Game accessibility
Encyclopedia
Within the field of human-computer interaction, game accessibility refers to the accessibility
of video games. Game accessibility is considered a subfield of computer accessibility
, which studies how software and computers can be made accessibility to users with various types of impairments.
With an increasing number of people are interested in playing video games and with video games increasingly being used for other purposes than entertainment, such as education
, rehabilitation
or health
, game accessibility has become an emerging field of research, especially as players with disabilities could benefit from the opportunities video games offer the most. A recent study estimates that 2% of the U.S. population is unable to play a game at all because of an impairment and 9% can play games but suffers from a reduced gaming experience. A study conducted by casual games studio PopCap games found that an estimated one in five casual video gamers have a physical, mental or developmental disability. As games are increasingly used as education tools, there may be a legal obligation to make them accessible, as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act mandates that schools and universities that rely on federal funding must make their electronic and information technologies accessible.
These games are not only great examples of accessible games, but also drive innovation in game design. In recent years, game accessibility has been actively researched, for example in student projects
.
The unique limitations of the target group make such projects interesting, instructive and challenging for students.
. The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Special Interest Group on Game Accessibility proposed 19 accessibility guidelines in 2004, which were derived from a survey of 20 accessible games. The majority of the games surveyed include games for the visually impaired, and several support motor or hearing impaired gamers. The Norwegian Medialt organization published a set of 34 game accessibility guidelines on their website, based on the 19 IGDA game accessibility SIG guidelines as well as their own set of guidelines.
Based on the three different types of accessibility barriers, accessibility strategies can be classified into higher level accessibility strategies
In 2003, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) introduced the Game Accessibility Special Interest Group, founded by Thomas Westin and currently chaired by Michelle Hinn
. In 2006, the Bartiméus Accessibility foundation initiated the Game Accessibility project, a project which focuses on creating awareness and providing information for game developers, researchers and gamers with disabilities, led by Richard Van Tol. These two major groups work together as advocates within the game industry for increasing the accessibility of video games for gamers with disabilities.
In 2004 two disabled gamers, Mark Barlet and Stephanie Walker, founded AbleGamers.com, set out to further advance game accessibility in the AAA gaming space. Some of their efforts include: pressuring NCSoft
to remove Game Guard from the game Aion
and discussing with game developer Blizzard
the addition of color blind friendly enhancements to the game World of Warcraft
. In 2009 AbleGamers.com started 501(c)(3) nonprofit The AbleGamers Foundation to facilitate their work.
In 2010 the Accessible GameBase was launched by the charity SpecialEffect. This site aims to develop (and is developing) a welcoming, all-encompassing gaming community. This, alongside outreach projects such as accessible gaming roadshows and the development of a significant accessible gaming database, will see positive change.
Despite these, and many other initiatives, the situation is far from perfect: Many game developers are still very much unaware of game accessibility. Developers who acknowledge the importance of game accessibility and want to use it in their designs often don't know how to do so. Games developed in research-projects usually consist of small demos ("proofs of concept") which lack the quality and (re)playability of mainstream games. This is usually also the case with games that have been developed by the small companies and hobbyists. Knowledge about accessible game design that is gained in projects often failed to get documented. Overall, there are too little resources available on the subject.
Accessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
of video games. Game accessibility is considered a subfield of computer accessibility
Computer accessibility
In human-computer interaction, computer accessibility refers to the accessibility of a computer system to all people, regardless of disability or severity of impairment...
, which studies how software and computers can be made accessibility to users with various types of impairments.
With an increasing number of people are interested in playing video games and with video games increasingly being used for other purposes than entertainment, such as education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, rehabilitation
Physical therapy
Physical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...
or health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
, game accessibility has become an emerging field of research, especially as players with disabilities could benefit from the opportunities video games offer the most. A recent study estimates that 2% of the U.S. population is unable to play a game at all because of an impairment and 9% can play games but suffers from a reduced gaming experience. A study conducted by casual games studio PopCap games found that an estimated one in five casual video gamers have a physical, mental or developmental disability. As games are increasingly used as education tools, there may be a legal obligation to make them accessible, as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act mandates that schools and universities that rely on federal funding must make their electronic and information technologies accessible.
