adjust/mute background music. (Let's achieve it)

[JeffKrenz]

I've started a change.org petition for players with disabilities as well as the rest of us. Many disabilities including those that occur on the autism spectrum have difficulty with sound & it can cause extreme discomfort. We are asking Nintendo add audio options to the game so we have the freedom of choice to adjust the volume to or mute the background music

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Petition: http://chng.it/9pb4KMfP6K
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I apologize if this isn't allowed here. My agent has asked that I reach out to the community to get more supporters for this issue.

If you do choose to sign the petition, or even if you wish not to, please help me out by sharing it with your friends. We cannot reach Nintendo without working together to raise awareness.

Nearly every game ever made (old and new) allow players access to audio settings so they can adjust how loud the music is in comparison to other sounds in the game. New Horizons, as popular as it is, has no such option.

One player writes

I'm having serious issues with the music in Animal Crossing. Its very loud and the tones are incredibly grating. I am disabled and part of that is having sensory sensitivities. The music was fine until the resident upgrade with Isabella. Now the music makes the game essentially unbearable. I've looked everywhere for a solution and have found none but have found many forums upset about this very same issue. I'm sure Nintendo's intent is not to make the game inaccessible to disabled people. Do you plan to fix this issue?

The music is extremely loud if you want to also be able to hear the sound effects to get items like balloons and fish and there is no way to just control the music volume.

And another player writes

I am Autistic so I have sensory issues and certain sounds and or music can be quite distracting and triggering, the overworld music in the the game is so loud it makes it really hard to focus on what I'm doing, plus it makes it hard to hear things like balloons and the k.k songs that I like to play on my island. If you could add a way to either remove the music and or allow the volume of it to be changed that would be great. I love playing this game and I want to have a calm, relaxing time playing it.

Thank you for taking the time to sign if you have. While we will be helping those with sensory sensitivities, I believe we could all benefit in the end from such a game feature.

 

[SpaceTokki77]

I've started a change.org petition for players with disabilities as well as the rest of us. Many disabilities including those that occur on the autism spectrum have difficulty with sound & it can cause extreme discomfort. We are asking Nintendo add audio options to the game so we have the freedom of choice to adjust the volume to or mute the background music

-
Petition: http://chng.it/9pb4KMfP6K
-

I apologize if this isn't allowed here. My agent has asked that I reach out to the community to get more supporters for this issue.

If you do choose to sign the petition, or even if you wish not to, please help me out by sharing it with your friends. We cannot reach Nintendo without working together to raise awareness.

Nearly every game ever made (old and new) allow players access to audio settings so they can adjust how loud the music is in comparison to other sounds in the game. New Horizons, as popular as it is, has no such option.

One player writes




And another player writes




Thank you for taking the time to sign if you have. While we will be helping those with sensory sensitivities, I believe we could all benefit in the end from such a game feature.

I think this is an excellent idea! Nintendo should have taken every players’ needs into account sooner. While there are other things like this in the AC community, I think this is a great start. I signed your petition, btw!

 

[Grom]

You have my sympathy.

...not trying to minimize your suffering but I play with deaf friends and a lot of my hearing friends crank tunes while muting the game. Itʻs easy to play with sound off so Nintendo may shrug a bit on your petition.

 

[JeffKrenz]

Nintendo may shrug a bit on your petition.

Thank you. It is the most likely scenario, unfortunately. At the end of the day, I just want to know I have atleast tried rather than let it linger. My only regret is I didn't start this early last year when the player interest was at its peak.

 

[Grom]

I signed it and you only need few more to hit your goal

 

[Feraligator]

You have my sympathy as well. I saw some complaints about people with hearing disabilities unable to enjoy the game because of the forced soundtrack in April, and it's unfortunate that it's almost been a year with no response. I don't really think that puts Nintendo in a good position if they ignore that, and an option to adjust the audio affects no one negatively.

I just wish Nintendo paid attention more to feedback like this. I'll definitely sign it.

 

[JeffKrenz]

I signed it and you only need few more to hit your goal

Thanks. Those goals are milestones set by the petition site. It will set a larger goal once the current one is met. There is no set number of signatures required for this as Nintendo will still get to make the ultimate decision. My hope is that we can get the petition popular enough so that Nintendo will at least see this and know that the idea exists. As I understand, no Animal Crossing game has had options for audio, so it may be something that never crossed their minds as being needed or useful.

