Recommendations For Increasing Gaming Value for the Disabled

[Aggies67]

Hello,

I've been thinking about how gaming companies can improve gaming quality and value for the disabled, and I thought a thread on this might prove interesting.

Do you have any recommendations for the gaming industry along these lines?

One thing that really bugs me about video games is that so many of them come with over half the game initially locked (locations, courses, vehicles, maps, etc.).

This bugs me mainly because many disabled people have extreme difficulty advancing in levels. I've personally seen it in my family. I'll get to a certain cool level on a game, but it makes me sad to know that my nephew paid same price for the game won't ever be able to reach that level. Only the initially unlocked content will ever be available to him because of his issues stemming from cerebral palsy.

My solution is that every game should include the option to make all content available from the very beginning. People who are able and like the challenge of acquiring content could still do that, and the disabled and anyone else who chooses, could go into "Options" and select an "All content available" selection.

What do you think? Any other recommendations out there? Control layouts, options, etc?

[BurghFan]

Re: Recommendations For Increasing Gaming Value for the Disabled

Yeah, my visual impairment makes racing games and shooters somewhat difficult for me and my hearing impairment makes shooters even more difficult.

Burnout Paradise was a fun game, but I couldn't advance far because I had an extremely difficult time seeing where I was going in some of the races as there was no indication of the proper route to take other than the small map in the lower part of the screen which was nearly impossible to decipher. Unless I was following one of the cars in front of me, I would invariably end up getting lost.

Other racers are easier since they either have a line on the track that you follow (GT5) or a GPS indicator in the form of a continuous line of floating arrows (Fuel). Though in the latter case, those arrows became near imposssible to see in some races with certain lighting and weather conditions.

As for shooters, I have a very difficult time seeing where enemies are and where they are shooting me from. That's the main reason I always have to use cheats (i.e. infinite health) in those games because I wouldn't last long if I didn't since by the time I figured out where the enemy shooting me was, I'd already be dead. Making matters worse is that the targeting reticle is almost always white or transparent so if the background of the level is light in color it is impossible to see the reticle and thus determine precisely where I'm aiming. This is especially problematic in the Half-Life games.

[Aggies67]

Re: Recommendations For Increasing Gaming Value for the Disabled

Burnout Paradise was a fun game, but I couldn't advance far because I had an extremely difficult time seeing where I was going in some of the races as there was no indication of the proper route to take other than the small map in the lower part of the screen which was nearly impossible to decipher. Unless I was following one of the cars in front of me, I would invariably end up getting lost.

Other racers are easier since they either have a line on the track that you follow (GT5) or a GPS indicator in the form of a continuous line of floating arrows (Fuel).

All games should have easier navigation like that.

Making matters worse is that the targeting reticle is almost always white or transparent so if the background of the level is light in color it is impossible to see the reticle and thus determine precisely where I'm aiming. This is especially problematic in the Half-Life games.

What color do you think would work best?

[BurghFan]

Re: Recommendations For Increasing Gaming Value for the Disabled

What color do you think would work best?

Hard to say as there would probably always be some instances where the reticle becomes invisible. Perhaps something that is 2-tone with the inner part being black and the outer part white or vise versa. Or I don't know if it would be possible to code a smart reticle that automatically switches color based on the predominat background brightness (i.e turns white in dark areas and black in bright areas).