You know the new update that added the air raid siren sounds to the game’s main menu? Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but for me and many other Ukrainians, it’s very upsetting.
You see, we have been living under the constant threat of war and invasion from Russia for year. We have heard those air raid sirens in real life, warning us to take cover or evacuate. To that same sounds, we have seen our homes destroyed, our friends and family killed or wounded, our country torn apart by conflict.
So when I hear that sound in the game, it’s not fun or immersive. It’s terrifying and traumatic.
I’m not asking you to remove the sounds completely, but at least give us the option to turn them off or lower the volume. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. Please show some respect and sensitivity to your players, who have suffered enough in real life. Don’t make us relive our nightmares in a game that is supposed to be fun and relaxing.
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Definitely in support of this. Blizzard have been very good in the past and reduced/removed other sound effects which negatively affected myself and other people, both in terms of sensory disabilities and PTSD; I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t reduce (or offer an option to reduce) these effects for you, too.
I hope they see this and make the adjustments you’ve requested. If you haven’t already, I recommend posting it on the US forums as well (just replace the eu.forums in the URL with us.forums), as sometimes that gets a slightly faster response.
3 Likes
I get why you want it, but lets be honest its not really a realistic request. You are playing a shooter here. You can expect guns, explosions and the like, those are essential part of the game. So if you have a ptsd of air alarms or explosions then you probably should stay clear of shooter games entirely.
If people have heavy heart problems they also dont actively seek out horror games with jumpscares.
People with arachnophobia don’t tend to actively seek out games with spiders in them
Games cant really protect you from phobias or ptsd because if they would have to protect from all of those because it would transform in a safe for all ages game where enemies burt into flowers when shot and characters would have to be cencored and also running around without guns.And thats if they dont have to take care of some flower or gun phobia/ptsd.
I mean i get its terrible it triggers your ptsd, but if you have a war ptsd perhaps playing something wich is basicly a war game isnt meant to be for you
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I fully understand what you mean, and what you are saying. And yes, it would be stupid if I came to a forum of a military simulator, for example Arma, or a game in a realistic war setting (like Battlefield or CoD) and asked not to trigger my PTSD. But we’re talking about a game in a cartoon setting, without realistic weapons, and without realistic sound design. And in this cartoon setting they decided to add a real air raid sound to the main menu, that will scream when you enter the game and when you leave the match.
And let’s remember a classic of the genre when they added the “some scenes may not be acceptable to some groups of people, leave them out?” window to COD MW2.
2 Likes
It’s not unusual for someone who has been in a war or other combat environment to still want to play popular shooter games, especially abstract ones like Overwatch. It’s a game with robots, laser guns, and talking apes; it’s not like OP is trying to play Counter-Strike or Spec Ops: The Line. I remember back in the days of Quake Arena and Unreal Tournament, many of the top players were ex-military.
For reference, Blizzard already have changed audio in this game due to it being a trigger for combat-related PTSD, as I mentioned in my first reply to this thread. Sombra’s EMP originally muted all audio for hit players, and came with a slight high-pitched ringing effect (tinnitus). This was removed entirely, after one user asked for it to be reduced due to the effect being similar to that experienced by people who have been in close proximity to large explosions, and in turn being a trigger for that PTSD.
Additionally, Sombra’s gun sound was altered for me, as the original sound contained a particular frequency which, when repeated as fast as her gun fires, is a common trigger for several audio sensitivity disabilities, including mine.
In fact, not only did Blizzard change these sounds at the request of a minority of players, but they specifically put them on the PTR and waited for our approval before setting them live. They take these matters seriously.
So, not only is OP’s request very reasonable, and their desire to play the game safely is perfectly understandable, but Blizzard already have a history of making these sorts of changes. So there’s no problem with OP asking for their changes, and I believe Blizzard should (and will, if they actually see this thread) act on it.
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Maybe they they could develop a menu background option, each one with their own unique music/soundtrack. Pubg/CS offer this.
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If this shooter can live without blood, why can’t it live without alarms?