Are there any other deaf / mute raiders out there? How do you deal with it?

[KiriA500]

Why would you need to make up a dumb excuse? Just tell them you can't hear/talk.

If anybody has an issue with that, they're a butthole and you are probably better off not being around them. You shouldn't have to lie about yourself online, especially if it's over something so trivial as video games.

Back in 1.0, a LS buddy mentioned they were colorblind during a Hamlet, which had 3 different colored icons you had to see if you were there as a gatherer. He let us know prior that he couldn't tell two of them apart, so we banded together as a group and told him which was green and which was blue. If he just didn't say anything and kept messing everything up, I'm pretty sure he would have felt much worse about himself as a player.

[Djarums]

I find it really difficult to express myself, as I've been quiet my entire life and topping that off with shyness is the icing. I just joined this really great LS and they want me to raid, But whenever the leader asks me to get on TS to just "talk/wastetime" my anxiety disorder takes over and I get flustered....

Some of y'all can just say its so "easy" to speak the truth. But for me the truth hurts, and its not uncommon for people to change or assume there's some kind of derpy brain injury along with being treated differently.


That's why I just wanted to see how others might fare in the same situation.

[ApolloGenX]

I find it really difficult to express myself, as I've been quiet my entire life and topping that off with shyness is the icing. I just joined this really great LS and they want me to raid, But whenever the leader asks me to get on TS to just "talk/wastetime" my anxiety disorder takes over and I get flustered....

Some of y'all can just say its so "easy" to speak the truth. But for me the truth hurts, and its not uncommon for people to change or assume there's some kind of derpy brain injury along with being treated differently.


That's why I just wanted to see how others might fare in the same situation.

I just assume deaf guys are attractive.... cause the ones I have known have been. I realize it's a generalization, but is it really a bad one? =-)

[Welsper59]

I find it really difficult to express myself, as I've been quiet my entire life and topping that off with shyness is the icing. I just joined this really great LS and they want me to raid, But whenever the leader asks me to get on TS to just "talk/wastetime" my anxiety disorder takes over and I get flustered....

Some of y'all can just say its so "easy" to speak the truth. But for me the truth hurts, and its not uncommon for people to change or assume there's some kind of derpy brain injury along with being treated differently.


That's why I just wanted to see how others might fare in the same situation.

In this day and age, it's really not unusual to come across people with some disability. Not to make light of any struggles you've had with it, but people aren't as judgmental as we tend to think. Of course we're going to come across these types of d-bags along the way, but we're going to also come across a lot who really either don't care that we have problems or people that are willing to accept it. I have anxiety. I've had it since high school over a decade ago. I've just learned to come to terms with the fact that it's something that I will always have. I don't DF/PF with random folks much at all because of that.

It's an "easy" thing to get past, in hindsight of things, but it really is a struggle during. The simple fact of the matter is that if these people are as great as you claim, they won't judge you negatively because of it. Maybe it's an age thing for me, but if people aren't willing to accept whatever problems you might have, when you wouldn't be a notable problem to them, then they aren't as great as you might have thought.

[Nephera]

I personally can't deal with speaking on voicechat, it's a personal thing. Macros are your best friend.

Being deaf is a little harder i imagine because your raidcaller or someone else will have to macro back at you but thats certainly doable.

But the key thing to remember here if someone is not willing to work with you just because of that, they're not worth working with at all.

[mbncd]

I'm not deaf or mute but I may as well be.

I have a sensory integration disorder that makes sounds (and other sensory data) overwhelming (thus it's very difficult for me to understand a lot of what I hear so trying to hear is pretty pointless), and like you I have anxiety issues about my own ability to speak. I also have a great deal of difficulty thinking in real time so spoken conversations (as opposed to slower, typed conversations that allow me a little more time to think) and thinking on my feet in battles are very challenging.

The solution: Playing with friends who don't mind going a little slower where possible. Open communication is key, regardless of if you have a long typed conversation with them before hand or use macros throughout the content. Enjoying the solo or other open world content of the game is good too.

Also I don't force myself to do anything that causes pain for the sake of a game, like voice chat with lots of people talking at once, shouting, laughing, nonsense chatter, etc. I have no reason to come up with excuses, I just honestly explain and if they push it I put my foot down because it really isn't worth the suffering that "a simple chat" can cause. I'm not abusive, I just say a flat out "no" with a brief explanation, then ignore any attempts at wheedling and the like while firmly repeating my stance.

[Yshnal]

As a deaf individual and long time MMO player (PvE and PvP), I can tell you that it really is not that hard As many have told you already, most people will understand it, and those that don't aren't worth your time and would probably give you other problems down the road, so no loss there. So, even if I understand what you mean, you shouldn't worry a lot about it.

