It’s been awhile since I’ve combed the Internet for video game accessibility information, so tonight I’ve been doing just that.

We’ve talked about the challenges many disabled people face when playing video games. I’ve mostly looked at it from the perspective of actual games.

Hardware is another issue. Think about how far controllers have come along in the past decades. Looking at just the systems I’ve owned — the Atari 2600 had one button and a joystick; the Nintendo Entertainment system had four buttons and a directional pad; the Sega Genesis, 5 buttons and a pad. Then came the PlayStations and Xboxes, which threw in trigger buttons, bumpers, more buttons, more thumbsticks…you get the picture.

Imagine the challenges people with physical disabilities face with such complex controllers.

I was just visiting the wonderful AbleGamers website (a site I talked about at length last year in a series of posts including an interview with Steve Spohn), and read some interesting news on the topic of accessible video game controllers.

Evil Controllers and the AbleGamers Foundation jointly unveiled the Adroit Switchblade, a remarkable assistive technology device that allows massive amounts of customization for Xbox gaming or, with an additional plugin, the Playstation or PC. It comes with a pair of thumbsticks, plus you can use its 19 ports to set up a slew of switches to perform whatever actions you need.

Being new to the subject, I was still a little bit unsure of how this all worked. Joystiq posted a video of AbleGamers’ Marc Bartlet explaining the Switchblade. It’s a little hard to hear the audio at times, but it’s worth a viewing.

It’s always great when there are accessibility strides in the world of video games. Hopefully the Switchblade makes it easier for more disabled people to enjoy the world of gaming.

Tags: ablegamers.com, adroit switchblade, assistive technology, evil controllers, playstation, Video Games, xbox

I think I may have mentioned once or twice that it’s incredibly difficult staying committed to blogging. A couple weeks of being “too busy” between work and home life…followed by a couple more. Next thing you know, it’s been months.

Needless to say, this place has collected some dust.

But anyway…I’m back and hopefully to stay.

I was searching around the Web for interesting news in the world of video game accessibility, and found a fascinating video. It’s of a gamer who broke his neck and, as a result, is paralyzed from the neck down. He has limited usage of his arms and no movement in his fingers. Even so, he has found the means to effectively play video games.

Check it out:

If you head over to Brashant Entertainment – Video Game Experts, you can get a deeper explanation.

Watching this drives home a couple things. First and foremost, it’s absolutely amazing to see how people overcome disabilities. Before I got into this accessibility thing, I wouldn’t have imagined someone with this man’s degree of paralysis playing a shooter video game….and playing it very well!

It’s inspiring, to say the least.

Tags: disability, modern warfare 2, paralysis, Video Games

Amazingly, I’ve reached the milestone of two years of blogging.

It doesn’t seem long ago when accessibility first piqued my interest, and when I dove headlong into both learning as much as I could about it and blogging happily along the way.

Though I haven’t always posted as much as I’d have liked, it’s been a rewarding year here at theaccessibility.com. I’m definitely going with a mantra that it’s better to post when you have something interesting to say, than to just post for the sake of posting. Quality over quantity — which is also a mantra that I’ve ruthlessly adopted for following people on Twitter (again, a post for another day).

I’ve gotten to interview amazing people like Jennison Asuncion, Carol Voss of IndependenceFirst, and Steve Spohn of AbleGamers. I’ve continued to meet a lot of great people in the industry, particular through social media outlets like Twitter. I’ve provided accessibility consultation on a number of web site designs.

Far and away, the 2010 highlight is when I took the User Experience Lead position at Johnson Controls.

I could go on and on about all the things that I love about Johnson Controls — the culture, the people, the green initiatives, the location — but I’m going to sum it all up by saying taking the job is easily one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.

Though there are many things I learned in my last job, the truth is that I was mostly just stuck at a dead-end. I was in middle management, toiling over other’s issues and concerns and filling out paperwork. I did the occasional web design, but as I’ve posted before, my heart just hasn’t been in strict web design for a long time now…and certainly not in coding. My calling has been user experience, and of course that spoke in its wheel called accessibility.

