Gaming and Disabilites

[Saint of Games]

I delayed the creation of this thread for long enough.

A long time ago I runned across this article : http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/top10/2400.html

I did not had much contact throughout my life with people that had disabilities. I did met a few though; My mother who is blind from one eye,My one-armed physics teacher...

That article made me think; What if I wanted to play a certain game with one of them? What if for some reason; they had some problems with because of their disabilities?

For example; What if a color-blind person wanted to play a game where you distinguished different kind of enemies by their color? What if one of these kinds you had to use some other means of defeating them besides using a sword? (In case anyone is wondering... I am talking about Lost In Shadow for the Wii)

Once you think about it;there are several ways to ruin your work for someone at some point that does not involves your work simply not being that person`s cup of tea...

So... To start this conversation what measures you think could be used to help people with disabilities? And what games would benefit from that?

I think I will finish this OP with this image.

http://cdn.memegenerator.co/instances/460x/9600779.jpg

Edited August 5, 2013 by Saint of Games

[Scarlet]

So... To start this conversation what measures you think could be used to help people with disabilities? And what games would benefit from that?

Regarding color blindness, many puzzle games actually already take measures to remain playable even if you can't tell apart the colors - namely, most puzzle games of the "match X" variant also give differently-colored gems/blocks/whatever different shapes and/or symbols. In fact, I can't think of a single "match X" puzzle game where this is not the case.

Regarding the enemy example you mentioned above (two similar-looking enemies have completely different properties, but can only be told apart by color at a glance), I would call that poor design - not just for color-blind people, but in general. If two enemies look similar, logically the player will expect them to behave similarly, too. Using palette swaps to create "new" enemies is kinda cheap to begin with, but then giving these palette swaps completely different properties compared to the original is really counter-intuitive. At the very least it should be an obvious (even if minor) change beyond just color - for example, if two enemies look similar, but one can be struck by any attacks whereas one can only be hurt by magic, make the latter one transparent and give it ghostly flames/trails or something. Even a color-blind player can recognize the latter and react appropriately.

[Saint of Games]

...Sorry. I meant eye color.

oooops.

Edit: And don`t get too caught up on the examples. I just used them for people to understand what I am talking about.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Saint of Games

[Phoenix Wright]

It's worth mentioning early in this topic that there will probably be many games that a disabled person will not ever be able to play, simply due to the nature of their disability. This is unfortunate, obviously, and the solution boils down to "pick something you can play, or watch if possible."

As for solutions, I suppose custom button-mapping (or at least button-mapping options) and color-blind assist whenever possible is ideal.

[Inactive Account404]

Having a disability myself (spastic cerebral palsy), I do find playing certain games difficult. Whenever I'm playing an action game (like legend of Zelda or Smash Bros.), I will start having some muscle spasms. My left hand espically gives me trouble ( I have to type using only my right hand). It sometimes tightens up so bad, I can't use it at all and have to quit playing the game for awhile.

Usually what I find helpful, are games that let the player choose the controller and customize the controls (Like smash bros. brawl). To me the classic controller is easiest to use and the nunchuck is the hardest to use (When I played Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, I had my brother use the nunchuck while I used the wii remote. It took some practice to coordinate our attacks, but we had fun. ). When playing Sin and Punishment Star Successor, I had to make the right control stick crontrol both character movement and the crosshair.

EDIT: I just know saw Phoenix Wright's post, and I agree that there simply are going to be games someone can't play due to disability. However with all the different genres, someone is bound to find a game he can play and enjoy. Actually, one reason I got into FE was that I can play it without my CP giving me too much trouble.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Silver Pegasus