Playing Blind

BlindGuyNW · 12-31-2021, 07:19 PM

Hi All,

I thought I’d drop a quick note as I’ve started trying to enjoy OOTP. I’ve always been curious about it but had trouble starting out, as I am totally blind and use a screen reader.

I recently discovered that with some tedium, at least one of my reading programs, for Mac OS in this case, is able to make some sense out of the game. I use OCR and a hefty dose of patience to understand why is going on.

This is a game I’ve been super curious about for a long time. Baseball is a sport I enjoy quite a bit, though I haven’t been to a game in several years. Thus far I’m just getting used to the OOTP UI, but then again I gather everyone has to do that.

I do wish the text-to-speech commentary were supported on Mac OS, but from what I’ve read it doesn’t appear to be.

I’d love to start a discussion on the topic of ways to make OOTP easier for me to use, as there’s absolutely nothing inherently difficult about the game itself, per se. It’s mostly giant spreadsheets full of data.

I do wish I could access some parts of the game without having to go through the tedium of OCR–I’d almost ask for a purely text-based version of the game, at least in terms of GUI toolkit.

BUt here we are. I’m excited to be able to enjoy the game, albeit in a somewhat unorthodox fashion.

THanks to all the developers for their work, and happy New Year’s Eve.

PSUColonel · 01-01-2022, 08:31 AM

I'd be all for Mac text to speech also. I am sure that would be a tremendous help to you. Hopefully one day it will become a reality.

Pelican · 01-01-2022, 11:44 AM

I googled text-to-speech and found an instructive wikihow tutorial on how to use the app included in the Mac OS. I’m not that familiar with how this works; but hoping this would provide a solution. From what wikihow says, it appears to be adaptive. As to whether it would work with OOTP, I can’t say. I’m on my iPad now, but will check on my Mac Mini - the main computer I use for OOTP - to see if I can get it to work. I am trying to imagine the obstacles you are facing to play. With the right software, much of the best of OOTP should translate. Not sure how you would navigate the myriad drop-downs and screens. Probably you figured that out long ago.

Pelican · 01-01-2022, 03:21 PM

The Mac OS Monterrey (the latest version) includes a Voice Over utility that is designed to perform the text to speech function. My wife, who is much more of an IT person, says that this and similar software is dependent on how the designer (in this case OOTP) set up the web page interface for users. That is (as I understand it), OOTP would have needed to embed clues or paths for easy translation of text in the game to speech through the app. I have not tried this yet; but I will; to get some idea if Voice Over is compatible with OOTP.

BlindGuyNW · 01-01-2022, 03:39 PM

Unfortunately, OOTP isn't compatible with VoiceOVer, alas. I can use a third-party tool to scan the screen and let me click on text and such, which seems to work surprisingly well. I haven't yet tried some of the more complex management screens but a lot of the basics read fairly well even through the medium of OCR.

Where I run into trouble is places where the game displays something but OCR doesn't pick it up, like a slider. I have a limited ability to move the mouse to arbitrary places on screen to click.

I actually work in accessibility professionally, so am happy to discuss this stuff with anyone interested.

12-31-2021, 07:19 PM	#1
BlindGuyNW Bat Boy Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 9	Playing Blind Hi All, I thought I’d drop a quick note as I’ve started trying to enjoy OOTP. I’ve always been curious about it but had trouble starting out, as I am totally blind and use a screen reader. I recently discovered that with some tedium, at least one of my reading programs, for Mac OS in this case, is able to make some sense out of the game. I use OCR and a hefty dose of patience to understand why is going on. This is a game I’ve been super curious about for a long time. Baseball is a sport I enjoy quite a bit, though I haven’t been to a game in several years. Thus far I’m just getting used to the OOTP UI, but then again I gather everyone has to do that. I do wish the text-to-speech commentary were supported on Mac OS, but from what I’ve read it doesn’t appear to be. I’d love to start a discussion on the topic of ways to make OOTP easier for me to use, as there’s absolutely nothing inherently difficult about the game itself, per se. It’s mostly giant spreadsheets full of data. I do wish I could access some parts of the game without having to go through the tedium of OCR–I’d almost ask for a purely text-based version of the game, at least in terms of GUI toolkit. BUt here we are. I’m excited to be able to enjoy the game, albeit in a somewhat unorthodox fashion. THanks to all the developers for their work, and happy New Year’s Eve.

01-01-2022, 08:31 AM	#2
PSUColonel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 13,104	I'd be all for Mac text to speech also. I am sure that would be a tremendous help to you. Hopefully one day it will become a reality.

01-01-2022, 11:44 AM	#3
Pelican Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Wilmington, Delaware Posts: 2,912	I googled text-to-speech and found an instructive wikihow tutorial on how to use the app included in the Mac OS. I’m not that familiar with how this works; but hoping this would provide a solution. From what wikihow says, it appears to be adaptive. As to whether it would work with OOTP, I can’t say. I’m on my iPad now, but will check on my Mac Mini - the main computer I use for OOTP - to see if I can get it to work. I am trying to imagine the obstacles you are facing to play. With the right software, much of the best of OOTP should translate. Not sure how you would navigate the myriad drop-downs and screens. Probably you figured that out long ago.

01-01-2022, 03:21 PM	#4
Pelican Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Wilmington, Delaware Posts: 2,912	The Mac OS Monterrey (the latest version) includes a Voice Over utility that is designed to perform the text to speech function. My wife, who is much more of an IT person, says that this and similar software is dependent on how the designer (in this case OOTP) set up the web page interface for users. That is (as I understand it), OOTP would have needed to embed clues or paths for easy translation of text in the game to speech through the app. I have not tried this yet; but I will; to get some idea if Voice Over is compatible with OOTP.

01-01-2022, 03:39 PM	#5
BlindGuyNW Bat Boy Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 9	Unfortunately, OOTP isn't compatible with VoiceOVer, alas. I can use a third-party tool to scan the screen and let me click on text and such, which seems to work surprisingly well. I haven't yet tried some of the more complex management screens but a lot of the basics read fairly well even through the medium of OCR. Where I run into trouble is places where the game displays something but OCR doesn't pick it up, like a slider. I have a limited ability to move the mouse to arbitrary places on screen to click. I actually work in accessibility professionally, so am happy to discuss this stuff with anyone interested.