40k for deaf / hard of hearing players

[VanDutch]

First of all this isn’t a sympathy grab, I’m just looking for a way forward for myself and other players with similar issues.

 

I have been gradually losing my hearing over the past three years and it’s now gotten to the point where it can be incredibly difficult to play a full game of 40k without my hearing (or rather lack of it) getting in the way. I’m completely deaf in one ear, hard of hearing in the other, and suffer from tinnitus which varies in volume.

 

I’m fortunate in that I’ve got a group of friends who are (mostly) patient, but games can be long enough without me asking them to repeat what they’ve said Etc.

 

It’s causing enough of an issue now that I would like to see what other players on B&C, who have similar issues, have done to overcome this and continue playing the game.

 

I’d also like to codify a way for deaf 40k players to play the game and then share that with GW as a way of contributing to their continued community out reach. If any of you are already aware of something similar then please let me know.

 

Thanks.

Edited January 20, 2020 by VanDutch

[WarriorFish]

This sounds like a bit of a hurdle to gaming, but not an insurmountable one. Though I don't game with anyone with hearing issues my father has some; there's a point where patience and diligence can only go so far and you need something to support the spoken word. The obvious and best fix would be sign language, but that's easier said than done assuming you can get everyone onboard to learn it they would first need to learn it enough to game... Perhaps instead you can adapt your own simple system to explain basic actions?

 

Something as simple as accompanying their words by pointing out selected units (and models, for special/heavy actions etc), action taken, number of dice required and needed roll would speed up games by avoiding repetition. You could confirm your understanding of their intent and a simple acknowledgement in return is all you need to carry on if all is correct. If it works, you could expand it to less generic things - it's probably not possible to reasonably cover everything, but every bit will help

 

Good WYSIWYG would go far too as by default no explanation of wargear is necessary if you can see it, along with good knowledge of the rules and armies on your part. The more familiar you are with your opponent's actions, the less you'll need to hear about them

 

I'm not aware of anything in particular to help wargamers, but I expect you're not alone at least in the general requirement of assistance when gaming so hopefully someone knows some resources for you and your gaming circle. It'd be a shame to miss out on your hobby, so anything you can do to help will surely be worth it. Either way let us know what you do and how it goes, and good luck

[Fajita Fan]

I regularly have deaf people or even others with processing disorders who have trouble communicating at work so this probably wouldn’t phase me much.

 

As said ^ having things WYSIWYG, printed army lists, pointing out units and making hand signals for the number of dice, and even having the other player roll the same dice that score hits as armor saves, printed FAQs, and status markers would probably be good practice even among those of with two good ears!

 

This kinda makes a case for having preprinted cards with psychic abilities or banner effects just make clear what’s going on. I have a new laser line pointer for firing arcs that make things clear. I’d happy work with someone to make a game smooth, this hobby probably wouldn’t work for the blind but not being able to hear shouldn’t impede things for casual players looking to have a good time. Heck, I used headphones when I’d paint at my GW to drown out some of the idiotic conversation :D

[VanDutch]

Thanks for the suggestions both of you :) I’ve had a few more ideas:

 

- have more physical aids to help, as you’ve both suggested. E.g. a board which keeps track of who’s turn it is, which phase, how many CP etc so that both players can see it and know what is going on. Even when capable of hearing I struggle to keep track of what turn/phase it is!!

- use laser pens to point at intended targets and then have the opposing player point at the unit to confirm they understand they are being targeted (bonus points for GW for producing branded laser lens now :) )

- Using simple sign language to indicate toughness, strength and other unit characteristics. No need to sign our toughness. Just sign Individual letters. It’s simple and an opposing player doesn’t need to learn too many for the purposes of 40k. Keeping a guide nearby of common signs for the game may be handy too.

 

I’m sure I’ll get some more ideas down. If anyone else has more suggestions then please let me know and I’ll start working a way to present this to people and see how well it goes.

 

If there are any deaf players on this board please let me know. When something is ready it would be useful to trial it out with you.

Edited January 21, 2020 by VanDutch

[WarriorFish]

Looks like a good start to me, I'm sure you can expand and polish it also once you've got some test runs done Be sure to schedule in five or ten minutes with your test subjects after the games to get their feedback on what works and may be an improvement - just like normal post-game analysis best done right away while it is fresh!

 

Keep us updated on your progress, not just for further assistance if required but also so the B&C can help you put something together once you've got a working system. It'd be great to get something out there for all hard of hearing hobbyists to make gaming as easy as possible for all

[Dosjetka]

Re: gaming aids - you could use the Kill Team tokens to mark units and what they are going to do (i.e. move, advance, charge, shoot, fall back, etc). With regards to any signs that you decide to use to communicate things, make sure you print out a "cheat sheet" so that anyone playing can quickly remind themselves what's what and any new folks have any easy way of grasping them.

[Slasher956]

I regularly use tokens from other games (mainly warmachine & team yankee ones) to help me remember whats doing what ... I find that the warmachine spell tokens are good because they are smallish (about the size of a base) and blank so you can write on them with a normal white board marker.

