The problem with walkie-talkies

[Jake]

I'm aware that a huge pull of this game is its atmosphere and aesthetic and the sound design does tie into that heavily - the way your friend's screams echo through the rusted metal halls is absolutely flawless.

I know that the walkie-talkie is supposed to play into that; the company you're working for is clearly more invested in themselves than their employees, which is why you're given really crappy walkie-talkies that aren't the best quality but it's all you got.

My problem is sensory overload. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, allow me to give a brief, very simplified explanation:
I am autistic. Among other things, I am hypersensitive to various stimuli, especially sounds, but generally all 5 senses. This means that when there's too much stimulation all at once, I am unable to cope or focus and become very disoriented and frustrated.

So when I'm in-game, and I'm in the building with some friends and someone tries to talk to me over the radio, I'm having to contend not only with crappy walkie-talkie audio, but also the people near me talking (amplified due to the reverberation from being indoors), as well as the environment ambience such as the steam pipes or doors opening or items being dropped, as well as all of the footsteps from other players and monsters.

It's unfortunately so bad that I'm pretty much always forced to be the person who stays in the ship, or I have to be the only person without a walkie talkie.

My proposed solution:
I would like to suggest a keybind that simply lowers the volume of everything except for the person talking on the walkie-talkie, by like 75% (or a configurable amount). If you need some way to have it make sense from a gameplay perspective, you could equate it to holding the walkie-talkie up to your ear to better hear it, at the cost of awareness to your surroundings.

Though I can understand if this could potentially be seen as hindering the atmosphere in a sense, so I'd even just be happy if any modders reading this would be up to the task. I'd greatly appreciate it.

[big tittied goth girl]

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

Originally posted by leah:

"You shouldnt play the game instead of having an audio slider" due to having autism is wild. sure bud

not what I said one bit but to sit here and say I have this so this needs to be added is crazy what about peoples fear of spiders should that be something to add to turn them off what about fear of the dark should all lights be on? where does it end? not everything is accessible to everyone. seems like he was playing just fine with minor hindrance if hed just tell the people he is with to stop talking for a second while on the walkie

Aracnohobia isnt the same as autistic sensory issues lol.

[HANDIJORDAN-YT]

Originally posted by leah:

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

not what I said one bit but to sit here and say I have this so this needs to be added is crazy what about peoples fear of spiders should that be something to add to turn them off what about fear of the dark should all lights be on? where does it end? not everything is accessible to everyone. seems like he was playing just fine with minor hindrance if hed just tell the people he is with to stop talking for a second while on the walkie

Aracnohobia isnt the same as autistic sensory issues lol.

oh so you get to decide peoples disability's now and how they effect people and what should be done about them

[big tittied goth girl]

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

Originally posted by leah:

Aracnohobia isnt the same as autistic sensory issues lol.

oh so you get to decide peoples disability's now and how they effect people and what should be done about them

ok blud. aracnaphobia aint even a disability. its a phobia. you must be a very fun person to converse with.

[HANDIJORDAN-YT]

Originally posted by leah:

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

oh so you get to decide peoples disability's now and how they effect people and what should be done about them

ok blud. aracnaphobia aint even a disability. its a phobia. you must be a very fun person to converse with.

a phobia can be a disability. which is funny because thats some stupid ♥♥♥♥ but again cant pick and choose you add one you have to listen to all the people who want ♥♥♥♥ catered to them

[big tittied goth girl]

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

Originally posted by leah:

ok blud. aracnaphobia aint even a disability. its a phobia. you must be a very fun person to converse with.

a phobia can be a disability. which is funny because thats some stupid ♥♥♥♥ but again cant pick and choose you add one you have to listen to all the people who want ♥♥♥♥ catered to them

ok bro keep justifying ableism. youre not cool.

[HANDIJORDAN-YT]

Originally posted by leah:

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

a phobia can be a disability. which is funny because thats some stupid ♥♥♥♥ but again cant pick and choose you add one you have to listen to all the people who want ♥♥♥♥ catered to them

ok bro keep justifying ableism. youre not cool.

says the guy who is discounting others disability's also im disabled so I cant be ablest

[Jake]

Alrighty well this thread seems to have devolved into back and forth arguments and personal insults so I'm just going to call out some incorrect criticisms and then unsubscribe from the discussion and move on.

"This sounds like a you problem"
At no point in my post did I blame the game for my issue. I didn't criticise the game, and even pointed out that the sound design was fantastic. I simply voiced my difficulty, and said it would be great if there was a way to remedy it later on down the line and offered my own solution.

"This suggestion only benefits you"
Plenty of other individuals with sensory issues have echoed my sentiments in this thread. Not only that, plenty of people without sensory issues have said they'd like this feature.
Roughly 1 out of 100 people have some form of ASD. Almost triple that for ADHD. A minority, sure, but not insignificant. And definitely not just me.

"You're demanding that the dev cater to your niche needs"
I asked for (emphasis on asked for, not demanded, the same way people ask for bigger lobbies, or for achievements, or for new moons) either an optional toggle that wouldn't impact the gameplay of others, or a slight change to the walkie talkies that would actually benefit everyone marginally. How is this a demand? Please, point out where I demanded that this feature be added, either in the original post or any of my replies. If it never gets implemented, that's fine. I didn't stage a protest or throw a tantrum. I said I'd still happily play the game.

