed. When I saw the trailer at E3 last year, I was giddy with excitement. So I made damn sure I had my copy preordered. I even made sure to preorder both the PS3 and 360 versions to make sure I got the best one.
So imagine my disappointment, as a hearing-impaired gamer, when I discover there is NO option for subtitles in the dialouge-heavy game. I was crushed. I cannot understand the story in a game without them...
I am tired of not knowing if a game has subtitles before I buy it! There either should be an indication on the back of the box indicating whether it has subtitles or not-or even better, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo should require all games released ontheir systems to have the option for dialouge subtitles! Companies that release games without subtitles are unwittingly discriminating against deaf and hearing-impaired gamers!
Though it should be said that most games released these days DO have the option for subtitles. And some, like The Orange Box, go the extra mile and have full captioning so that the game will tell you if an enemy makes a sound and whatnot. But that just makes it all the more puzzling that some developers would leave it out. Ubisoft is particularly guilty of this. Rainbow Six, GRAW, Splinter Cell, and now Assassin's Creed are all lacking that option. I don't understand-they spend tens of millions of dollars on game development and can't spend a few extra thousand on making sure it's accessable to everyone?
I am certain I am not the only one out there who is frustrated by this! It is time to make our voices heard, time to let the game companies know that this is intolerable! Who's with me?PseudoFinrod

This would be an absolutely great idea. Im all for it and soon I think we will see some type of notification of a game being hearing-impaired friendly, and other accessibility notices. I for one would make this not only standard in game development, but the ESRB as well.

I AGREE 110% - It should be a STANDARD OPTION on ALL games... :twisted:

Happy Gaming Everyone!!!

I wrote the following letter to the ESRB:

As a hearing-impaired gamer, I was let down by the lack of subtitles in Assassin's Creed. There is no way to know whether a game has dialouge subtitles before one buys it! In that light, the presence of subtitles should a criteria in your approval process-or, at a bare minimum, there should be a notice on the back of the game package that indicates whether or not the game has subtitles.
Developers need to realize that subtitles are essential to deaf gamers-and many hearing gamers, as well!

(I should have said "rating process" instead of "approval process," in retrospect...)

I received this response:

In regards to your inquiry, ESRB ratings address game content, namely violence, sexual or suggestive content, language, substances and gambling,
etc. We therefore recommend that you contact the game's publisher or product manufacturer directly to convey your suggestion regarding the notice
you are describing. You may find their contact information on their website since ESRB is not privileged to give out this information.

We hope this information is helpful, and thank you for writing.

Regards,

Entertainment Software Rating Board

One more venue exhausted. I would, however, liketo give the people at the ESRB credit for responding so quickly. I am trying everything I know to make myself heard by the people in the industry who can change things. The problem is that the game companies-and Ubisoft in particular-make it difficult for one to get in touch with them. I don't just wish to speak with a random corporate peon who may or may not mention my complaint to their manager-I want to actually get something done. Once again, I welcome any suggestions...

dude not all games are from japan, you shouldbe more specific, because some american games have awesome dialogueamsscorpio

Yes, some American games do have awesome dialogue-and without subtitles, I miss it all :(

I'll vote to make subtitles standard, just seems logical, i listen to music and multitask a lot when i game and i always appreciate subtitles as well ... in a different way i guess