More and more game developers are looking for ways to make their product stand out amongst the rest of the competition. Publishers want to know why your “First Person Shooter X” is going to sell then the “First Person Shooter Y” that came out a month earlier and “First Person Shooter Z” that is coming out next month.

So developers and designers are stuck trying to give their games those extra tweaks that will make them shine above the rest. Better graphics. Better audio. But these things take both time and money to develop… two things that most developers have little of.

Thus developers are left searching for cheap, alternative ways to gain a greater audience for their titles. This is where video game accessibility comes into play.

Consider this: Based on statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2003 American Community Survey, there are four million Americans age 5 to 20 who have some sort of long-lasting condition such as blindness, deafness, severe vision, or hearing impairment, and/or conditions that substantially limit physical activities.

Now add to those four million young Americans with disabilities another set of individuals who have minor disabilities not covered by the Census Bureau’s survey, such as color blindness, tone deafness, vocal impairment, missing digits, and minor dexterity issues (hand tremors, etc.). While there is no single statistic that estimates the size of this audience, color blindness in-and-of-itself is estimated to afflict up to five million Americans.

Thus, we’ve established that there is an audience for games with accessibility options built in. So why haven’t developers started writing games that are accessible?

Bad assumptions and a general lack of knowledge are a major part of the problem. Here are a few quotes gathered on the subject of video game accessibility:

1) “You don’t need to hear to play video games.”

In an effort to not point fingers, here is a deaf gamer’s perspective on a game that will remain nameless (we’ll call it “Game X”). These comments were obtained from: http://www.deafgamers.com/

To quote: “There is no doubting the fact that [Game X] is a masterpiece in many respects and that most people will play the game until they have completed it many times… And so we come to the bad news. Nothing in [Game X] is subtitled. Cutscenes aren't subtitled, conversations aren't subtitled and there are very few visual clues… [The verbal in-game instruction system] isn't subtitled and it effectively kills the single player game for the deaf gamer. There are some visual clues such as the directional arrows that show you from which direction you are being attack and a very brief and vague mission briefing… but you are probably going to be completely lost.”

2) “Video games are visual; if you have a visual impairment, you shouldn’t expect to be able to play.”

This is not only discriminatory, but flat out wrong. Don’t believe me? Check out Electronic Gaming Monthly’s July 2005 Issue (193). Page 50 has a feature on a completely blind video gamer. Yes. Completely blind. And he’s good at them too… so long as they provide the right form of audio feedback.

3) “There isn’t a wide enough audience to make accessibility development worthwhile.”

Well, hey… if you want to turn your back on a few million potential customers in your target demographic…

Also, remember that those with disabilities aren’t the only ones who use accessibility features. Visual accessibility options can be used when there is too much ambient light, or when you have to sit far away from your television (not all of us have 62” high def plasmas to game on). Or, maybe you simply don’t like to see a green targeting reticule on a green background and want to change the color of it. Audio accessibility options are great late at night when you are playing your new game and trying not to incur the wrath of the significant other sleeping next to you. Or perhaps you broke your finger before that new shooter you’ve been wanting has come out and you can’t reassign the trigger button to shoot. Or you just got your tongue pierced and now no one on your team can understand you trying to chat through your communicator.

They sound silly, yes. But these are all real scenarios that I (or friends of mine) have personally experienced, and there are plenty more where they came from. Accessibility options can make gaming better for everyone.

4) “The cost of implementing accessibility features isn’t worth the return.”

Accessibility development doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming. Start small. Add subtitles to audio dialogue in-game and during FMVs. Give users the ability to change contrast and brightness settings. Let the player configure their controller to suit their personal tastes. Provide simple pre-programmable macros that can be quickly fired off with the touch of a few buttons (“I’ve got the flag,” “Incoming enemies,” or “U waz 0w|\|3d!”).

Once you’ve taken the small steps, then you can investigate other options such as implementing high-contrast and grey-scale modes for color blind individuals, on-screen text to indicate in-game noises (“Sound of a bomb timer ticking”), support for alternate peripherals (allow the use of a controller for your game that uses a dance pad), and a text chat interface along with support for headset communications.

There are lots of resources available online if you want to learn more about making your games accessible. But your best resource is the community of disabled individuals out there who are hoping that your title is going to be usable for them. Chat with them. Have them do an accessibility bug bash on your title. Don’t know anyone disabled? Head over to your nearest hospital and ask for information on resources for the disabled. (As a volunteer at a local Children’s hospital, some of the best feedback on games I get is from the kids I work with.)

So while it may seem daunting and you may encounter initial resistance from others, a little work can have big payoffs for your titles and the gamers who use them.

More information can be found at:

http://www.deafgamers.com/

http://www.audiogames.net/

http://www.igda.org/accessibility/
http://www.zahand.com/accessibility/

Bio: Brannon Zahand is a software test lead for a major video game manufacturer and studied American Sign Language interpreting during college. He can be contacted at: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Copyright © 2005 Brannon Zahand.  All rights reserved.