[DoctorEldritch]

Hello Legion Gamers!

Good news everyone! The month of Animals and Pets has started, and to commemorate, we're launching a new Legion Competition! This time with a chance to win the Hi-Fi Rush game:

And everyone has a chance to win!

The rules are simple: all you need to do is reply to this thread with a screenshot or a gif of your favorite pet, mount or wild animal from a video game and tell the name (or species) of the animal and what game it is from. For example, like this:



808 from (surprise!) Hi-Fi Rush game.

All those who post an image and name/game will enter a draw and the lucky winner will get the Hi-Fi Rush game from us! Everyone who answers has a chance to win, but remember: you need to give both image (or gif) and name/game to enter the draw!

Some important info:

• The activity will start on August 2nd and end on August 13th at midnight!
• The activity is exclusive to the Nordic community.
• The winner will be chosen in a draw and announced by the CM.
• You can post as many game animals as you like, so if you have more than one game animal that you like, don't hesitate to share!

Looking forward to your submissions and good luck!

THE COMPETITION IS NOW OVER!

[Saka]

A leader of the Shikaar Centaur in World of Warcraft, Sansok Khan is deaf. She is always accompanied by her sign language interpreter and her assistance dog, Basran. The game even tells you not to pet Basran, as he is on duty.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka This is good of WoW to include that bit. It is nice when the proper etiquette of behaviour in situations like that are portrayed in mass media such as films and games. And it shows the diversity of assistance dogs and spreads awareness that, in addition to more known vision impediments aid, they help people with hearing impediments, restricted mobility and even mental health issues.

Sansok Khan reminded me of General Amaya from The Dragon Prince series. And same as Basran, she has Commander Gren to interpret for her. But she does not have a dog. Shame, it could have been a nice touch for the series. But at least they put in many scenes where sign language is used, and it is an accurate portrayal of it, or so I've read. When sign language is used in WoW, is it accurate?

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch Unfortunately, the sign language is only mentioned in the quest windows. There are no proper animations for it, just generic hand waving. It's still nice for raising awareness that there is such a character and that the game tells you not to disturb the working dogs, no matter how cute they might be.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka That's too bad, but understandable from the technical viewpoint, I guess. Those animations are time-consuming to do, after all (I think), but it is nice when developers go the extra mile with things like that.

The Dragon Prince spent a bit of effort on it, though, like this:

But series animation is probably quite different from game animation.

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch The video you linked is really cool, but well, a series is a very different kind of project than a game. Especially when it's a minor character in the game. I think if it were about a main character, they probably would have attempted to create at least some animations.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka I recently finished Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and they have a deaf minor character, street artist Hailey Cooper. She uses sign language to communicate, but I am not sure if the game represents it accurately:

Hailey Cooper is portrayed by deaf actress Natasha Ofili.

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch Alas I am no sign language expert, my knowledge is actually minimal because I was taught to rely on spoken language. Which is now biting me in the butt these days, I am considering taking some courses in Finnish Sign Language. My spouse used to sign on a basic level and wouldn't mind refreshing.

Even when my current implant problems are going to be resolved there are still some situations when I am unable to wear the external part. It's not heat resistant or waterproof and there can be retention issues too. Having a backup is good.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka It is always good to have something to fall back on. Is Finnish Sign Language different from English one?

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch There is no such thing as English sign language. There is British Sign Language, commonly referred to as BSL and American Sign Language - ASL. Canada uses both ASL and LSQ, which is the French Sign Language.

Each country might have their own sign language. ASL and BSL are very different. BSL and LSQ have shared roots. If remember correctly, SuVi is based on ASL.