Here's an example of one of the worst offenders:
It comes about for a lots of reasons, one being militant art directors who don't want subs/captions interfering with their UI, another being UI designers who are working on huge mac screens about 12 inches from their face.
But the thing is.. even the above isn't really a 'worst offender', it's a matter of preference. I saw at least one person in this thread saying that they prefer small subtle subtitles.
Which makes perfect sense. If you're using them just as an occasional quick reference to glance it if you miss a certain word, there would clearly be some people who would prefer them to be as unobtrusive as possible.
And on the other hand, people who have impaired hearing (or are playing on mute because the baby is asleep, etc etc) who completely rely on seeing every single word, they obviously need to be as clear and legible as possible. Especially if you're older (which we will all be eventually), and are likely to have mild-moderate hearing AND vision impairment.
There's a simple solution though, which would be to allow the formatting to be configurable. Choice of colour, font, size, and letterboxing/shadow.. all of those things would be pretty easy to do.
What would be even better would be if the device manufacturers were to store those preferences at a system level, with a handy API so that developers can access them, read back what that particular player's preferences are and apply them to the game.
And guess what. That's exactly what there is. Android, iOS and XB1 all have system settings for subtitle formatting, and an API for developer to access those settings through. For example...
(The PS4 has the same kind of settings, but they aren't available for game developers to use, they only apply to apps, blu-rays etc)
But despite these settings being freely available, no developer that I'm aware of has ever bothered making use of them. I haven't even come across any game that allows subtitle formatting to be customised in any way at all, despite it being standard practice in other forms of digital media.
So if you're looking for something to advocate for, something to let developers to know that they should be doing, this would be a very very good thing to concentrate on.
It's a real shame to see subtitles in such a poor state, so far behind other industries when really they have potential to be so far ahead.
Additional guidance here:
Basic -
Don't convey essential info by sound alone
Basic -
If using subtitles, make sure they're clearly formatted
Intermediate -
Ensure subtitles for all speech
Intermediate -
Ensure subtitles for other important background information
Intermediate -
Allow subs to be turned on before the opening cinematic
Advanced -
Cut down the wording of subs to an appropriate WPM for the reading speed of the audience
CNET ran a
survey on how many people preferred to play with / without subtitles turned on, and 79% of respondents said they played with them turned on. The obvious conclusion is that subs should be turned on by default, but also, something that 79% of your players see throughout the entire game should be something that justifies significant effort/investment to get right.