I’ve debated posting this for quite a long time, but I think if I want to make a difference I’m going to have to share my experience with the game.
I will preface this with a few things. I am visually impaired, I have a condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa, which cannot be corrected. I have done all I can to adjust both game settings and monitor settings, my monitor has a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a brightness of 250 cd/m² (According to my nerdy friend). I could get a brighter monitor, but that’s about it.
The game itself is fairly accessible, it’s a very colourful, well contrasted game. Aside from some darker maps I’ve had to learn to navigate by memory (Indoor area of Blizzard World, some areas of Kings Row, Dorado and Necropolis to name a few) overall I don’t struggle too much, especially as enemies have red text above them, and playing someone like Zenyatta allows me to target them and add a red marker, meaning I can get better at aiming and tracking despite my sight difficulty.
There are a few design quirks with the UI that have been an issue for me since I started playing during this years anniversary event.
I originally had screenshots to illustrate these points, but apparently you’re not allowed links in posts, despite having a dedicated button for hyperlinks in the editor. Confusing. I’ve done my best to describe the different elements below.
- Anniversary Menu Screen
When I first started Overwatch during the Anniversary event, I could not read the main menu. The text was white on white with a very faint border around the text. This has been the case numerous times when a light or white background is used on the main menu. As of writing, the current Halloween Terror 2018 background is good, though.
- Endorsement Level Badge
In the top corner of the main menu, the endorsement level badge is white on light blue, and a very small font. Very hard to see, even if it’s only a small detail (And the in game badge in the top corner of the hero portrait is much clearer, so I rely on this.)
- Hero Gallery Meters
Some progress meters in the game like those found in the Hero Gallery are difficult to read. Especially Mercy, which is basically invisible to me. This extends to places like the career profile where hero-coloured progress meters are also used.
- Career Profile
The career profile page is very hard to read, with lots of small, thin fonts and low contrast elements throughout, and the dropdown menus are also not distinct until I mouse over them, similar to those found in the options menu.
- Options Menu
A similar story in certain parts of the options menu here, where the background is lighter, things become far less legible for me. Also the use of white on light blue means I have to mouse-over every dropdown menu to read the contents, which is workable but not ideal.
- Achievements Page
The achievements page is especially bad, and is probably the most difficult thing for me to read. I can read the achievements I have unlocked perfectly fine, but I have no way to read the achievements below in grey which I have yet to unlock. There is simply not enough contrast, and the font is so small that using a screen magnifier, physical camera on my phone or a magnifying lens held to the screen does not help me see these. I wish I could, too, as some of these might be fun challenges.
I want to stress that these are purely my experiences, and while to some they might be able to read these screenshots perfectly fine, your eyesight may not be anywhere near as bad at dealing with low contrast legibility as mine is.
Are there any elements anyone else has found to be troublesome to read, in game or in the menu UI itself? I feel there is far too much emphasis on stylistic form over function, and not a lot of care to making it accessible. I’m hoping with the recent push for colourblind options in game that a topic like this can also bring contrast legibility into light, and either find some workarounds or ways to make these elements readable.