Barriers to Access
Video game Accessibility problems can be a categorized into three different categories that correlate to a specific type of impairment:- Not being able to receive feedback from the game due to a sensory impairment. Examples include: not being able to hear dialogue between game characters or audio cues, such as an explosion, because of an hearing impairmentHearing impairment-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
or unable to see or distinguish visual feedback, such as different colored gems in a puzzle game due to a visual impairmentVisual impairmentVisual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
such as (colorblindness). - Not being able to provide input using a conventional input device due to a motor impairment; for example, users who rely upon using switch controller or eye trackers to interact with games may find it very difficult or impossible to play games that require large amounts of input.
- Not being able to understand how to play the game or what input to provide due to a cognitive impairment. People with learning disabilities, may have low literacy or a combination of Complex Needs, for instance an individual might also have AtaxiaAtaxiaAtaxia is a neurological sign and symptom that consists of gross lack of coordination of muscle movements. Ataxia is a non-specific clinical manifestation implying dysfunction of the parts of the nervous system that coordinate movement, such as the cerebellum...
or limited coordination. For example, real time strategy games require a lot of micromanagement, which may be too difficult to understand and to perform for someone with a learning impairment.
Accessible game Categories
Over the past decade, small companies and independent game developers have developed numerous games that seek to accommodate the abilities of players with the most severe impairments and which has led to the definition of the following accessible game categories:- Audio gameAudio gameAn audio game is an electronic game played on a device such as a personal computer. It is similar to a video game save that the only feedback device is audible rather than visual....
s are games specifically for gamers who are blind. These games can be played without visual feedback and instead use audio based techniques such as audio cues or synthetic speech. The audiogames website provides an comprehensive overview of available games. - One-switch games are games that can be played using switch access and which accommodate the abilities of users with severe motor impairments or cognitive impairmens. The oneswitch website provides an overview of available one switch games.
- Games for people with a learning disability, people with a Learning disabilityLearning disabilityLearning disability is a classification including several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors...
, may have low literacy or a combination of Complex Needs, for instance an individual might also have AtaxiaAtaxiaAtaxia is a neurological sign and symptom that consists of gross lack of coordination of muscle movements. Ataxia is a non-specific clinical manifestation implying dysfunction of the parts of the nervous system that coordinate movement, such as the cerebellum...
or limited co-ordination. A detailed description of gaming with a learning disability. - Universally Accessible games are games that offer multiple interfaces to support different impairments. An overview of universally accessible games can be found here.
These games are not only great examples of accessible games, but also drive innovation in game design. In recent years, game accessibility has been actively researched, for example in student projects
.
The unique limitations of the target group make such projects interesting, instructive and challenging for students.
Strategies for Improving Accessibility
There have been two attempts at composing a set of game accessibility guidelines similar to the Web Content Accessibility GuidelinesWeb Content Accessibility Guidelines
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are part of a series of Web accessibility guidelines published by the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative. They consist of a set of guidelines for making content accessible, primarily for disabled users, but also for all user agents, including highly limited...
. The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Special Interest Group on Game Accessibility proposed 19 accessibility guidelines in 2004, which were derived from a survey of 20 accessible games. The majority of the games surveyed include games for the visually impaired, and several support motor or hearing impaired gamers. The Norwegian Medialt organization published a set of 34 game accessibility guidelines on their website, based on the 19 IGDA game accessibility SIG guidelines as well as their own set of guidelines.
Based on the three different types of accessibility barriers, accessibility strategies can be classified into higher level accessibility strategies
- Hearing impairmentHearing impairment-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
and Visual ImpairmentVisual impairmentVisual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
- Enhance Stimuli: for example, high contrast color schemeColor schemeIn color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in design for a range of media. For example, the use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and commonly default color scheme in web design....