When your reasons for staying somewhere mostly revolve around comfort and security (which can be important, especially when economies stumble and fall), you run the risk of not giving it your best anymore. Though I didn’t see it for the longest time, I needed to expand my professional world. I needed a change.

Enter Johnson Controls.

It continues to amaze me how much trust the place has in those of us on the User Experience team. While the company doesn’t have this grand vision of the exact details of user experience, they genuinely see its importance. They know that to be world leaders in anything, you have to truly understand the wants and needs of the people using your products. It can’t be “designed by developers for developers” or “designed by engineers for engineers”.

Here’s the icing on the cake — just last week, we had a great meeting with developers who are looking to the UX team to help clearly define the proper markup (HTML, CSS, etc) we ought to adhere to on the massive project we’re all undertaking. As part of that, I’m supplying accessibility guidelines.

Yup, we’re building a huge application from the ground up, and there’s an actual opportunity to make sure accessibility is factored from the onset.

I had just about resigned myself to accessibility being a side project, a labor of love that wouldn’t make any meaningful headway into my fulltime job…but now I’m very optimistic that that’s no longer the case.

Yeah, this turned more into gushing over my career change than this blog, but oh well.

Here’s to Year Three of theaccessibility.com!

Tags: accessibility, markup, user experience, ux, Video Games

I was recently reading a couple articles about some potential accessibility issues within the video game Bioshock 2. The articles point out color contrast issues with an in-game puzzle, that could leave color blind users out in the cold.

Though I knew I’d regret it, I checked out some of the comments after the posts.

Some random snippets:

what really grinds my gears is how all of a sudden the whole world needs to help people to do stuff they are inherently challenged to do. whats next? an adapter to use a wheelchair on the balance board?

from “What BioShock 2’s Hacking Looks Like if You’re Colour Blind“

It amazes me how many people with a defect think that the rest of the world should cater to them.

from “What BioShock 2’s Hacking Looks Like if You’re Colour Blind“

isn’t this like a one armed man moaning about not being able to play golf?

from “What Colorblind Hackers See In BioShock 2“

This is more of a problem for people that are blind. I mean, come on, how are they supposed to play this? They should be catering to blind gamers as well. And what about those born without opposable thumbs. It’s not fair that my manatee can’t play play this game either.

from “Bioshock 2’s No Friend of the Colorblind“

I realize that Internet forums and comment threads have and forever will be peppered (or dominated in some cases) by people who live to get a rise out of people. Some are just plain ignorant; others are just trying to rankle by saying outlandish things. I’ve been around the web world long enough to have seen countless examples of both.

Still, there’s still a lot of voices out who just don’t get it or care. Their worlds aren’t “inconvenienced” by blindness, or deafness, or motor skill impairment.

Is it feasible to make every web site or every video game 100% the same experience for the disabled and non-disabled? Of course not. Is it asking too much to add avenues to them that make the experience better? In a lot of cases, of course not.

From adding captions to providing color blind-friendly color contrasting settings to keyboard equivalents, there are many ways to improve the accessibility of video games, without expecting drastic concessions from the developers.

For web sites, we’ve discussed many times how simple changes can go a long way. Effective alt tags, proper tabbing navigation…the list goes on.

It may amaze the one poster that “people with a defect think that the rest of the world should cater to them,” but I’d like to see if he or she would maintain such a cavalier attitude if a disability struck.

Tags: bioshock 2, color blindness, color contrast, Video Games

I’m continuing the interview with Steve Spohn, Associate Editor of AbleGamers.com, an outstanding resource for video and computer game devotees who have disabilities.

Steve Grobschmidt (SG): I imagine some game types or genres are easier to be made accessible than others. And there are many different kinds of disabilities: visual, hearing, physical, cognitive, etc. How do developers balance making great, cutting edge games that still are playable for as many disabled gamers as possible?

Steve Spohn (SS): In a word, options. Options are extremely undervalued right now by the video game industry. In fact, most of the people who are unwilling or resentful of our work think that we want to change games in some way, and that is absolutely false.

