Unlike other videos published and captioned before hand, streams usually don’t have a live captioning tool, alienating deaf and hard of hearing gamers.
I enjoy Twitch and watching others play games, but I often feel left out, as the commentator and the game itself are sometimes difficult to hear.
Competitive gamer Chris Robinson is fighting this issue by starting his own Twitch channel Deaf Gamers TV, according to Kotaku.com. He hopes to build a group of deaf gamers and offer accessible tutorials for those wanting to try competing.
Robinson mentioned the lack of deaf friendly communities and options in the competitive community. The lack of subtitles both in game and in tutorial videos on Youtube is unfortunate, but improvements are being made, he says.
While the majority of gaming competitions do not have live captioning of the hosts’ commentary, some tournaments do feature subtitles. The commentary is often vital to the competition, and without it there’s no way of knowing what is going on.
Not to mention, Youtube’s auto-captioning service is getting slightly better. It has a long way to go, sure, but I’ve noticed an improvement in accuracy.
Read more: Deaf YouTuber begings campaign for better captions #NoMoreCraptions
Robinson’s work is definitely a step in the right direction. I think there’s a great need for more deaf friendly groups in gaming- it’s always nice to have some solidarity.
Streaming services are likely going to become more and more popular as the technology gets better. Although captioning and accessibility seem to be lagging behind, I hope we as deaf gamers can continue to advocate and inspire change.
Check out Robinson’s Twitch channel if you’re interested in competitive games!
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
Strictly Necessary Cookies | 11 months | These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. |