Deaf Gamer

[Mahne 4]

Greetings!

Been reading up on DayZ, great idea and seems to be executed wonderfully, however, I was wondering as a deaf gamer would you consider this game playable? Based off what I have read, sound plays a major role in the game, not just with zombies but with players. Being a as the goal of the game seems to border on the lines of a simulator, this makes perfect sense.

I was simply wondering, as a whole how painful would it be for me? If I stick with low pop servers would that make things easier, or do zombies play just as large as a role as other players?

Sorry for the weird question, thank you again,

[pietjan12 (DayZ) 5]

i would say its perfectly playable without the sound. you will just have to get used to the game mechanics first.. and check your corners/back alot more often.

and for your other question : Players are alot more lethal than zombies in my opinion. as zombies are easily lost throughout buildings.

Edited July 28, 2012 by pietjan12

[stingzer 10]

there are symbols on the right that show you how much noise you are making and how visible you are to zombies, the only problem i can imagine is hearing player shots but with that zombies are are attracted to gunfire so you could tell by looking at where the zombies are going or by looking at your blood level.

[Aftershok 14]

Sound plays an important part, but at the same time you can do many things visually. If you stick to lower pop servers it would be less of a problem, however things such as zombie aggro, being shot at, hearing other players are vital in playing the game, more so in towns than in open country or forest. That being said, you can use the peripheral vision features (white dots on the side of screen) to locate other players or zombies and if you have sharp eyesight and good visual awareness it is easily playable.

[kapania 0]

sound don't play a too big role vs zombies, sometimes it sounds like a horde of 100zombies is chasing you, when you turn around its usually 1zed 20-30 feet away completly ignoring you:) i assume this is bugged and will be fixed tho.

when it comes to players it plays a huge role, because people can attack from over 1000meter away, without sound it could be hard to find them.

deaf or not, i still think its worth a try :)

[Miragenz 71]

Its playable, but it certainly doesnt make things easier, as mentioned you wont hear zombies, or people shooting at you.

Means you will have to be extra aware on the visual level.

[tomfin 25]

Approaching other survivors in DayZ could be very difficult and dangerous without voice communication, as DayZ has currently moved away from from a global text chat and towards direct short-range communication by voice only.

You can still use text chat to talk to other survivors within 80m of your location, but you're very vulnerable while typing. I don't recommend pausing to type when another player is able to see you.

Things might improve when radios or other forms of long-range text communication are added (rumoured for DayZ v1.8), at least you'll have an opportunity to chat without being in firing range at that time.

I'm sorry to say this, but there aren't a great deal of players who will respect such a disadvantage in the meantime. Here's how it often goes with players who don't use a microphone and voice comms:

Transcription for you below.

04:49 Shot fired.

04:53 Player hides in Barracks.

04:55 Hello, hello, are you friendly?! I am friendly, man, I am friendly!

05:00 I am coming in, please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me

05:03 (typing) me too

05:08 (typing) don't go

05:11 Hello? Hey! I see you! I don't wanna shoot you! Are you friendly? Are you friendly?

05:17 (typing) y

05:19 Hello?

05:20 (typing) who shot?

05:21 It's CapsLock to talk, by the way.

05:24 You f***ing retard.

05:30 Player is killed.

Yes, I know - the player in this video isn't operating very effectively, and there are very few friendlies at the North West Airfield Barracks, but I fear this is how a lot of encounters will go for a deaf player. Insults will be added to injuries.

If you have a friend or relative who can work the mic and listen out for shots, that might be your best hope at the moment. DayZ relies heavily on audio cues for notification of zombie alerts and other players' actions.

Realtime speech-to-text translation or picture-in-picture video comms would be a big ask, and frankly would be revolutionary for a mainstream title. Perhaps (much later in development) visual cues or closed-captioning for the hearing impaired may be added.

It's probably that or hope that Valve Software get involved in DayZ and

. That'll probably set the release of DayZ back by four years, of course ;) Edited July 28, 2012 by tomfin

[Freezern 21]

I think it's possible to play without sound

If you stick to low population servers and "safe" areas, you'd probably survive for a long while.

Alternatively, find someone who is an extremely fast typer to play with?

As everyone has said, sound is very important in PvP and less so against zombies.

Zombie sounds always lead me astray.

When they scream that they will murder my family they usually haven't noticed me at all, it's just that I'm crazy close to them.

When they are dead quiet, they are usually sprinting up to pillage me.

Against players, sound can mean everything.

Sounds notify you of distance, direction and if they are shooting at you.

The visual cues are small puffs of smoke where the bullets hit.

Muzzle flash if you are playing at night.

Inside a city, I usually hear people before I see them.

Out in the wilderness and before entering a town, I see people before I hear them.

All in all, if you have the stones to play one of the more terrifying games in the world without sound, you'll probably pull it off.

EDIT: Totally forgot to mention one of the best mechanics in DayZ/ARMA 2: The ability to turn your head independently of your body.

With active use of this in 3rd person mode, you basically have a 360 degree field of vision.

This mechanic alone probably makes this game more suited for deaf gamers than any other shooter?

Edited July 28, 2012 by Freezern

[wayfindre@hotmail.com 4]

I would say more challenging yes, but you operate in the real world being deaf. I would say that would make you a LOT better than most players if they turned their sound off. Good luck to you. Definitely learn to use the Periphery Dots. BTW - they are magnified whenever you zoom in. Use that to your advantage.

