Accessibility Request (Lighting & Kill cooldown)

That's an interesting tid-bit I didn't know. That explains why I was half-dead before I could see anything. In regards to your other message, what would have never existed? Normal combat? I am 100% aware an option like this can/will be exploited for selfishness, even if someone doesn't actually need it, but better than nothing.

If I had a cool-down for 3 or 5 seconds before someone could kill me again after spawning in, I would have actually had a chance.

So, basically, 3-5 second immunity in which you can fight back?
Literally everyone would turn this option on.

It was fine, until they hopped on our ship and "spawn-camped" us. I ended up endlessly dying and re-spawning without being able to move.

That's when you vote to scuttle the ship & change servers.
You've clearly lost; They have total control of your ship, and they have the ability to prevent you and your friends from taking it back.
So the option is to vote to sink. Not to ask for limited immunity.

And trust me; I get it. I don't think or react as quickly as even average players. I am, literally, slower of thought.
But there's already a fix for being camped in place; Scuttling.

Imagine boarding someone's ship, killing them, and starting to steal treasure, only for them to respawn and, with 5-second immunity to all damage, kill you/raise the anchor/lower the sails/any of the above & start running away while you're forced to respawn on your ship.
It would feel cheap as hell.

Thank you all for the replies. This is a bigger issue than I anticipated. I should have seen the "how dare you try to muck up our combat!" messages coming from a mile away! Lol Although, trying to move before I spawn in is not something I would have ever thought of on my own, so thank you for that!

The only way this would work properly and not be exploited would be for those who request a cool-down (or other assistive functions), to go through an eye exam by an outside entity to prove they qualify. Then the devs enable those functions on their account. No different than applying for government programs to get accessibility assistance.

@biggoofycat said in Accessibility Request (Lighting & Kill cooldown):

The only way this would work properly and not be exploited would be for those who request a cool-down (or other assistive functions), to go through an eye exam by an outside entity to prove they qualify. Then the devs enable those functions on their account.

That...Is never going to happen.

1. Who would be in charge of reading the submissions & activating the option on people's accounts?
   This would cost Rare time and money (To pay people to review a doctor's note for a video game) when there's already a fix for camping in place: Scuttling.
2. It's a video game.
   Don't take it so seriously that you think needing a doctor's note to get preferential treatment is a good idea.
3. What about other disabilities?
   I react slower; Why should only people with bad eyes get a special function?
4. It's still preferential treatment over other players.
   The game, and developers, have very much a 'Everyone has the same tools on launch' mindset for the game. To the point that they changed in-game Sails to ensure it did not give an advantage for people who use them over people who do not use them.
   The idea of special doctor-ordered options flies against their entire design philosophy.

Again, as I said above:

Imagine boarding someone's ship, killing them, and starting to steal treasure, only for them to respawn and, with 5-second immunity to all damage, kill you/raise the anchor/lower the sails/any of the above & start running away while you're forced to respawn on your ship.
It would feel cheap as hell.

Add to that unfairness: the option for functional immunity exists for THEM, but not for YOU. Because a doctor wrote a doctor's note for a video game.

Sorry but the idea is unfair, goes against the design philosophy for the game, and just stems from taking the game way too seriously.

Microsoft actually has the Xbox Adaptive Controller that is specifically designed for people who have dexterity issues, supporting large buttons and other accessories. Their landing page for the thing mentions someone who is paralyzed and can't use his hands. He has a whole setup to be able to play Halo like he used to, before his accident. I wouldn't be surprised if someone out in the world was playing SOT with an adaptive controller. Lol So, in that sense adaptive hardware devices are okay, but start talking about making software/games adaptive and everyone loses their cool.

@biggoofycat said in Accessibility Request (Lighting & Kill cooldown):

Microsoft actually has the Xbox Adaptive Controller that is specifically designed for people who have dexterity issues, supporting large buttons and other accessories. Their landing page for the thing mentions someone who is paralyzed and can't use his hands. He has a whole setup to be able to play Halo like he used to, before his accident. I wouldn't be surprised if someone out in the world was playing SOT with an adaptive controller. Lol So, in that sense adaptive hardware devices are okay, but start talking about making software/games adaptive and everyone loses their cool.

I'm sorry you think perfectly valid counter-arguments and supporting facts against your request are people 'losing their cool'.

You're not just asking to make the game 'more accessible'.

• You're asking rare to spend time and resources examining doctor's notes from potentially thousands of people. Which costs time and money to maintain staff to do this.
• You're asking Rare to determine, day after day, if the notes they get are real or fake. Which means comparing them to doctors notes from whatever city/state/country they come from to ensure they are real. Which costs them time and money.
• You're asking Rare to allow only a subsection of people who can get (Or forge, because that will happen) these notes a special function that gives them game-breaking invincibility frames.
• You're asking Rare to program a whole new interface to manually go into people's accounts to enable an option. Which costs time and money to make.
• On that note: You're asking Rare to program said option in the first place. Which costs time and money.
• And, to top it off, you want only a subsection of people to have this special power. In a game where Rare has very, VERY vehemently said no one gets special powers or items that other player's don't get. (See: Dark Adventurer's Sails)

And that's twice now that you've ignored my points to claim I'm just being reactionary:

I should have seen the "how dare you try to muck up our combat!" messages coming from a mile away!

Start talking about making software/games adaptive and everyone loses their cool.

Rare would rather spawn camping be in this weird grey area where it is acceptable sometimes and isn’t acceptable other times rather than simply add temporary spawn protection so players who are returning to their ship from the ferry of the damned have a small window of time where they cannot be damaged. I think 3-5 seconds would be appropriate but it may be necessary to have a range of values and balance it by crew size.

Attackers on an enemy ship can hide, disguise or just flee from any player who is temporarily immune to taking damage.

I do think it should be very obvious if a player is immune to taking damage such as having their character blinking white or some other obvious visual and perhaps audio indicator as well.

But yes it’s a good idea to add spawn protection and it has been suggested before. Rare apparently tried it but the insider community didn’t like it so it was scrapped. And like I said as a result spawn camping is in this weird grey area of whether or not it’s appropriate when it absolutely does not have to be that way.

The developers have to learn to ignore the cries of change if they truly believe a. That it simply isn’t fun to die, spawn, die, spawn, die, spawn, etc. without getting the chance to do any sort of damage back to your opponents and b. Killing players is a part of PvP in Sea of Thieves. The scuttle option has been improved to include scuttling to a new server to avoid a crew that just sank you. There are tools to address a situation where your crew is being spawn camped so use them if you can’t break a camp.

That being said I do think Rare should retest spawn protection in insiders and get the length of time per crew size not overpowered but also not useless meaning a player just spawning back in should have an advantage for a brief window of time. And add it into the game so that once and for all nobody needs to be banned for simply killing players in a PvP game regardless of whether or not their intention is to sink a ship or just practice their killing abilities.

The accessibility angle? Sending in proof of a medical issue? There's already 15 different HIPAA violations in this thread. Not to mention Rare/MS now has to do annual trainings that NO ONE wants to have to do.

Blanket option or not at all. Preferably the 2nd. 3 seconds isn't enough to break a camp anyways 😂