PSA: Macro Sound Effects Harm People with Sensory Issues

[Paladinleeds]

I don’t need a lecture of “Oh you’re disabled you shouldn’t play.” My psycologist has been hugely supportive of the social steps I have made through MMOs.

I'm in the same position. After mental health issues caused me great stress (to the point I became unfit for work) in my last job, I've been struggling, my socialising had gone down, causing my social issues to become more acute again. My CBT therapist supported this avenue (though also believes I should try to get some IRL social training in, which I am working on). While you cannot please everyone at once, I do feel like offering this as an option (similar to how the colourblind mode was added for people with colour blindness), would be a simple and effective tool for accessibility.

[Vstarstruck]

I been harassed a few times asking people to take out macro calls out of the macros because some can trigger me like this. Also it would be nice if we had options to use where the macro call noise settings are not linked to what we attached to important chats. Because I am sound sensitive in learning.. i guess you can call it? I get confused if someone is trying to talk to me that puts the same noise in a raise macro (and in my view I do not use common ones)

Edit, i like to add more cases then not, people just take the sound out. But it is still irritating to be harassed over something this minor for the few times I am given a hard time over. It can be prevented with volume options.

[ManuelBravo]

I been harassed a few times asking people to take out macro calls out of the macros because some can trigger me like this. Also it would be nice if we had options to use where the macro call noise settings are not linked to what we attached to important chats. Because I am sound sensitive in learning.. i guess you can call it? I get confused if someone is trying to talk to me that puts the same noise in a raise macro (and in my view I do not use common ones)

Edit, i like to add more cases then not, people just take the sound out. But it is still irritating to be harassed over something this minor for the few times I am given a hard time over. It can be prevented with volume options.

Could try using Discord or Vent if learning perhaps your FC has one set up. It is a hassle, and will take time, however I myself would not change my pings if they are being used for productive purposes. Can always mute and then go back after you leave that particular group.

Also I doubt it's harassment, mostly people don't see the point of changing their settings or play style for one person. We all pay membership, however even in raids it seems people ignore mechanics and need to be reminded and unfortunately we have to use pings. It's a must in MMO for some sorry.

While there are plenty of trolls, I doubt most people do it with ill intent.

[BillyKaplan]

Also I doubt it's harassment, mostly people don't see the point of changing their settings or play style for one person.

You're double-standarding. You're saying they shouldn't change their settings for the one person (and it is not, in fact, the one person, as is evident by the many people who replied in this thread and would like to mute macro sounds) but for the duration of this thread you have constantly rejected an option that would let us enjoy the same freedom of muting the macro sounds the one time and move on with our lives.
That said, you're strawmanning. Yeah not everyone are trolls, the post your replied to stated that most people take out the macro sounds like decent human beings. But we're talking about people who have been told explicitly that their continued usage of macros is causing the people in their party harm. And once that has been done, and they continue to use macros while knowing they are inflicting anywhere from discomfort to outright pain on their party members, that is the definition of harassment. And yeah they can mute the sounds. Doesn't change the fact that the person who spammed the macro sounds after being told that is a huge jerkface.

[ManuelBravo]

You're double-standarding. You're saying they shouldn't change their settings for the one person (and it is not, in fact, the one person, as is evident by the many people who replied in this thread and would like to mute macro sounds) but for the duration of this thread you have constantly rejected an option that would let us enjoy the same freedom of muting the macro sounds the one time and move on with our lives.
That said, you're strawmanning. Yeah not everyone are trolls, the post your replied to stated that most people take out the macro sounds like decent human beings. But we're talking about people who have been told explicitly that their continued usage of macros is causing the people in their party harm. And once that has been done, and they continue to use macros while knowing they are inflicting anywhere from discomfort to outright pain on their party members, that is the definition of harassment. And yeah they can mute the sounds. Doesn't change the fact that the person who spammed the macro sounds after being told that is a huge jerkface.