 

[ForeverSoaring]

Thanks. Those goals are milestones set by the petition site. It will set a larger goal once the current one is met. There is no set number of signatures required for this as Nintendo will still get to make the ultimate decision. My hope is that we can get the petition popular enough so that Nintendo will at least see this and know that the idea exists. As I understand, no Animal Crossing game has had options for audio, so it may be something that never crossed their minds as being needed or useful.

I don’t know about the mainline games, but pocket camp lets you separately turn off music and sound effects.
(I really want at least this much in acnh, both for personal sensory sensitivity reasons, and because I got bored of the soundtrack very quickly. Signed!)

 

[tessa grace]

Only a few more! Good luck!

 

[JKDOS]

pocket camp lets you separately turn off music and sound effects.

Maybe there's hope for us all. With the invention of the Nook Phone, I'm not sure why we don't have a options menu yet for anything. Whereas past games didn't really have anywhere to put an options menu, it would fit nicely in New Horizons. In Wild Word I remember the closest we got was that we could use the telephone in the attic to change from animalese or something of the sort.

 

[jefflomacy]

I don't have strong negative opinions on the music in this game, but I am in favor of additional configuration options in many Nintendo titles for disability reasons. In particular, larger fonts. Thankfully New Horizons has large fonts out of the box.

 

[Jacob]

Signed, it might be harder than we think for them to mix the sound design to match variant music volumes when it was perfected without this idea really in mind, but I think it's an idea worth supporting

 

[LambdaDelta]

honstly, with how much stuff nowadays has separate audio toggles for music, sfx, and voice, it's amazing this wasn't a thing to begin with

hell, I'm pretty sure I saw this with smash ultimate. which was another nintendo game that came out just a bit under 2 years before new horizons. even nintendo one-ups themselves in terms of basic video game qol features

 

[LeenaM]

This is a great idea! I am fine with most of the sounds in the game but waterfalls are deafeningly loud. I've restrained from terraforming or kept all my waterfalls very small because the sound drowns out everything, it's like tv static in my brain .

I understand it's meant to mimic a real waterfall but it's a bummer that I can't have more fun terraforming with water because any waterfall wider than 1 square makes me physically cringe in discomfort. I can't imagine how much worse it is for players with sensory issues.

 

[NatsumiSummer]

I signed the petition. I don't have many issues with sound (unless there is loud bass in music), but I have always wanted to be able to mute the in-game hourly music from time-to-time whenever I hunt for bugs or go fishing, so I can better focus on those tasks. It would be awesome if Nintendo adds in a feature to adjust the audio in-game. They could do it by introducing a new app to the Nook Phone that allows the player to adjust audio related stuff, and maybe while they are at it they could always let us choose different soundtracks to play to (mainly from different Animal Crossing game)

 

[Feraligator]

I signed the petition. I don't have many issues with sound (unless there is loud bass in music), but I have always wanted to be able to mute the in-game hourly music from time-to-time whenever I hunt for bugs or go fishing, so I can better focus on those tasks. It would be awesome if Nintendo adds in a feature to adjust the audio in-game. They could do it by introducing a new app to the Nook Phone that allows the player to adjust audio related stuff, and maybe while they are at it they could always let us choose different soundtracks to play to (mainly from different Animal Crossing game)

I have been pleading for this since the game came out I don't think it would ever happen, but I do hope muting the music can be added at some point

 

[SkyA]

Turn off option for sound effects also would be nice. Especially that one with catching/crafting items, really too loud and annoying...
+1 signed )

 

[Xara]

while i’m personally alright with the noise, i can definitely understand where your and others’ discomfort comes from. signed!

 

[Jaco]

I signed it. I'm personally OK with the sound levels but it seems like a pretty basic thing to add. I'd love if they added a jukebox feature that could even swap out music, maybe from past games too?

 

[Starboard]

I'd be happy to be able to mute the music

Nintendo's a bit weird with this, I recently got Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart, and I couldn't find audio setting for those either. Maybe I just didn't look hard enough? Otherwise I don't know why some Nintendo games have them and some don't.