There are other things I want to do for you screen reader users. My goal is to offer alternative markings around the 'limit ascii' accessibility feature. This will replace the shorthand symbols at the front of a sic message with actual words like 'private sic' and other such symbol jargon used.
But I won't just remove content other players are subjected to, then suddenly everyone declares themselves a screen reader user.
Even the times when it seems spammy, really it isn't as spammy as you need to imagine it is. (Actually all the time it isn't as spammy as you need to imagine it but we go with it.)
There are over 65 million people in the dome. Not all have a sic chip, true, but there are millions of sics traveling through every minute.
It is one reason there is an option to turn off SIC chat. And to block. There should be some other options your client has available to you like what Taikei mentioned?
I use various screen readers on a fairly normal basis to test and validate the content and code we put out, and I totally understand both sides here. As a player, it can be really, really hard to listen to everything going on audibly and filter it. As a developer we want to provide the same experience for everyone, and hiding the intentional adverts may provide a slightly unfair advantage, and change the game experience. Tough finding that balance.
Props to the devs though, and the players for finding harmony for so long. Ain't always easy.
Dozens of times which I'm aware of in my experience, players have missed reading messages which were mixed in among a whole bunch of other peoples' encrypted messages, because it's hard for the eyes to pick readable character strings out from a dark-red sea of unreadable ones. The ear, on the other hand, has absolutely no trouble getting a clear message when it comes.
Undecipherable SIC is difficult for everyone, sighted or otherwise.
This isn't less characters/lines on the screen, its plain english instead of the shorthand symbolism normally experienced.
Also addressed today was the fuel gauging on vehicles for the same plain-english treatment.
Screen Reader players can type the following to enable this mode:
@access STRIP_ASCII is enabled
Please don't hesitate to report places that don't respect this preference and you think should. We can't promise we'll be able to in all cases, but we'll take your input seriously. :)