Spread the Word!
July 28, 2010 Leave a Comment
Ok so here is a very opinionated post and a slight depature from trying to inform and provide advice to pondering on why making games more accessible to all does not appear to be the pressing matter you might believe it to be.
A recent example cropped up in a feature on The Times Online:
Game players are still caricatured as antisocial youths with TV tans playing pointless rubbish.
Such stereotypes persist largely out of ignorance partly sustained by games being a relatively inaccessible medium. Disabilities aside, anyone can watch a film and enjoy it or listen to a piece of music and appreciate it. Games, however, are not as accessible. The multi-button controllers needed to play more complex games such as BioShock are a mystery to many. For those unfamiliar with these controllers, using them is like trying to eat granulated sugar with chopsticks while blindfolded.
As a result, many people base their views about games on out-of-context screenshots or a glimpse of people being killed in Grand Theft Auto. It’s a bit like seeing a gory moment from a horror film and concluding that every film is like that.
Whilst this was clearly part of a piece about far more than the accessiblilty problems facing disabled people it is worrying how it seemingly brushes aside the issue with a single half sentence. When this is a subject that deserves much more coverage in the mainstream press or even the regular gaming press. This is something that needs to be addressed and looked at and given more time than it is being at present.
If there is one thing I want you to take from article it is next time your talking about new game controllers (or non-controllers in the case of Kinectl) why not raise the issue of how it would work for someone with a disability. About how we can push developers and platform holders to enable all to games.
Microsoft have recently come out and said that Kinect can allow for users to be playing sat down opening up the possibility of wheelchair users/people who struggle to stand for sustained periods of time being to play. BUT why not make it a compulsory feature that developers have to include such features. Microsoft wants Kinect to totally remove the barrier presented by the controller to non-gamers/people intimidated by the complexity then they need to ensure that all can use it.
