Should game developers be more acommodating to disabled gamers?

Azureth

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 29, 2008
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This is a very interesting video regarding it: How Are Games Biased Against the Disabled?

I think he makes some great points, such as color blind mode, how the Wii U is unfriendly to left handers (which isn't a disability but still) and ESPECIALLY how developers could help a lot by having remappable controls in console games.

For me I have trouble with my arms but one big reason I love PC gaming is that (usually) you can totally remap the keys how you see fit so I can play, but for console games that use bumpers/triggers it's more difficult; something that would be easier if I could remap the buttons.

What do you think?
 
Can't you remap some of the buttons for console controllers during games? I use to do something similar with my old partial hacked ps3 by using a keyboard to control most of the dual shock map controls.
 
Game accessibility is usually a positive, unless it involves the fairer sex.
 
that's like asking game developers to kindle to old school hardware.

Keep up or move out!

Sorry I had too
 
As long as it doesn't take away from the experience of others.
 
Accessibility can't hurt. But yea, don't fuck it up for everyone else when doing so. You're basically taking away from one for the other for that point.
 
Well at least give ability to remap the keys. I have to remap my keys to help me play most games due to my hands... multiple key press combos require me to make macros to accomplish.
 
Can't you remap some of the buttons for console controllers during games? I use to do something similar with my old partial hacked ps3 by using a keyboard to control most of the dual shock map controls.
Most games since the last console generation do not let you remap controls. It was a disturbing trend at that point and I with many others tried to spread information and stop it. I think the argument was that control is part of the game's design and the creator's artistic vision. In other words, we want to force you to play the game in the manner in which we imagined it.

Funnily enough, when I was going to school for game programming, the inability to remap controls was on a list of things inherently considered "bugs" (not behaving as expected, to be precise). If you're lucky, a game will include at least two other "schemes" that were approved by the designers for you to use. Fortunately I'm in the camp where most control schemes I encounter are not too clunky, but I have experienced some that I just shook my head at because it made no damned sense (making controls difficult because reasons).

I am happy to see color blindness getting some attention these days. I was honestly shocked to see how many people at university were affected by it. Up until that point I had not known a single person with any variation of color blindness. As a result I sometimes get annoyed these days by the use and combination of colors some designers use (Ryse QTEs being a big pet peeve of mine).
 
Wow, speak of the devil, Sony is certainly progressive: Sony confirms next PS4 system update adds suspend/resume, button mapping and more

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Well I definitely know what next-gen system I am getting!!
 
yea, another reason to go for Ps4... nice move
 
This guy knows nothing about game design. Sure there are some improvements that he called out that might be worth discussing, but he's just another guy critizing game design that has never actually seen how hard it is to make a video game. Do you really want to wait another year for every game so that it is fully accessible? Game designers work crazy OT right before releases just to get it to work correctly (see linked article). Making it more accessible is not easy and takes time that developers barely have enough of just to hit publisher deadlines. It's also not something that can easily be implemented early in a game's life cycle. Too much of interface and game design changes, so trying to keep it accessible to all early on is a waste of time.

I'm not trying to be heartless, but its not just a simple switch that is easy to put in. Its actually better to talk to middleware/engine/os creators to create a reusable solution for the developers to use, so developers can spend more time making a game good than making a game accessible.

Its a tough line to balance. On one hand, making a game more accessable is great and expands the market for more people to enjoy the game. Game developers want as many people to enjoy thier game as possible. On the other hand, it is a lot of work for certain solutions, time that could be spent making other parts of the game better.

Luckily I dont have any disabilities, so it's never hampered me. This doesnt give me much clout to say this, but its still my stance: I dont think its worth trying to cater to everyone, its practically impossible. Like every business decision, its a factor of how much effort is required for how much return. If you spent half the development time to cater to color blind people that only increased sales by 4%, then I dont think it's worth it. Sure marketing and feels would always want to make it available to everyone, but thats just not possible.

Video games are pieces of art that should be left to the developers to express however they want. Would you require the same demands of every painting in the world? Should all articles of clothing be color-blind accessible? Should every musical piece be written with less range extremes so people who have lost hearing in those ranges hear everything? Technology helps in making video games more accessible, but it doesn't make it mandatory.
 
