▲ A screenshot of the transcriber streaming the game on Afreeca TV.

On October 30th, a transcriber provided subtitles for a live LoL World Championship 2017 stream via his Afreeca TV channel. Identifying himself as a part of a deafness-based non-profit organization, he has been working to ease the communication the hearing-impaired people experience in many different ways.



The transcriber who wished to remain anonymous has been helping those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing through several different fields including shows, tourism, and interviews, as well as giving lectures as a guest speaker, writing forums, etc. When he came across the fact that many fans enjoy eSports, he decided to transcribe the Worlds broadcast live.



As it was his first time text-casting, he said that he “did not have much knowledge of how to stream online and carry on the broadcast. The other transcriber who transcribed for caster Dong-jun Kim knew a lot more about broadcasting” so he could get a lot of help from the caster.



“Also, since I had to listen to the casters and then type the words it was hard to sync the subtitle to the live games. I tried my best to minimize this problem by looking for and watching a live stream that is transmitted the fastest,” he added. “I didn’t know much about broadcasting, I ran out of energy half way, and the video quality was not that good – I am thankful that the viewers enjoyed it.”



Even though the transcriber wasn’t able to continue on with the work after the quarterfinals match between SKT T1 and RNG, he shared this wish about how each broadcasting company pay more attention to and offer service to the hearing-impaired. He said that “if conditions allow, I wish to find another transcriber who can do the other casters’ parts and provide more of these services,” showing his willingness to do more subtitled streaming as much as possible.



Lastly, he shared his thoughts about the truth behind the job as a transcriber. “Many transcribers cannot find a stable employment, and even if they do they are not treated very well,” he stated. “I hope that through my acts such as this one, other transcribers recover their self-esteem.” He also added that he is thankful to have such an opportunity.