Hi!
I'm colourblind. Thankfully, it's not too too severe, but it can get a little annoying at times. For example, I recently ran into this combo:
2 - slider
3 - circle
1 - circle
The number at the beginning of each line corresponds to the number on the object.
The two circles were on either side of the slider. Imagine a line downwards, and then half way up the line on either side, there are the two circles.
The first combo was of a very similar colour to the second. Because of this, I couldn't see the difference between the colours, and I'd always hit the 1 before the 3. this section is virtually impossible for me to sightread. This is something that I had to memorize over repeated practice.
My attempted solution:
It seemed simple enough. I went into the editor, selected the 1-circle, and changed its colour to contrast more with th 3-circle. I went and played the map, and the difference was definitely noticeable. However, my score wasn't registered, as this, according to osu!, was a different map.
Technically, yes, I changed the map, but the change was only a circle colour. Would it be possible for the osu! team to separate changes like circle placement and changes to colours?
It would really help me, and likely many others, if there was the option to make colours more visible, even if it's down to the user manually tweaking colours. I don't really see how this could be abusable in terms of cheating scores, but I'm definitely open to discussion, though I'm really hoping that this would be possible.
I've seen some arguments on a different colourblind-osu! thread so I'll address the arguments now:
For those who aren't colourblind and say "just look at the numbers," there are a couple things to say:
- Not everyone functions in the same way. You might not need the colours, but others do.
- It isn't beginner friendly to say "I've never had that problem" and completely dismiss the issue. That mentality would be unhealthy for the health of the game.
- Even if you don't think you're using the colours to navigate yourself through maps, you may be doing it unconsciously. That's not a thing that I can say for certain, but it's definitely possible. Nobody goes pointing out the colours because they're just there. It's intuitive to see them and recognize what they mean. Seeing a 3 and a 1 next to each other, while possible, is less intuitive. The mind goes through the steps "1 goes before 3, so I click 1, but there's no 2, so that means that the order is actually reversed, so I click the 3," whereas visible colours would have the mind think "I'm on blue and I stay on this blue until that 3, now I have a yellow 1."
If you're colourblind and you haven't had this issue,
- See the previous argument
- Colourblindness is a spectrum. Not only do people vary in severity, but there are also different types of colourblindness. For example, those with Tritanopia have an absence of blue retinal receptors. This means that even osu!taiko can be difficult for them, as the red circles look similar to the blue circles. Yes, this is a rare example, but I'm taking something extreme to prove a point.
"Why bother? Colourblind people are rare"
This argument is incredibly insensitive. This is an accesibility issue. Given that the colours don't play a large role in scoring or the performance of the average player, I don't see why the osu! team can't implement this change. Letting the player customize the colours of all objects would only help, from how I see it.
I'm colourblind. Thankfully, it's not too too severe, but it can get a little annoying at times. For example, I recently ran into this combo:
2 - slider
3 - circle
1 - circle
The number at the beginning of each line corresponds to the number on the object.
The two circles were on either side of the slider. Imagine a line downwards, and then half way up the line on either side, there are the two circles.
The first combo was of a very similar colour to the second. Because of this, I couldn't see the difference between the colours, and I'd always hit the 1 before the 3. this section is virtually impossible for me to sightread. This is something that I had to memorize over repeated practice.
My attempted solution:
It seemed simple enough. I went into the editor, selected the 1-circle, and changed its colour to contrast more with th 3-circle. I went and played the map, and the difference was definitely noticeable. However, my score wasn't registered, as this, according to osu!, was a different map.
Technically, yes, I changed the map, but the change was only a circle colour. Would it be possible for the osu! team to separate changes like circle placement and changes to colours?
It would really help me, and likely many others, if there was the option to make colours more visible, even if it's down to the user manually tweaking colours. I don't really see how this could be abusable in terms of cheating scores, but I'm definitely open to discussion, though I'm really hoping that this would be possible.
I've seen some arguments on a different colourblind-osu! thread so I'll address the arguments now:
For those who aren't colourblind and say "just look at the numbers," there are a couple things to say:
- Not everyone functions in the same way. You might not need the colours, but others do.
- It isn't beginner friendly to say "I've never had that problem" and completely dismiss the issue. That mentality would be unhealthy for the health of the game.
- Even if you don't think you're using the colours to navigate yourself through maps, you may be doing it unconsciously. That's not a thing that I can say for certain, but it's definitely possible. Nobody goes pointing out the colours because they're just there. It's intuitive to see them and recognize what they mean. Seeing a 3 and a 1 next to each other, while possible, is less intuitive. The mind goes through the steps "1 goes before 3, so I click 1, but there's no 2, so that means that the order is actually reversed, so I click the 3," whereas visible colours would have the mind think "I'm on blue and I stay on this blue until that 3, now I have a yellow 1."
If you're colourblind and you haven't had this issue,
- See the previous argument
- Colourblindness is a spectrum. Not only do people vary in severity, but there are also different types of colourblindness. For example, those with Tritanopia have an absence of blue retinal receptors. This means that even osu!taiko can be difficult for them, as the red circles look similar to the blue circles. Yes, this is a rare example, but I'm taking something extreme to prove a point.
"Why bother? Colourblind people are rare"
This argument is incredibly insensitive. This is an accesibility issue. Given that the colours don't play a large role in scoring or the performance of the average player, I don't see why the osu! team can't implement this change. Letting the player customize the colours of all objects would only help, from how I see it.