This guy knows nothing about game design. Sure there are some improvements that he called out that might be worth discussing, but he's just another guy critizing game design that has never actually seen how hard it is to make a video game. Do you really want to wait another year for every game so that it is fully accessible? Game designers work crazy OT right before releases just to get it to work correctly (see linked article). Making it more accessible is not easy and takes time that developers barely have enough of just to hit publisher deadlines. It's also not something that can easily be implemented early in a game's life cycle. Too much of interface and game design changes, so trying to keep it accessible to all early on is a waste of time.

I'm not trying to be heartless, but its not just a simple switch that is easy to put in. Its actually better to talk to middleware/engine/os creators to create a reusable solution for the developers to use, so developers can spend more time making a game good than making a game accessible.

Its a tough line to balance. On one hand, making a game more accessable is great and expands the market for more people to enjoy the game. Game developers want as many people to enjoy thier game as possible. On the other hand, it is a lot of work for certain solutions, time that could be spent making other parts of the game better.

Luckily I dont have any disabilities, so it's never hampered me. This doesnt give me much clout to say this, but its still my stance: I dont think its worth trying to cater to everyone, its practically impossible. Like every business decision, its a factor of how much effort is required for how much return. If you spent half the development time to cater to color blind people that only increased sales by 4%, then I dont think it's worth it. Sure marketing and feels would always want to make it available to everyone, but thats just not possible.

Video games are pieces of art that should be left to the developers to express however they want. Would you require the same demands of every painting in the world? Should all articles of clothing be color-blind accessible? Should every musical piece be written with less range extremes so people who have lost hearing in those ranges hear everything? Technology helps in making video games more accessible, but it doesn't make it mandatory.

How would you even make clothes color-blind accessible? Its an unfair comparison to compare something that's possible vs. Something impossible, derp.
 
How would you even make clothes color-blind accessible? Its an unfair comparison to compare something that's possible vs. Something impossible, derp.

Find alternate ways, that don't involve colors that cannot be recognized by those colorblind, to help colorblind individuals to understand how others perceive individual pieces of clothing. It's about description rather than somehow making an individual able to see what others see. This could be done at a point of sale, on garment tags, or in other ways. Derp.
 
Yes they should. Everyone , despite physical handicap , should be able to find a way. Sony/MS/Nintendo should do as much as possible to help them achieve that. Video gaming is a huge escape for lots of us but for those unable to have full functionality over their lives they need it even more to cope.

Sony doing this went up a bunch of notches in my book. They've made a very wise choice allowing this. Microsoft will follow suit since it has to. Nintendo of course couldn't give a fuck and that's very disappointing.

I also think every game should offer things like color blind mode. Now its not a crippling physical issue but its an easy thing to include and yet I rarely see it. Reminds me of games with subtitles in the 90's which were virtually non-existent.

This is a big change though. Its going to help so many disabled gamers customize their setup for even greater ease of use.

Well done Sony.
 
Yes they should. Everyone , despite physical handicap , should be able to find a way. Sony/MS/Nintendo should do as much as possible to help them achieve that. Video gaming is a huge escape for lots of us but for those unable to have full functionality over their lives they need it even more to cope.

Sony doing this went up a bunch of notches in my book. They've made a very wise choice allowing this. Microsoft will follow suit since it has to. Nintendo of course couldn't give a fuck and that's very disappointing.

I also think every game should offer things like color blind mode. Now its not a crippling physical issue but its an easy thing to include and yet I rarely see it. Reminds me of games with subtitles in the 90's which were virtually non-existent.

This is a big change though. Its going to help so many disabled gamers customize their setup for even greater ease of use.

Well done Sony.
If something is your passion then people will always find a way. You can't take every disability into consideration when designing something that at least requires dexterity. That said, I think it's great to see steps being taken by the manufacturers to try and accomodate people's handicaps.

Just thought I'd share this for those who have not seen it. Has anyone ever tried to solo the multiplayer missions in Mass Effect 3? Not an easy task. This is a video showing a quadriplegic soloing a ME3 mission on Gold difficulty (PC version on a laptop). He beats it in a little over half an hour. My first Gold solo attempt took nearly an hour to finish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JXteqgFVns
 
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