 

As others have said having a little crib/cheet sheet with what you are using individual tokens for could go a long way... and a printed army list for your opponent.  As a sisters player I'm used to people not having a clue what my army can do so a BattleScribe print out for them to follow what I'm doing helps... ie I'm doing X act of faith .  Taking this in to the hearing loss situation you're talking about, you could for example use the Menoth Prayer tokens (has 4 tick boxs on it) and place it next to a unit when playing an act of faith on a unit... opponent has a crib sheet that says box 1 is Act of Faith 1 & the army list which says what that is and what it does...... hrm... might have to do this for myself!  Thanks for the suggestions 

 

 

(for what its worth I have dysprixa* ( I think thats what it is!)...  and one of the things that happens is occassionaly I dont register hearing anything... very annoying when people ask 'are you listening' and I have genuinly not heard a word... as its not hearing loss per say there's not a lot that can be done luckily its only occassionaly)

Edited January 21, 2020 by Slasher956

[Volt]

Should be pretty easy to play 40k while deaf so long as you have a tablet of any variety with a notepad program on it.

[Marshal Rohr]

It would be time intensive, but physical turn/phase counters on the side of the table would help. A laminated sheet of your units that both you and your opponent can place markers on to designate what you are doing and what they are doing.

[Doghouse]

What about putting together some simple cards with "shooting", "charging", "advancing", etc on them your opponent can raise if you are not clear on what is going on.

[Arkaniss]

What about putting together some simple cards with "shooting", "charging", "advancing", etc on them your opponent can raise if you are not clear on what is going on.

This was my immediate thinking. I'll try and explain what I'm thinking of:

 

Anyone remember the old Wargear books and unit cards from 2nd Edition? Cards with all your armies weapons will help loads here. For example, have 'boltgun' and hell, add a picture and it's stats too. This way your opponent can point at a Tactical Marine squad for example, hold up a 'shooting' card, then the 'boltgun' card and indicate the target. Then they'd use another card like 'plasmagun' to indicate when shooting with a different weapon.

 

Of course it could be done with army/unit abilities too. Have a card (pictures always help!) with it's name and what it does. Hopefully it's not too expensive or time consuming for your opponents to do and it should help speed up the game. The larger the cards the better. It's not ideal but these days we all have dozens of ability/stratagem/psychic cards to faff about with anyway, so what's the harm in a few more?

[WarriorFish]

This is a great point and idea. We already use cards for Stratagems and the like and this makes the game a lot smoother for both parties. For example I like to sit the psychic powers cards near to the psyker that has them too, as it helps remind me as much as my opponent. Expanding this to fill gaps should really help speed things up nicely, and most players would already be familiar with the concept thanks to GW so it looks like an open goal :)

[Ishagu]

I think this game can be enjoyed by people with hearing disabilities, but it will require a bit of extra care.

 

-The armies have to be correctly modelled and the lists have to be printed.

-Specifically point out which units are attacking and mark out what phase of each turn you're in.

 

I think the rest would be pretty smooth. Very simple and straightforward sign language can be used to point out unit toughness, strength of weapons or number of casualties.

[Fajita Fan]

Markers, tokens, and unit cards could all be common practice for all of us to make games like 40k smoother.

 

I know the GW likes selling cards for extra revenue but this seems like an opportunity to provide PDFs of printable cards and other game aids.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Fajita Fan

[FormelyKnownAsSmashyPants]

Lucky thing we don't play together or I d be asking you to repeat what you said just after you asked the same. I'm pretty bad of hearing myself. It makes life in general pretty hard. Having to ask what people just said is a pain and some people mumble or otherwise speak softly. Got bad eyesight too which makes modeling and painting hard too. Need a visor and correct lighting just to see mold lines. I put it down to not only age, but working in heavy industry when younger, I was a welder, and while I would always where my welding shield when welding, I used to catch glimpses of the flash from when the other guys were welding. Plus there'd be saws and and hydraulic punches and stuff operating, and welding machines generate a fair bit of noise too. I know that this doesn't help you or provide any insight as to a solution to your problem, just letting you know there are people who can empathise with you. In the mean time I've got an appointment for my eyes next week and when life slows down a bit I'll look at getting an appointment for my ears, and maybe get some hearing aids.

[Archaeinox]

I will discuss this with people in my gaming group, on Saturday. I will endeavor to comment in the future with some ideas. 

 

Good luck!

Edited January 24, 2020 by Archaeinox

[Aqui]

I suffer with hearing issues myself, but not so much that its a big problem - yet. It's one of the main reasons why I haven't gamed much in the last couple of years (that and social anxiety, which is exacerbated by the hearing issues). It's not too bad for me when it's in a quiet area, but the last time I played at WHW, the noise meant I had to really concentrate on what people are saying.

 

I'll have a think on this.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Aqui

[Finkmilkana]

I would assume mobile phones, or more precisely, instant messaging might be a great help as well. Nowadays almost everyone carries a phone after all.

While it might still be too slow as the main mode of communication (unless everyone is good at typing fast), it could help whenever simple pointing etc fails. For example if any rules question comes up.

If you want to go fancy, some kind of speech to text software (or gadget) might also help? Though not sure if there are any cheap options that properly work in loud environments.

[Tyr13]

Easiest would probably be a set of gestures plus cards. Signs for 'this unit', 'shoots', 'attacks', 'uses psychic power on', 'advances' as well as a sign for stratagem use. Cards could be used to indicate which psychic power, stratagem etc is being used. Bit of work to prepare but not too difficult I reckon.

[Ascanius]

I work for a captioning company that provides live captions in all sorts of environments - work meetings, schools and universities, livestreams online, et cetera. It wouldn't be particularly practical for this purpose¹ but I agree with the idea of using a text-to-speech app - ask your opponent to speak, or repeat themselves, into something like Google Translate set to translate English to English (or German to German, whatever), or any kind of text-to-speech note-taking app.

 

¹ It might be worth the outlay for a major tournament, where you could have your opponents have a mobile phone on their side of the table or hanging around their neck on a lanyard and our captioners listening, then providing captions on a tablet or whatever.