Accommodating Impaired Players in the Video Game Industry

This essay examines the challenges faced by impaired players in the video game industry and the efforts made to improve accessibility. It discusses various disabilities, including sensory, cognitive, and motor impairments, and explores how these affect gameplay. The essay highlights the development of assistive technologies, such as specialized controllers (QuadStick, Quad Button Box, Stinkyboard, Nintendo Wii Switch Enabled Classic Arcade Controller) and experimental devices like tongue-operated switches and head-tilt controls, designed to overcome these limitations. It also mentions community groups and organizations that support disabled gamers. The essay emphasizes the ongoing evolution of the gaming industry to create a more inclusive environment for all players, while acknowledging that there is still a significant gap to be bridged in this area. References include resources from WHO, Disabled World, and various gaming websites.

Video Game Accommodation for Impaired Players
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Video games have shown progressive evolution from past many decades but yet many are unable
to play due to their impairments such as blindness, deafness, impaired memory, dyslexia,
paralysis and amputation etc. Although these days gaming industries have made their attempt to
come up with some experimental devices to provide alternative to the disabled individual but still
there is lot more to accomplish. The focus is primarily on the PC games and currently 59 percent
of Canadians play video games, most of them have video game console. Almost every video
gamer have their own computer and according to the WHO among 18 roughly 3 individual have
physical disability and over all there are 15% individual with different form of impairment. It’s a
large number which is still to be covered by the gaming industries. Gaming industry knows very
little about the attitude of disabled gamers. Recent attempts are revolving around young children
with well known disabilities; disabled lying outside this category are mostly overlooked. As
games are not only for the entertainment but it also helps the patient to feel relaxed after various
discouraging training sessions (Disability and Health).
Disabilities can be broadly classified into 3 categories: Sensory impairment, cognitive disability
and motor impairment. Among the three categories sensory impairment is most challenging to
the gaming industry; visual impairment is most common sensory disability. Across the globe
there are 217 million are with moderate and severe vision limitation and 36 million people are
blind. In Canada itself there are multiple people with color blindness and partial deafness which
encompass 6 million of the population of the total population. Individual facing partial visual
issues can use magnifying utility available in Windows and Mac. Motor impairments are one of
the most common types of disability, marked by limited movement of the joints. Individual with
such a disability faces issues in interacting with the gaming system physically. Custom key
binding and macros are some helpful software side to solve such problem. It also helps in

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improving the mobility of the joints. Cognitive/psychological impairments are marked by the
difficulty experienced by the individual in memory and learning. This is a very wide category
and has a variety of different conditions and challenges. All the disabled individual face concerns
in either to receive the information from the computer or to understand the information or to send
the information to the computer (Disabilities: Definition, Types and Models of Disability)
.
Computer advancements have changed the lives of many individual. Modification in the tools
and software has provided better facilities to the modern day gamer. For the blind players there is
now availability of one switch games, can be operated using a single button. Games have entered
in the area of the education, physical therapy, rehabilitation etc. There are “game with a purpose”
(GWAPs), these games are designed in a way to provide entertainment to the user as well as
solve complex problem as a result of games byproduct. Video games have been popular among
collectors and it represents change in culture of gaming from time to time. Video games have
increased social lives of the disabled and diseased people. There are multiple categories of games
available like First-person shooter (FPS) such as counter-strike, Real time strategy (RTS)
example Star-craft, Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) such as Dota 2(12 Types Of
Computer Games Every Gamer Should Know About) .
There are several attempts which are made by the gaming industries in order to provide
alternatives to the disabled players. One of the most effective strategies has been introduction of
the different gaming controller for the disabled players. The QuadStick (530 CAD) is a kind of
controller which allows the disabled player to play the game with their mouth. Mouth piece
provides some sip and puff switches, with the help of which players can send commands. It also

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allows the players to customize the switches and is compatible with PCs, Xbox 360, Xbox One
and PlayStation 4(Video Game Controllers For The Disabled: Accessibility Is Key - Gaming
Controllers For You). The Quad Button Box (170 CAD) controller compatible with Xbox 360 or
PlayStation 3 controller helps the people which are unable to hold the standard controller.
It has four large buttons which work as the joysticks upper buttons, so as the player can reach all
the buttons. The Stinky board is a flat device which allows the disabled player to command the
game character with one or both feet’s. It has been designed by the gaming industry such that it
keeps the legs on resting position while playing. Due to less advertising it’s not familiar to most
of the disabled gamers (Stinkyboard). The Nintendo Wii Switch Enabled Classic Arcade
Controller the only alternative controller for Nintendo console. It contains large buttons and
joysticks which allows the player with restricted arm movement to play. It has been created by
the Broadened Horizons a company specializing in devices for disabled gamers. There are
several other examples of controllers created for the impaired gamers like The Ultimate Arcade
2, The One-Handed Ergonomic Palm Game Controller, LEPMIS’s Switch Access Pod, and
ORTHOS One Handed Handset etc. Above mentioned controlling devices unable the disabled
and impaired to interact with the game.
There are experimental devices created by the different industries as well like The tongue-
operated switch array (TOSA) which contains five switches and user can control the game with
his/her tongue (Kim et al.). Facial feature tracking and Head tilt based device is one very useful
device as it allows the disabled individual to play the game only by the change in expression or
by little movement of head. Finger pointed mouse and Mouth stick are also useful devices which
helps the player to interact.

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Community groups and organizations like AbleGamers, Unstoppable Gamer, Includification, The
Accessibility Arcade works in direction to help the disabled games and provide them monetary
support as well. They have helped the gamers in variety of ways to overcome their disability.
Many companies have ignored the importance of gaming to the disabled like Nintendo but other
organization like International Game Developers Association (IGDA 2003) is the Game
Accessibility Special Interest Group .The organization has software engineers from all across the
globe which together make the gaming experience better. Their core objective is to make the
games more accessible to the disabled. There are some notable disabled gamers which have
showed the courage to Excellency namely Clint Lexa (HalfCoordinated), Michael Begum III
(Brolylegs), Keith Knight (Aieron), Mike Olson (Handi). Although Industries are improving the
experience of gaming for disabled each day but there is wide gap to cover and it’s just a start to a
complete new gaming era (The Ablegamers Charity | The Worlds Largest Charity For Gamers
With Disabilities).
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References
Disability And Health. Who.Int, 2018,
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health. Accessed 6 Dec
2018.
Disabilities: Definition, Types And Models Of Disability. Disabled World, 2018,
https://www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/. Accessed 5 Dec 2018.
12 Types Of Computer Games Every Gamer Should Know About. Thought Catalog, 2018,
https://thoughtcatalog.com/jane-hurst/2015/02/12-types-of-computer-games-every-
gamer-should-know-about/. Accessed 5 Dec 2018.
Video Game Controllers For The Disabled: Accessibility Is Key - Gaming Controllers For
You. Gamingcontrollersforyou.Com, 2018,
https://www.gamingcontrollersforyou.com/video-game-controllers-for-the-disabled-
accessibility-is-key. Accessed 5 Dec 2018.
Stinkyboard. Stinkyboard.Com, 2018, http://www.stinkyboard.com/. Accessed 5 Dec 2018.
Kim, Dongshin et al. "Development Of A Tongue-Operated Switch Array As An Alternative
Input Device". International Journal Of Human-Computer Interaction, vol 18, no. 1,
2005, pp. 19-38. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1207/s15327590ijhc1801_2.
The Ablegamers Charity | The World’s Largest Charity For Gamers With
Disabilities. Ablegamers.Org, 2018, https://ablegamers.org/. Accessed 5 Dec 2018.