Disabled Gamers

[Foxbat]

I think it’s important that, as society moves forward technologically, nobody gets left behind. Although I’ve always been aware that the most likely groups to fall into this trap are the elderly and the disabled, I’ve never really thought too deeply on the subject. This is probably because I’m neither disabled nor elderly (getting there perhaps).

I found this article quite enlightening with regard to disabled gamers and, hopefully, it’s something that other game developers can take on board. Just read the part where one of the people in the article was able to play a game (The Last Of Us 2) that catered to his needs and how emotional it was for him and I think you’ll agree that we need more like this.

BBC Radio 4 - Radio 4 in Four - The disabled gamers revolutionising video games

How accessible gaming is changing for the better.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[.matthew.]

I don't fall into these categories either but it's something I've thought a lot about over the years. The ways technology can help expand the world and abilities of the disabled is genuinely wonderful.

Gaming is a great form of escapism and recently I've been seeing that 3D printing has opened up a lot of possibilities for custom modifications around the home.

Back onto gaming, this is one area where Microsoft actually excels. They have had a small team working on controllers for disabled gamers for years now. Things like...

 

[Wayne Mack]

I worked with Mark Barlet, the founder of Able Gamers, a non-profit dedicated to inclusive gaming. He was and is extremely passionate and dedicated to this.

Home

AbleGamers - Combating social isolation through play and improving quality of life through recreation and rehabilitation.

ablegamers.org

 

[AlexH]

I'm not disabled but find it frustrating that many designers and developers don't care about accessibility. As I work auditing websites, that's what I'm aware of most, and if it's only 1% of a company's audience it probably doesn't matter because the expense won't justify the return. Most companies don't even bother with Bing when that could be responsible for around 10% of a website's search traffic. Why not be the company that cares? Looking at it from a cynical perspective, the good publicity would probably be worth more money too. The Last Of Us 2 deservedly got a lot of positive publicity for its accessibility.

A game I've been playing recently (Full Metal Furies) has a colour blind mode, and I see accessibility options on a few games. I remember an article (or maybe it was a podcast) suggesting the Nintendo Switch is the best of the current consoles for gamers with physical disabilities, partly due to its portability (so the display can be rested on a platform in front of someone, for example) and partly because of some controller configuration options Nintendo had added, although I think the controllers the Switch comes packaged with were rated poorly and had to be replaced - so more expense for the disabled consumers that affects.

My eyesight isn't brilliant, and I've found many Switch games ridiculous in how small text is, though that's down to the game developers. Given I struggle to see what's going on in games as it is, I also hate the new Mario Kart solely because of the ink weapon that blocks the view of the track ahead. The game is great fun otherwise, but I don't play it because that one thing ruins it. That's also bad design to me. I see a lot of bad design on websites and in games that make it bad enough for non-disabled people, never mind for people with certain disabilities.