AbleGamers wants developers to add options that can lend accessibility to video games for those that need a particular accommodation. No one wants to see video games “dumbed down” or made easier in any way. The ultimate goal is to add as many options that add value to a video game without taking anything else away. Items like remappable keys, subtitles, color blind options, mouse speed adjustments, and assistive device support, are all items that could add additional value to a title but for those who do not need any of those options, the game would not be hurt in anyway. In fact, if done correctly, those who do not need the accessibility may not even realize it’s there.

SG: How do you go about testing games? I see from your About Us section that there are staff members with disabilities of their own, including yourself. Do you just test games yourselves, or do you also reach out to other sources for testing?

SS: Our writers test every game personally. We have an in-house game review document that every video game must be put through. In addition, we have a rather large community that will keep us honest. If you read the review section, not everyone agrees with our assessments. This is because disabilities are widely varied, and everyone’s idea of how much accessibility is needed to be able to play a game changes.

We review games based on the ability to play them with standard equipment such as a keyboard and mouse. We then use the comments section to provide information on third-party assistive technology enabling some disabled gamers to play this or that. If there is a way to play a game, our members will find it.

SG: What kind of reception do you get from the gaming industry? Do you feel your presence and advocacy is being heard?

SS: Right now, I would say lukewarm. There are some companies, as I mentioned before, that are very receptive to our needs and requests. However, there are some that want nothing to do with accessibility because they believe adding accessibility increases production time and expenditures beyond what they must be. AbleGamers has definitely been making an impact in the accessibility movement; there are definitely large and small signs that we are becoming more important daily.

The most flattering was a twitter sent out by one developer to another developer saying “make sure to look out for AbleGamers at the conference. Accessible gaming is a good way to help advance your career.” At the point where you are beginning to be seen as a career advancer, you know you’re making a difference.

We have also been featured in most every online gaming magazine, Xbox 360 magazine, MSNBC, Apple.com, and many more.

SG: Looking at your crystal ball, is the gaming industry heading in the right direction? Are video and computer games getting more accessible?

SS: Accessibility is increasing in most ways but it is a constant battle. As new gaming systems like Natal, Wii, Tablet gaming, and others continue to become more mobile, games inherently become less accessible. Systems that require physical body movement are not ideal for those with physical impairments and mobile gaming such as iPhones and tablets are difficult for those with limited movement.

When the most advanced system only required two buttons and a directional pad, I could personally play any console game. As could one-handed gamers, most with physical impairments, and even those with very limited movement range.

Now, controllers have six or more buttons, shoulder buttons, and two directional pads. So, the games have advanced but the accessibility falls. The more complicated the controller becomes, the less accessible it is. Computer games are very similar in that every game could be controlled by a mouse 10 years ago and now, some do not use a mouse at all.

On the flipside, you now have things like hacked controllers, mods, assistive technology, and other customizable devices that can aid a disabled gamer with playing certain games. Most of these accessible devices are created by individuals who make these controllers one by one. We hope that someday gaming companies who produce these controllers.

It is my sincere hope that as accessible technology becomes more prevalent and developers learn how many potential customers are out there, video games will become more accessible. There are some wonderful technologies on the horizon. Things like nanos inserted into the body, eye trackers are becoming more accurate and less expensive, voice controlled gaming is becoming faster and more accurate, and many more advancements.

Thanks again to Steve for taking the time to talk about video and computer game accessibility — what’s working, what are the challenges, and where things should be headed.

Sort of like web site accessibility, it’s not about “watering down” the experience. Like Steve said, it’s about options. It’s about putting some extra effort into considering your entire audience.

I go back to a point I made earlier. I love video and computer games. If, tomorrow, I lost my hearing or something happened that limited my motor skills, I’d still love video and computer games. I’d still want to be able to enjoy them as much as possible.

I’m not disabled and I appreciate some accessibility-minded features. For example, because often times I play games at night and don’t want to have the volume jacked up, I turn sub-titles on for just about every game I play.

Dragon Age showed that you can make an all-around outstanding game with plenty of accessibility options. Let’s hope more and more game developers follow suit.

Series Recap:
AbleGamers Interview
AbleGamers Interview wrap-up

More about AbleGamers.com
AbleGamers.com
AbleGamers on Twitter

Tags: ablegamers.com, assistive technology, computer games, remappable keys, subtitles, Video Games