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"Behind every disability is a gamer"

Imagine you have extreme trouble hearing or every colour your eyes see look the same......

Playing Fifa with your mates, not being able to distinguish which team you are by the colour of the strips...... Playing Red Alert, but not being able to hear the in-game commentary.

Not a nice thought is it? Yet there are hundreds and thousands of people out there in that situation.

How would you feel?

I’m unable to put myself in their situation, but I’m guessing they must be pretty furious. I really haven’t seen any development into games to aid the “disabled” which I think is unfair. Some games are starting to include subtitles which I assume are fairly useful, but lets face it, your average game player is most likely using a 14” TV sitting in their bedroom. Do game developers really think the average consumer can read the tiny little text, while playing an action full game?
Yes, subtitles are a little step forward, but not the leap that most people with disabilities are looking for.

***** TESTING MODE *****

Switch on your TV, turn the sound off, and squint your eyes.

What can you see? What can you hear? Not a blooming lot!

Not quite the experience you would want from watching TV is it, yet this is what I expect some people have to cope with when playing games.

***** TESTING COMPLETE *****

You can open your eyes now.....

We’ve established that there is a problem in the gaming market, but how can we solve or improve this situation?

I don’t particularly like the thought of having little arrows pointing towards the area on the screen the sound is coming from or every object with the colour name written on it. But there must be an easier way.

Giving the user a CHOICE is always a welcome start. Why not provide the game player with a customization menu where he/she can adjust the size of the text/subtitles, adjust the shading and light, adjust the viewpoint within the game.

Have a little think of a games option screen..... To my knowledge there is very little or nothing on these subjects and I cant understand why there isn’t. Game developers need to be put under more pressure to include these simple features.

I sympathize for people with disabilities, not because they have “problems” but the fact that games don’t offer the support they should.

Now with DVD it opens up more doors, more features can be installed, but will the developers include them? Most games are made in a few different countries and therefore need translating, why not at the same time make a subtitle version? Surely seeing a smile on a child’s face is worth the time and effort. :-D

Only time will tell if any of this is taken up but I feel so sorry for people unable to play such great games for the sake of not having these basic options.

Behind every disability is a gamer.

Thanks for Reading,

Dav1d

A very good point.

Hey I closed my eyes for a whole hour, when I became suspicious I realised you had written "You can open your eyes now". Fat lot of good that did me, I couldn't read the darned thing. So it just goes to show how good your test is I suppose. Anyway, yes it's true that disability can be a problem in gaming (among other things) but at the moment there isn't that much technology to make games more accessible to people suffering from game inhibiting disability. Actually we're probably closer to medical solutions for disabilities (bionics and the like) than gameplay ones. I suppose there are those feedback devices, with the right kind of mouse you can apparently "feel" the terrain and things in Black and White (among other games). Still, it's definately reasonable to ask that games developers try to create new accessibility options in their games, even if this does mean games come out later (they all get delayed these days anyway). The problem is that the disabilities that affect games most are sight and hearing ones and it's hard to overcome these with in game features.

Still, I don't know if it's fair to accuse developers of not caring about people with disabilities. Remember developers are human too, some of them may even have disabilities so I'm sure they do care, it's just that it's not easy to come up with software solutions to disability. Perhaps there should be more research into hardware that makes it easier for people with disabilities to play games and then developers should make sure their games are compatible. That would probably be the best solution for everyone. Of course as vottanator said, disabled people are only a minority market and you've got to wonder two things: 1. Who can afford to spend money on new products for a market that isn't really there (I know, Bill Gates)? and 2. Are disabled people who are unable to play games all that bothered (after all, they maybe haven't played games and don't know what they're missing, and ignorance is bliss)?

Well those are my thoughts on the subject, we'll just have to wait and see what occurs.

*Crowd goes wild*

WOOOOO YEAH WOOOOO

First time Ive won with a topic.... maybe my writing skills arent as bad as I first thought :-)

Thanks for the comments

David

Developers in Germany were working on a game for the blind for some time. And they finaly found a way to make a game for the blind. Don't know what game it's about but they can touch the screen and feel what it is or what is written. Quite impressive. Would be cool if blind people could play a FPS someday...Imagine getting killed by a blind guy... Would you be ashamed, give him an applause or just try to kill him next round? Fun things to think about...

Congrats on the win David.

It was a good idea and a great post.

Well done.

:)

WELL DONE!

That GAD's been a long time coming Dave, but you deserve it.

Let's all congratulate my "friend" David. :-D

Nice post Dav1d. A good read and it raises an interesting point. I think developers should definitely do more to make their games a better experience for people with disabilities. It isn't fair that they shouldn't be able to play the games when others can.

Prices for games at the moment are ridiculous as it is. 45 quid for a game! At that price, they should definitely add options for the disabled gamer.

Just my view, of course. :-)

I feel sorry for anyone who cant play computer games, theyre a very important part of my life (when im bored) and im sure many others feel the same.

If some people cant experience gaming to its full potential then they are missing out on a great deal.

Something needs to be done, I think it should start with the game developers. Would they make all the effort though, just to make a few kids happy? I dont think so. Theyre too greedy, and I fear that nothing will be done about this subject in the near future. Unfortunatley.

Good post, I also think game developers should give more options to the disabled gamer. I mean theyre human aswell.

Give this man a GAD cos he rules!