PSA: Macro Sound Effects Harm People with Sensory Issues

[Catwho]

OP, your concern is valid. I have sensitivity to sounds, especially abrupt ones like the macros, as well. (Mine is due to a special form of hearing damage from being in band as a kid. Thanks, trombones....)

My solution has been to play entirely on mute. 99% of content can be completed without sound. (I turn it on for Leviathan Ex, and I used to turn it on for T5 and T9 because of the divebomb jingle.)

But I'm going to try muting the system sounds only, or having it muted on a macro. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Cakekizyy]

Would finding sound files and replacing it with silence actually work or would patcher overwrite it everytime?

[Galgarion]

On the offchance though that the developers choose not to implement this, would any kind of exposure therapy help? Like playing the sounds on a loop while eating chocolate, so that they make you hungry instead of stressed out? Get all Pavlov on this problem.

[ManuelBravo]

So in other words if you have sensory issues, take longer breaks and don’t try to keep up with others? Not ask for sound suggestions in order to make things easier? I should deal with high pitched noise spam, even if I turn it down to 10 volume, because some jerk spammed it, and not bring attention to the fact the sound have me a 16 hour long migraine?

More like if your going to be playing online be aware of your limitations. If you know you have sensory issues is more of a reason to be cautions. Yes some jerk will keep spamming it not on purpose, more because he can't avoid it if its part of the actions that are needed. People who blame a product for that just plain stupid. I suffer from constant migraines since I was little and enjoy the game regardless. I know my limitations and rather than complain I find ways to enjoy the game. While I understand common sense is a dying trait at a minimum a person must know that if they have sensory issues they should take more breaks than normal. By own means though if people like to suffer enjoy the annoying sounds and crank it up.

[GetFoesReqd]

You know, it only just occurs to me that this is the only MMO I've ever played that even has those, let alone allows you to use the parenthetical brackets to force-play them for others. I use them A LOT for my own benefit, like when receiving messages or various chats, but I NEVER do the <se.whatever> that plays it for everyone. So far, that was just true because there is nothing more annoying in this game than the douche in raids who spams macros of noises attached to ASCII images of moogles with wangs for 20 minutes. But now, I see some people have REAL issues with it, and it makes noisy moogle macro douchery even worse.

I 100% think the most effective answer is just to make it so you can't force others to hear sounds, its that easy. Leave them in for us to use for our own benefits, as they were intended, but remove all functionality that can use a <se.noise> to make noises audible to others. It isn't worth it, I've never needed that from someone else in any game, including this one, and if it's a real problem like this, just take it out. Make it go away. People will find other ways of communication that don't eff with the heads of others. After a look at Luxpheras' post, it's good to know that this has been passed along, maybe something good will come of it. ^_^

[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.

[GetFoesReqd]

Actually, I just thought of something. I have played a text MUD game, a super long time ago, where you could choose to add sounds to certain string of text, or words, in the game, although obviously only in your own client. You could also highlight specific words and strings with various colors, rather than limiting them to only whole channels. If we could do something like this in our own UI, it would eliminate the need for anyone else to macro sounds in the first place, we could just set it to make a noise for us, that we want whenever a PC/NPC uses certain words in the text/chat. So to alert the raid to a certain mechanic, the word could just be used, and it would allow anyone to basically make their own settings on how to see/hear that in their own chats. I dunno if that's a good idea or not for this situation, but nevertheless, I figured it worth tossing out there in case it would be of use to the devs.

[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.

[StouterTaru]

On the offchance though that the developers choose not to implement this, would any kind of exposure therapy help? Like playing the sounds on a loop while eating chocolate, so that they make you hungry instead of stressed out? Get all Pavlov on this problem.

I would expect the opposite effect to happen; developing a distaste for chocolate.

[Kisagami]

Snip

I love how you assume I just played through my migraine. I dropped the dungeon pnce I got the headache, leaving my friends behind before it developed into a full force migraine. However, once the macro was played, the damage was already done. I have searched Reddit for a means to replace the sounds on my client, however, they are in a file that has difficult data to modify and I am not technically savy.

I do take breaks, and lately I haven’t played more than maybe one or two hours. And I have overall avoided dungeons. I am fully ready to drop the game if I need to; but I know SE has accommodated others before for their needs and given the tools to help those with disabilities. They are an ethical company. So, I politely made a suggested and PSA to bring them aware to a problem multiple people agree with me on, if you have read the thread.

Stop assuming I’m just complaining to complain. I am bringing awareness so that SE doesn’t lose paying members like me from their subscription lists. From the outpouring of support I got in and oug of the game, this is a problem that affects more than just me.