[Bianca 92]

Look on the bright side of life, you won't be scared so easily

[Sula 1205]

I agree, it sounds ideal. You'll have a hell of a time of it at first but everyone does. It's very hard to stay alive with nothing and no help but that's the point. :)

I don't use a mic yet and have no problems but then in dayz there's no one to talk to and other players aren't so friendly. Well, no one has every replied to me let alone offered help. I'm friendly, though so there must be more friendly people out there. So you would get people replying if you used typed comms. :) And quite a few of the forum people are helpful too.

[Pureevuls 4]

Wish i never even heard player gunshots, if they are anyone nearby it makes me really cautious and usually for no reason, or i hope to fund them and get myself killed.

Its a TRAP!

[Stimraug 0]

You sir have my beans for being brave :)

[mrducky (DayZ) 33]

DayZ is a frustrating and painful experience even if you have perfect hearing. No reason to expect otherwise in case of being deaf. :D

No, but seriously, like others have stated... The zeds are probably not the biggest problem, even though their sounds make it easy to detect when you aggro one of them. Lacking that sound, you are more likely to get surprised by a zed from behind. But that can be compensated by just being more careful around zeds and looking around youself more actively.

The biggest problems will probably be not being able to hear gunshots or the bullets hitting the ground next to you. That will significantly reduce your chances of reacting to other players presense / someone trying to shoot you. Probably a lesser issue if you plan on playing as a careful survivor around smaller towns and always scan the treelines carefully for snipers and look at the zeds for cues of player presense in the town.

Lack of voice communication probably isn't a big deal, since most players will rather just shoot on sight without any communication attempts anyway.

[Boyos (DayZ) 15]

In the world of simulations, yes a hearing impaired person would/could have fun, but just like a real zombie apocalypse he would die quickly.

[Huntra 35]

I think the biggest problem would not being able to hear gunfire. How much zombies will "see" and "hear" you is indicated by a meter represented visually on the screen. But the main way to stay out of the way of, or hunt other players is through the hearing the gunshots which gives you their direction as well as their proxmity through the game sound. If you are deaf their could be a guy trying to take shots at you with a sniper rifle from 800 yards away and you would be totally oblivious so being deaf is going to put you at a disadvantage sadly.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Huntra

[Mahne 4]

Thank you everyone! I understand the disadvantage, and the likely hood of getting a bullet between the eyes, however, I think it will be fun. Thank you again for all the feedback. I look forward to taking part in this unique gaming experience.From the amount of threads titled “worst community ever” I was not expecting this, however, it makes sense. I guess the players behind those posts forget what the true objective of the game is, and judge player in game behavior as hostile and unsupportive, but in the end in DayZ trust can lead to a bullet in your back.

Honestly, thank you for understanding, providing awesome feedback and advice, it really does mean a lot.

[Bozo 18]

Being able to hear the sounds is always a plus, but it's completely playable without sounds.

But you won't be able to hear gun shots in the horizon, so you'll simply just have to spot them first.

Good luck and I wish you all the best :)

[thehumandove 344]

How cool would it be if there was some program that made gunfire vibrate on headphones or something. Like some serious bass. That'd help a lot

Edited July 28, 2012 by Caz

[Sula 1205]

It is great fun but it also quite isolating and lonely at times. You spawn with nothing and you need water and food to stay alive but getting it is really hard work. Some new people feel frustrated because other games are easier. You get no weapon to protect yourself and no one comes to help when you're bleeding.

Sounds awful? No? Fantastic! It's great, it really is! :D

[10bag 22]

Sorry for the weird question

It's not a weird question :)

Disabled gamers are often under-represented and reluctant to speak up because they are a minority - this shouldn't be the case!

DayZ would indeed be more challenging to a deaf player, but by no means unplayable.

As has been said, players will be your biggest challenge - hearing gunshots from a distance is a sure-fire way to be sure there is danger in the area. This lets you either avoid or tactically approach the danger.

However, by moving cautiously and being more visually aware of your surroundings than a non-hearing-impaired player you will be able to level the playing field somewhat.

Sound is by no means essential if you have good spacial awareness and navigational/tactical movement skills. It is surprising how many people run around in this game like headless chickens - if you pay attention to your surroundings (even without the ability to hear) you will already be at an advantage compared to a lot of players.

If you'd like a group to play with and help you get set up when you start DayZ, feel free to add me on Steam. Our group is about 10 strong when everyone is online. All UK-based and 16-26 in age. We wouldn't turn down another pair of eyes :thumbsup: steam: cruising_beef

Good luck!

[Bakst 98]

What an interesting question. I'd say sound plays an important role in this game, especially during crunch situations like nearby gunfire or nearby aggroed zeds going "urggh" and "aarerrrr" :) It's pretty scary actually. I'd say DayZ is playable without sound, but to get the complete experience you'd have to have visual cues to replace the aural ones (icons or something). Let me ask you this, how do you think you would act in a real-world zombie apocalypse scenario -- do you have ways of compensating for the lack of hearing? It would be amazing for this kind of thing to be built into the game.

[prometheus111 1]

I'd say you'll probably be most at a disadvantage at night. Sound is extremely important at night especially when it comes to zombies. You could be running forward in pitch black not hearing a zombie in front of you and just keep running. Whereas during the day you'd see said zombie and crouch or go prone.

[tomfin 25]

How cool would it be if there was some program that made gunfire vibrate on headphones or something. Like some serious bass. That'd help a lot

Holy crap, you're absolutely right! And such things already exist...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saitek-PH04A-Vibration-Headset-PC/dp/B000GFKXJC

http://www.amazon.com/Saitek-PH04A-Vibration-Headset-PC/dp/B000GFKXJC

Perhaps that would just about even things out with regard to incoming fire, at least. Good call.

[thehumandove 344]

I suppose for it to be effective, you'd have to reduce music to nothing, which I do anyways.