PSA: Macro Sound Effects Harm People with Sensory Issues

[Jennala84]

People should be taking breaks regardless. We all love FF and lets face it time flies. We all have common sense and break times should be a must. While some have better tolerance levels than others their are certain options to help. Lower SFX , wear noise cancelling earphones, take actual breaks not oh door, or food, or getting drink. -.-; If people have disabilities it is understandable and should take proper precautions. It's call common sense. People with Sensory issues should really take more than normal to prevent more serious health issues.

so you are saying "if you are disabled in anyway shape or form you can't enjoy the game the way NT (neurotypical aka normal) people do?"
We take precautions, asking for things to be made more adaptable is not a crime nor an issue.

[Kisagami]

so you are saying "if you are disabled in anyway shape or form you can't enjoy the game the way NT (neurotypical aka normal) people do?"
We take precautions, asking for things to be made more adaptable is not a crime nor an issue.

Thank you. SE listened to a thread on color blindness and how the huds affected them. I was only asking this be a point as well.

[ManuelBravo]

so you are saying "if you are disabled in anyway shape or form you can't enjoy the game the way NT (neurotypical aka normal) people do?"
We take precautions, asking for things to be made more adaptable is not a crime nor an issue.

No, I am saying that if you have a sensory disability that may affect your health instead of complaining and blaming a product you should know better. You can still enjoy the game at a responsible level and change some of your settings to help you. I myself suffer from migraines and I can agree some SFX can effect me. If it begins to get to that level I am intelligent enough to say ok I need to rest and put the game down. Next time I go in or if I know there is a person playing for example with SAM I turn the SFX lower than usual. So put that whole disability vs normal issue back in the deck. Just because I have a disability my self I rather be treated like everyone else and I rather use common sense than my disability as an excuse. There is no harm in asking for a something. They did do a sound mute option and people still complain. I love sound track, yet it's sad when people lack common sense and want to have it done over all. You don't have to be Normal, because their is no longer anything or anyone that can be considered normal. Normal is just a label and a poor excuse. It's more of being delicate and people lacking common sense to measure their disabilities.

[Kacho_Nacho]

People should be taking breaks regardless. We all love FF and lets face it time flies. We all have common sense and break times should be a must. While some have better tolerance levels than others there are certain options to help. Lower SFX , wear noise cancelling earphones, take actual breaks not oh door, or food, or getting drink. -.-; If people have disabilities it is understandable and should take proper precautions. It's call common sense. People with Sensory issues should really take more than normal to prevent more serious health issues.

Oh, I do, Manuel. Everybody should play FFXIV responsibly and not overdo it.

Taking a break from the game every few hours is a must, especially if the player has health issues. Personally, I like to do stretching exercises every two hours.

However, Kisagami's request is reasonable because macro sounds affect her* and other players. It impacts their ability to play the game and cannot be resolved simply by taking a break.

Happily, Square Enix recognizes this and has begun to take steps to help those players who suffer when specific sounds in the game are experienced. While the player has to take care of their health, the developers are willing to help when the issue is too large to be resolved by the player by themself.

*I always refer to folks by the gender of their avatar or character unless told to do elsewise.

[ManuelBravo]

Oh, I do, Manuel. Everybody should play FFXIV responsibly and not overdo it.

Taking a break from the game every few hours is a must, especially if the player has health issues. Personally, I like to do stretching exercises every two hours.

However, Kisagami's request is reasonable because macro sounds affect her* and other players. It impacts their ability to play the game and cannot be resolved simply by taking a break.

Happily, Square Enix recognizes this and has begun to take steps to help those players who suffer when specific sounds in the game are experienced. While the player has to take care of their health, the developers are willing to help when the issue is too large to be resolved by the player by themself.

*I always refer to folks by the gender of their avatar or character unless told to do elsewise.

Yes SE has started to provide certain actions to assist and while it may not be an immediate solution certain settings can take time to adjust. The main issue is that people don't understand or refuse to research their in/outer game options. Here are some examples;

SFX adjustments , Color/brightness adjustments, refresh rates, and even anti blue light glasses can help with sensory issues. I am a gamer and really have a hard time both in RL and while I play do to my constant migraines. Yet I have learned of ways to be able to play longer. Before I could only play a few hours with large breaks in between. I did some research and adjustments and now I can play about an average rate with taking normal 15-20 min breaks. I can enjoy my day off playing the game that I love and keeps me entertained after a long week of work and everyday BS. My point being there are ways to enjoy game if people actually took the time and played around with their settings.

[Fhaerron]

This is extremely annoying.

I had this guy in an expert roulette one day, he had freaking sound for like every cd and seconds left too. I just had to mute the sound completely ... After the run I put him on my blacklist so that I never have to run with that guy again.

And I don't really see the use about it, you don't really need 100% awareness of every cd or spell used by party members in normal content, even extreme primals are super easy.

Savage / ultimate you will do with your static, friends and/or FC with voice chat so not really needed there either.

[Fhaerron]

This is extremely annoying.

I had this guy in an expert roulette one day, he had freaking sound for like every cd and seconds left too. I just had to mute the sound completely ... After the run I put him on my blacklist so that I never have to run with that guy again.

And I don't really see the use about it, you don't really need 100% awareness of every cd or spell used by party members in normal content, even extreme primals are super easy.

Savage / ultimate you will do with your static, friends and/or FC with voice chat so not really needed there either.

And what makes it more annoying for me personally is that both of my eardrums are ruptured. And no this is not my own 'fault' from listening to loud music, I actually have this from a very young age from repeated ear infections.
I don't have any listening issues, I can hear everything fine. The master volume of the game is set too 100%, windows audio is set to 80% and the audio on my headset is on 7.It's not too loud and not to quiet either I enjoy the music and various sounds without issues but then there comes the macro sounds ... every freaking time it causes a pain signal in my ears and then you have those trolls who put every freaking ability with macro sound ...

[Culfinrandir]

I agree with this. Although I am lucky enough to not suffer from any health issues associated with the macro noise I do appreciate how they could become a problem. I can get irritated by them if they are spammed, which is not something that I enjoy.

The worst, by far, are the macros people use in PVP (Shatter mainly). For some reason the user thinks that if the whole alliance isn't at the chosen target within 2ns of the macro then another twenty repeats are necessary. I've never rage quit but it can get me very, very close to it.

[Cheremia]

And if we think about it, Macros is its own section already, so it having its own sound is even less of a problem.

Also, please note:
Not everybody enjoys playing muted games. The only sounds i have at 0% sometimes is bgm, not even the nature sounds and all, just bgm. Because of my own music but if i take out all the other effects it just gets boring. Please don't tell anybody a simple checkbox for this is not worth it.

I time some heals to sounds from attacks, just like i position myself for attacks and all via animations happening(the grenn on Rabanastre pony for marker). If i don't have sound, i just forget things happen.

[Fhaerron]

And if we think about it, Macros is its own section already, so it having its own sound is even less of a problem.

Also, please note:
Not everybody enjoys playing muted games. The only sounds i have at 0% sometimes is bgm, not even the nature sounds and all, just bgm. Because of my own music but if i take out all the other effects it just gets boring. Please don't tell anybody a simple checkbox for this is not worth it.

I time some heals to sounds from attacks, just like i position myself for attacks and all via animations happening(the grenn on Rabanastre pony for marker). If i don't have sound, i just forget things happen.

This, I used to raid in WoW for years with the music itself muted and the 'sounds' to 60% and then have trance music play at 70% and voice chat at 100% and stream.
Best of both worlds.