Disabled video gamers are calling for more accessibility

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The Controller is adapted to players with poor movement, color adjustment, sound signals for the blind: Video game enthusiasts with disabilities have many options to fully enjoy video games, but barriers remain .

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Accessibility should be part of the DNA of every employee in our companysaid David Tisserand, accessibility manager for Ubisoft.

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The goal of the French video game giant, which has approximately 19,000 staff members worldwide, is make sure everyone assumes their responsibilities and understands that this is their missionsaid Mr. Tisserand.

According to Microsoft estimates, 400 million gamers are disabled, representing nearly 15% of the entire gaming community worldwide.

Talented players come in here

Long neglected by the industry, accessibility is now highlighted by major studios, publishers and developers, who justify this interest on ethical and financial grounds. The number of organizations and sites specializing in the subject has also increased.

Since 2021, the Video Game Accessibility Awards have awarded titles most appropriate to people with disabilities. At the most recent event, which took place in mid-March, we dramatically crowned the racing simulation Forza Horizon 5developed by Playground Games, the first game in history to feature support for American and British Sign Language.

The situation has improved drastically from what it has been for decades, as games can now be corrected with updates.

A quote from Chris Robinson, born deaf, hosts the DeafGamersTV channel on Twitch

Recent games like The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog), Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos-Montreal) at far from happening 6 (Ubisoft Toronto), has been recognized by the community of gamers with disabilities for their overwhelming visual or sound setting.

When will the appropriate accessories be available?

On the accessories side, Microsoft released in 2018 a controller for the Xbox console designed for people with motor disabilities. The device allows the connection of other external peripherals developed by third-party manufacturers, such as the Swiss company Logitech.

Despite these advances, so many games continue to develop small subtitles that cannot be adjusted and cannot change the background or provide visual cues to help the deafexplained Chris Robinson.

This feeling is shared by Soleil Wheeler, another deaf gamer, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on social networks, where he uses the pseudonym Ewok and broadcasts his kind games. battle royale Fortnite at Legends of the Apex.

Another challenge is talking to teammates who are listening.

A quote from Sun Wheeler

The 16-year-old dreams of seeing a feature that appears to automatically generate subtitles to follow oral conversations between players.

For people with motor disabilities, accessibility fees remain one of the major barriers. The adapted Xbox controller costs 100 US dollars (125 Canadian dollars) to which must add the price of the switches, buttons or joysticks (joysticks) external, usually custom-made.

Moreover, Nintendo and Sony, Microsoft’s two main competitors in the video game console market, currently do not offer an accessory equivalent to the Xbox interface.

Sony has put a lot of effort into the accessibility of games, but it is more aimed at sensory disabilities than motor disabilities.says David Combarieu, founder of the young French shoot Hitclic, which offers solutions tailored to players with poor mobility.

They even complicate our lives on the PlayStation 5, with compatibility issues with previous generations of consoles, added Mr. Combarieu, whose son -in -law, Théo Jordan, is quadriplegic.

Upstream work

Many people with disabilities have expressed a desire to be more consulted during the game creation process.

For developers, the ideal is to have direct feedback rather than rake in their corner and try to guess [les besoins].

A quote from carlos Rattlehead Vasquez, a blind player from Houston, Texas

A very high level player in Mortal Kombat, Mr. Vasquez, who can be identified only by sound, was contacted a few years ago by NethermRealm Studios, which is forming the series. On his recommendation, the studio added sound cues to help the blind identify certain specific objects with which they could interact.

Streaming platforms have helped normalize disabilities within the gaming community. On forums and social networks, however, aggressive or insulting comments abound, often made by an uninformed public.

I know there will always be troll at haters, said Ewok. That being said, I don’t let them ruin my life and I prefer my battles wisely.

Source: Radio-Canada

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