In this chapter I examine the accessibility of today's games, or rather the lack of. Even common medical conditions such as arthritis, repetitive stress injuries, and diminished vision may prevent individuals from playing today's top software titles, not to speak of the barriers that these titles pose to the blind, deaf, and immobile. The clearest and most disheartening manifestation can be found when examining the special-needs sector. There we find children who cannot partake in their most coveted play activities, due to inconsiderate (and therefore inflexible) game design. I chose this sector to both define the problem and explore its solutions. Written from the perspective of a designer, the chapter first describes the lack-of-play and its residual impact as perceived in a school that caters to over 200 children with special needs. In an attempt to create the "ultimate-accessible" game, I demonstrate how games can be designed to be intrinsically accessible while retaining their original playability. Lastly, I show how normalization-of-play may improve upon the social, educational, and therapeutic aspects of the children's daily lives. Tying this fringe-case with the grander ecology of games, I discusses how better accessibility may encourage more people to enjoy games -- be they gamers, students, or patients.
E Is for Everyone: The Case for Inclusive Game Design
Contributing Organization(s): MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative, The
Author(s)/Creator(s): Amit Pitaru
Publishing Date: 2008-01-01
Issue Areas: Children and Youth; Disability Issues; Education and Literacy
Ownership/Rights Info: Copyright 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works Unported 3.0 license.
Access this research:
Available at: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262693646.067
Type/Format: Whitepaper
Language code: English
Comment & Review
Review
Posted by: SallyLouise on Mon, 19 May 08 22:15:19 +0000
This is a passionate and heartfelt piece of research that could potentially have a major impact on the lives of young people with disabilities.
The power of thinking about game design in a way that enables people to access it is shown really well here with the use of case studies of the experiences the children had with the adapted game.
At some points it reads more like a research diary, and could potentially have been shorter and more succinct, however the character and the passion of the researcher is expressed in the writing and changing this may take some of that away.
A concern here is convincing games manufacturers that they will make money from taking into account people with disabilities while making computer games.
They would need to be assured that there is a large enough market and the adaptations would not be so great that it would cost them too much money to do.
This research could lead to further studies -- perhaps of a more quantitative nature -- relating to the size of the market, what adaptations would be needed etc, in order to approach games companies and make them think in a more inclusive way, as the author says in the conclusion, making positive steps towards changing attitudes.
In terms of the games companies attitudes will be potentially only be changed if the financial rewards in doing so are proven.
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