We are how we are, and there's no reason to be shy about it simply because there's some people that can't understand it. We're all different: someone wears glasses, another one hearing aids, the guy next to them is colorblind, etc., but in the end that doesn't matter, and mature people will know that it really doesn't (specially on a videogame).

I'm always upfront about it when I'm asked (of course, I don't go around yelling it) because I don't feel that I should hide it or anything, and the only people that have been somewhat stupid about it showed later that they weren't worth my (or anyone's) time in the end. There's other people that, from their good will, might assume things or treat you differently initially because they want to help you, but those are not bad and you just need to talk and have some patience with them.

As for the game itself, I adhere what has been said here. Macros are your friends and, as long as you know how to play your role, you'll be fine. It might be a bit harder as you must be 200% aware of what's happening, but it's doable. You don't even need anyone announcing you things like the Divebombs on T5, for example, as long as you know how and when these things happen (in the example of the Divebombs, you would be looking at the focus target window instead of listening to the voicechat and/or the clic sound during the fight). I tank Coil just fine, at least, with the rest of the party on TeamSpeak.

And I can tell you more. Once you play more with your group and you get used to play with each other, you might not even need to say anything during the fights. Simply discussing beforehand and after any wipes the strat that you're going to use will work just fine, as long as you can improvise by yourself and the rest of the group knows how to adapt, as usual. Keep some "OH F*K" macros at hand anyway, just in case, hahaha.

[Poringing]

You will encounter at least someone, through the course of playing the game who doesn't like you for your play-style, looks, opinions, etc. This applies to everyone, including those without disabilities, so don't let them get to you.

If you need to lie to stay in a group, this may not be the right group for you. If you really want to hide your condition from others, just say "I don't use VC, for personal reasons." As for staying in a group, just make sure you do tons of research as to not stall the group and make sure you're not the worst in group (applies to everyone).

[Nici]

I find it really difficult to express myself, as I've been quiet my entire life and topping that off with shyness is the icing. I just joined this really great LS and they want me to raid, But whenever the leader asks me to get on TS to just "talk/wastetime" my anxiety disorder takes over and I get flustered....

Some of y'all can just say its so "easy" to speak the truth. But for me the truth hurts, and its not uncommon for people to change or assume there's some kind of derpy brain injury along with being treated differently.


That's why I just wanted to see how others might fare in the same situation.

I have a Hearing Disability and i know what it's like, i use macros for communicating when i'm not in the mood for voice chat and my friends are understanding, and i know its hard for people who are shy and have a hard time getting to know people in an online game, but the only thing i can tell you is be honest with people...they might surprise you, just let them know your situation.

And like most people in this thread have said if they can't see what a great person/player you are or have a hang up about your disability then they are not worth your time period, just go at your own pace, and if your not comfortable with something or have concerns bring it up in chat, like i said be honest and people might surprise you...they might even go out of their way and even accommodate you in the raids by using macros to communicate or find other ways for communicating, it's apparent they want you to raid with them...the ball as they say is in your court, just have a little faith in yourself and go from there.

[Ryuko]

Back when I played FFXI, someone thought it would be a good idea to start chatting on voice. So, someone bought a vent server and we all started using it. A few weeks later, we realized that one of our LS members was completely deaf and felt REALLY left out because we were chatting on vent all the time. We felt really bad that he felt left out, and mostly stopped using vent as a result. That's the only experience I've had with a deaf player/friend in an MMO... but, I can understand why FFXI and FFXIV is so very different. FFXIV is very fast-paced, so voice communication is a lot more helpful than it was in FFXI. In FFXI, you could type out a novel between casting spells. FFXIV, not so much. I'm a fast typer but I hate typing in battle because you can and will mess up dodging if you're typing. So, in a way, FFXIV's pace has really pushed us 'toward' voice communication for stuff we need to actually talk about.

But, at the same time, I have known a lot of people who are unable to or uncomfortable talking. I'm perfectly fine with people listening and not talking, because I can still tell them things in real time even if they can't respond as fast. Being entirely deaf is another situation entirely, though. Perhaps it would be possible to use one of those voice-to-text recognition softwares so that we could talk in real time and the deaf person could read in real time? That would also solve the situation of someone feeling way too anxious to even join voicechat in the first place (I have known a few people who feel overwhelmed when joining voice chat, even if they don't talk, and who am I to judge?). I'm not sure how a voice-to-text recognition software would work if someone isn't actually on the voicechat program, but at least that would be a method for deaf/mute people to know what we are saying as we are saying it.