Accessibility
Efforts to create accessible games are very important as games are interactive mediums that require the player to participate constantly. The interaction assumes that the players can participate using the controls accompanying the game. However, this generates a significant barrier to people unable to play traditionally. Game accessibility will work to correct the barrier that restricts certain people from being able to play the game traditionally.
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Visual, auditory, mobility, and cognitive disabilities all require different forms of accessibility. People who are blind cannot rely on visual cues. They need special hardware, such as force feedback, to indicate when to act. Low vision can detect light and motion, but it is constrained, and color blindness is the inability to see specific colors. With those with visual disabilities, there needs to be more emphasis on audio or vibrations in controllers rather than visual cues.
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text as audio
simple controls
helpful hints
AUDITORY ACCESSIBILITY
People with auditory disabilities cannot understand speech or recognize environmental sounds. There is a spectrum of deafness from mild to profound loss of hearing. People with mild hearing loss struggle with conversations, especially in noisy surroundings. Therefore it is essential to have subtitles and keep noisy backgrounds to a minimum.
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MOBILITY ACCESSIBILITY
Mobility disabilities can be caused by injury, illness, genetics, and old age.
It ranges from people who cannot press a button fast enough to people who
may have to use a single head-mounted switch to play. Thus the game should be able to be played on different difficulty settings with various controls so all people can play.
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COGNITIVE ACCESSIBILITY
Cognitive disabilities are very diverse from people with learning disabilities, memory loss, and dyslexia. Those with cognitive disabilities may experience slower reaction times, an inability to read text, and an inability to retain information. To provide accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities, difficulty levels, options for text to be read aloud or to slow down, and help options should be included.
These are just a few ways in which to help create a game that has good accessibility to those with disabilities. User testing should include people with disabilities so the game can be the most accessible to people.