"The game is early access and is still missing important features"
Yeah, so? I'm autistic, not impatient. I can wait. Unlike some people in this thread I understand that my wants and needs are not the sole driving factor behind the game's updates so I'm more than happy to wait for other things to be added first before my suggestion is even considered.
Early Access is specifically so you can integrate community feedback into the game's development. That's the whole point; you get to play the game before it's finished, so the developer knows what you want to be added. Whether you like it or not I am a part of the community, and this is my feedback. It's up to the developer when or if they would like to take my feedback into consideration.

"If we add this, we have to add every other suggestion"
This is a Slippery Slope fallacy, and is not a logical argument. No, obviously the dev would not be forced to add in every other accessibility option. It would depend on the difficulty to implement said feature as well as existing external workarounds (or lack thereof). I also said at the bottom of my original post that I'd be equally as happy if a modder just happened to make what I'm suggesting into a mod.

"The dev has more important things to work on"
I think it's very conceited for you to think you get to decide for the developer what they decide is a priority or not. My voice and my opinion are just as valid as yours, and clearly there are people here who support my suggestion, so who gave you the be-all-end-all on what's "important" or not? Also again, I've never once claimed this should take priority.

"Disabled people shouldn't be playing video games"
At this point this is basically just senseless hate. The implication that I shouldn't enjoy video games because I wasn't dealt the same hand of cards as you is wild. It almost makes me wonder if you'd have to have a mental disability of your own to think this is a sensible thing to suggest.

"Just lower the volume sliders"
You didn't read the suggestion.
For every other aspect of the game, the audio is fine. It's literally only when someone is talking on a walkie talkie and other players nearby are talking/loud ambience is happening. It's not like I can predict when someone is going to talk in the radio, and preemptively open the menu, turn down all the sliders and increase the volume of the person who's going to talk, then return it all to normal afterwards. My suggestion was to implement a way for the game to dampen other sounds whenever someone spoke through a radio, perhaps either as an accessibility keybind, or perhaps as a feature that allows you to hold the radio up to your ear to imitate "getting a better listen".


Finally would like to address a few specific messages that I think require a direct response;

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

i dont go around demanding people build ramps on there houses for my wheelchair simple as that

As I stated above, please find one instance of me making demands.

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

Originally posted by leah:

Ableism here is wild

as a person in a wheelchair believe me this game not having a slider for the walkies is not ableism people saying it does not need to be added is not ableism such a stretch to even think about calling it ableism

The ableism this user was referring to was from the comments, not the game. How are comments that equate to "Disabled people shouldn't play video games" anything but ableist?

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

says the guy who is discounting others disability's also im disabled so I cant be ablest

Of course you can. If I started mocking you or treating you as lesser for being in a wheelchair, I am directly discriminating against you due to your disability. It doesn't matter if I have one.

Originally posted by 0C72:

Man, another one of these "I'm the 0.0001%, cater to me!" posts? Making a change like this requires development time (more so when there's only 1 developer who is likely already overworked because of the unexpected popularity of the game). Something like this has no reason to have time and resources devoted to it when all of 6 people will use it. You know what you can do? Change the master volume or use external programs to lower sounds over certain volumes. We shouldn't take away from the majority's experience just so that a very small minority (who already has solutions available) can have something unnecessary

Basically, too much effort, not enough reason/reward (especially when solutions already exist)

1% at the minimum, actually. Heavily misrepresenting my situation and my words. Bad faith argument.
Please direct me to any external application that can dampen the game sounds whenever someone speaks through the walkie-talkie without also dampening their voice. Otherwise you're kinda full of it.
I also don't see you in any threads asking for the player cap to be increased to tell them their suggestions aren't a priority because there's an external workaround even though the bigger lobby mods already completely implement this and have been downloaded over half a million times between them.[thunderstore.io]
Funny how that works, huh? Almost like there's no substance to the claim.

Originally posted by 0C72:

Originally posted by UnderGame:

Why is everyone so mean? It's literally just an accessibility option?? It takes almost no time to implement and doesnt bother anyone?? Hello??

"It takes almost no time to implement," yeah, not true. It would take enough time and energy (having to change sound/walkie-talkie system as well as ensuring it doesn't break through gameplay/future updates) that it'd detract enough time from the development of features that benefit the game for everyone (enemies, mechanics, etc.). Thus extremely low priority for pretty much everyone

You have no way of knowing this unless you attempted it yourself, which I highly doubt. Your uneducated guess as to how difficult it would be to implement with nothing to back it up is totally worthless in this conversation. If you had even a modicum of proof that backs up anything you're saying then maybe it would be relevant, but you don't have any as you're just looking for any excuse to punch downwards and feel good about yourself.
And once again, to act like your perspective of what's important or takes priority is the only one that matters is incredibly conceited.

Originally posted by Technoci:

It also sounds like a You problem. You said you are very sensitive. Did you drink enough water, are some of the sounds first time you heard, did you exercise enough or did you sleep well?
Yes those things I called is needed when you are gaming. Especially HORROR GAMES.