First off no, just gave options and alternatives. Second get off your high horse and read carefully. In a perfect world yes everyone would hold hands and would put their online gaming experience on hold so that everyone can play perfectly, they would also listen to advice and stick to mechanics. The reality is that no, people want to get things done fast and expect others to take proper precautions before playing a game that everyone knows is not MSE friendly. That time and time again has been brought up and little has been done. The few options and advice that has been given has had no acceptable results, based on the community forums standards who have this issue, everyone pays a subscription. While changes take time, probably will take longer do to the small percentage of world wide players being affected compared to the larger percentage that are not affected, people have choices. To expect everyone to be sympathetic about it and stop their world for those who need it would be nice. is it reality? No.

[Solarra]

get off your high horse

Pot, I'd like you to meet Kettle...

Seriously though, do you have something against people with disabilities?
The only players who would be affected negatively by this are the trolls who think it's funny to cause someone pain.

[Vstarstruck]

First off no, just gave options and alternatives. Second get off your high horse and read carefully. In a perfect world yes everyone would hold hands and would put their online gaming experience on hold so that everyone can play perfectly, they would also listen to advice and stick to mechanics. The reality is that no, people want to get things done fast and expect others to take proper precautions beforeplaying a game that everyone knows is not MSE friendly. That time and time again has been brought up and little has been done. The few options and advice that has been given has had no acceptable results, based on the community forums standards who have this issue, everyone pays a subscription. While changes take time, probably will take longer do to the small percentage of world wide players being affected compared to the larger percentage that are not affected, people have choices. To expect everyone to be sympathetic about it and stop their world for those who need it would be nice. is it reality? No.

You are being pretty insulting, Billykaplan had a fitting reply to you. I do not need a discord chat, you do not know me how having sound on helps my general awareness of the dungeon. I do not want someone's annoying macro to be triggering me for no reason, and when I said harassment, I mean harassment. Sometimes people give me crap about it instead of just removing the noise like a lot of people do. You do not need calls in macros anyway. I want my sounds to go into important chats like hunt ls, fc, special ls, because it helps me know someone may need something while i am in the middle of something else.

Lastly, you can take your own advice, if you need macros during fights, or even worse macros with calls on them, then you can also not have them and be on voice in discord if you need that so badly. This game is not hard enough to warrant calls in macros.

Sound adjusting should be a thing, and there should be some adjustments to character sound. There is this one miqo'te voice that made me leave a DF once. I had a minor headache going in the DF and that character voice was just obnoxious so i left because it made my headache too much to bare.

If you do not want extra options for more people to enjoy the game, i find it very odd...

[Kisagami]

See, what saddens me is that there will be trolls and harassers who openly use things that cause annoyance like macro sound effects and it is disheartening that there are even those who admitted they use them or plan to use them here...

[Kisagami]

Look, we’ve already done everything on our end we can do and all we are suggesting is a solution. It’s not even a major suggestion that will remove your enjoyment out of sound macros - if you like em, you don’t have to click the box. You’ve done everything and said everything to try to get us to back down. I don’t need you saving, patronizing, or telling me how to take care of myself. Your suggestions may seem logical to you, but they do not work for me. Thus - I made a suggestion.

Like I said, I’m perfectly capable of finding another game until it is fixed, if ever. Picked up Guild Wars 2 again - cheaper, no user-forced macro spam - and I can do much of the content solo if I want. I don’t need your advice. But i’m making a suggestion to square Enix so they don’t lose players like me to the competition.

Now what are you arguing about? Did we inconvenience you somehow by asking for a toggle when no other options worked. I mean, goodness gracious, you’re acting like I asked for butt sliders or something.

[Syrehn]

I mean, goodness gracious, you’re acting like I asked for butt sliders or something.

You should be! Butt sliders need to be a thing. XD

Seriously though, I support this thread 100%. Take all my likes! There should be an OPTION for a user to disable the macro sounds and some of the suggestions (listed on your first post) are very good. Hopefully the dev's are paying attention and we'll see some changes to this in the future.