, increased font size, color blind friendly color schemeColor schemeIn color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in design for a range of media. For example, the use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and commonly default color scheme in web design....
and zoom options. - Replace Stimuli: for example, subtitles or closed captioningClosed captioningClosed captioning is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information to individuals who wish to access it...
, audio cues, sonificationSonificationSonification, a form of auditory display, is the use of non-speech audio to convey information or perceptualize data. Auditory perception has high temporal and pressure resolution, which opens up possibilities for it as an alternative or complement to visualization techniques.For example, the...
, speech synthesisSpeech synthesisSpeech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
or haptic cues.
- Enhance Stimuli: for example, high contrast color scheme
- Motor Impairments
- Replace Input: for example, support for direct voice inputDirect Voice InputDirect Voice Input is a style of Human-Machine Interaction "HMI" in which the user makes voice commands to issue instructions to the machine...
or a brain-computer interfaceBrain-computer interfaceA brain–computer interface , sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain–machine interface , is a direct communication pathway between the brain and an external device...
. - Reduce Input: for example, switch access scanningSwitch access scanningSwitch access scanning is an indirect selection technique , used by an assistive technology user, including those who use augmentative and alternative communication to choose items from the selection set...
and remove or automate inputs.
- Replace Input: for example, support for direct voice input
- Cognitive impairment
- Reduce Stimuli: for example, limit the number of game objects, or simply the storyline.
- Reduce Time Constraints: for example, slow down the game.
- Reduce Input: for example, remove or automate inputs that needs to be provided
Advocacy Organisations
To raise awareness within the game industry of the importance of making games accessible, in recent years several advocacy organizations and groups have been formed.In 2003, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) introduced the Game Accessibility Special Interest Group, founded by Thomas Westin and currently chaired by Michelle Hinn
Michelle Hinn
Michelle Hinn is the current chairperson of the IGDA's Game Accessibility Special Interest Group, a game industry advocacy group for creating mainstream games accessible to gamers with disabilities...
. In 2006, the Bartiméus Accessibility foundation initiated the Game Accessibility project, a project which focuses on creating awareness and providing information for game developers, researchers and gamers with disabilities, led by Richard Van Tol. These two major groups work together as advocates within the game industry for increasing the accessibility of video games for gamers with disabilities.
In 2004 two disabled gamers, Mark Barlet and Stephanie Walker, founded AbleGamers.com, set out to further advance game accessibility in the AAA gaming space. Some of their efforts include: pressuring NCSoft
NCsoft
NCsoft is a South Korea-based online video game company, which has published massively multiplayer online role-playing games including Lineage, City of Heroes, Wildstar, Exteel, Guild Wars and Aion.-History:...
to remove Game Guard from the game Aion
Aion
Aion may refer to:In music:*Aion , a Japanese metal band**Aion , their 1992 album*Aion , a Polish gothic metal band*Aion , a 2003 album...
and discussing with game developer Blizzard
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
the addition of color blind friendly enhancements to the game World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
. In 2009 AbleGamers.com started 501(c)(3) nonprofit The AbleGamers Foundation to facilitate their work.
In 2010 the Accessible GameBase was launched by the charity SpecialEffect. This site aims to develop (and is developing) a welcoming, all-encompassing gaming community. This, alongside outreach projects such as accessible gaming roadshows and the development of a significant accessible gaming database, will see positive change.
Despite these, and many other initiatives, the situation is far from perfect: Many game developers are still very much unaware of game accessibility. Developers who acknowledge the importance of game accessibility and want to use it in their designs often don't know how to do so. Games developed in research-projects usually consist of small demos ("proofs of concept") which lack the quality and (re)playability of mainstream games. This is usually also the case with games that have been developed by the small companies and hobbyists. Knowledge about accessible game design that is gained in projects often failed to get documented. Overall, there are too little resources available on the subject.