The fact you think sensory overload is cured by hydration, exercise and sleep shows you have absolutely no understanding on how the disability works and should not be trying to offer solutions or criticisms.
For the record, I've been playing horror games since childhood. I grew up on Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, Siren, F.E.A.R, Penumbra, Condemned. I am no stranger to horror.

Originally posted by xKona:

Honestly you seem like a very reasonable person, but the title shouldn't be "the problem with walkie talkies" when the problem is clearly with you. Be direct and specific with your complaints. Your title makes it seem like you're blaming the game when we all know, games can't cater to every single person.

Honestly, the only valid criticism I think I've read thus far. You are correct; the title doesn't accurately represent my post, that is my fault. However I do believe that the negative responses I receive aren't purely due to the title, given that every post against my suggestion has either a. just been a straight up insult to me for being disabled, or b. relied on either an assumption or a total misrepresentation of my point of view which was clearly articulated in the actual post itself.

Anyway, this thread has sadly devolved into back and forth arguing and bad-faith arguments. It doesn't seem like anyone has any actual constructive reasons to be against this and just wanna punch downwards, so I'm just going to leave it at that.

[Ryulightorb]

As an Autistic person i don't have this issue but i understand it 100% onboard with the idea

[ShockedHearts]

my main issue with the in game mic is how there is unbearable echo where you can hear eachother bounce off eachothers mics.

this does not happen in other games, or in discord.

only in this game. it can be very annoying and makes it hard to even think about what you are saying when you hear your own voice bounce back at you 3x because 2 of your friends are next to you.

[Not Rawr]

Originally posted by Kibular420:

I don't see how that's hateful lol. You are an extreme minority of the playerbase and the game shouldn't cater to your needs. The sound design is fine. Maybe play a different game like Hello Kitty Island

This. Too many people demand the game cater to every single one of their needs. It's ridiculous, sometimes games just aren't for you.

Also it's dumb af, just don't use the walkie talkie, do you seriously play with 4 people and all of you have one? What a waste, you don't even play the game right so you're not even trying to fix your own issue.

[Jake]

Originally posted by Not Rawr:

This. Too many people demand the game cater to every single one of their needs. It's ridiculous, sometimes games just aren't for you.

Originally posted by Jake:

"You're demanding that the dev cater to your niche needs"
I asked for (emphasis on asked for, not demanded, the same way people ask for bigger lobbies, or for achievements, or for new moons) either an optional toggle that wouldn't impact the gameplay of others, or a slight change to the walkie talkies that would actually benefit everyone marginally. How is this a demand? Please, point out where I demanded that this feature be added, either in the original post or any of my replies. If it never gets implemented, that's fine. I didn't stage a protest or throw a tantrum. I said I'd still happily play the game.

[Ryulightorb]

Originally posted by Not Rawr:

Originally posted by Kibular420:

I don't see how that's hateful lol. You are an extreme minority of the playerbase and the game shouldn't cater to your needs. The sound design is fine. Maybe play a different game like Hello Kitty Island

This. Too many people demand the game cater to every single one of their needs. It's ridiculous, sometimes games just aren't for you.

Also it's dumb af, just don't use the walkie talkie, do you seriously play with 4 people and all of you have one? What a waste, you don't even play the game right so you're not even trying to fix your own issue.

i really hope you are trolling.

[Thorinbur]

This thread is very saddening. so much hate for a vary simple ask/suggestion. It is sickening, I am sorry OP you had to go through this hate from gatekeeping "elite gamers". I bet if OP just made a suggestion without explaining why it is important to them it would have been much better received. It sounds like some people just cannot handle that there are others with different outlook then them and who have different experiences. And even thou OP was very clear and respectfull and asked if it was possible to add AN OPTIONAL feature so not even change the game people went mad...

[GIRL]

+1, hope it becomes a feature just to piss off the ableist npcs in this thread.

Originally posted by HANDIJORDAN:

i dont go around demanding people build ramps on there houses for my wheelchair simple as that

False equivalency fallacy. A house is private property, a video game is more akin to public space. And it's perfectly reasonable to demand accessibility options for public spaces.

Not reading anything else you wrote because you type with the grammatical skill and cadence of a 12 year old, just wanted to point out that the beginning of your whole mad ramble was based on a flawed premise.

[Ryulightorb]

Originally posted by Thorinbur:

This thread is very saddening. so much hate for a vary simple ask/suggestion. It is sickening, I am sorry OP you had to go through this hate from gatekeeping "elite gamers". I bet if OP just made a suggestion without explaining why it is important to them it would have been much better received. It sounds like some people just cannot handle that there are others with different outlook then them and who have different experiences. And even thou OP was very clear and respectfull and asked if it was possible to add AN OPTIONAL feature so not even change the game people went mad...

it's legit just ableism there is a reason disabled people die earlier due from stress complications the whole world has a mentality of 'even if we can make something slightly easier for these people suffering they should just pull up their bootstraps and function like normal people" and "how dare you suggest we add accessability!"

OP did everything right here.