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Older Gamers, More Accessible Game Features?
simoniker writes "Microsoft's Brannon Zahand has been addressing the key issues of accessibility, from all aspects of game development, noting: 'The demand for accessibility will continue to grow as the gaming population ages. As people grow older, mild impairments can become more severe. Also, people are likely to develop new difficulties and impairments as they age. Adding basic accessibility features to titles can help publishers and developers continue to draw revenue from these customers.' Will we have to change how games play as gamers get older?"
From the Gamecube manual:
He plays most of the games in a lower resolution on a 19" LCD, effectively magnifying them. Keeping 1024x768 (or lower) as an option on new games ensures that he'll be able to continue to see the games.
Volume up! When it's an option, he usually has the "bubble speak" enabled so it's not just audio. A comfortable set of lightweight headphones can't hurt either.
He saves early, and saves often. He's not as quick as he was, but being able to save games as often as he'd like means that he isn't set back hours at a time if something surprises him and he doesn't react fast.
It seems to me that keeping existing features instead of dropping them will help with at least some forms of accessability.
So you make some accessibility features for games. So, if your coordination ain't the best anymore, you'll get "compensation" from the game by having a mild to heavy auto-aim feature. Or if you can't see so well, you get the enemy highlighted in bright colors.
Sounds familiar? Right. We call that "cheating" today.
It's not that I want to look down on aging people. Hey, I'm myself starting to notice that I start to lose my edge. I can't compete with 16 year olds anymore, and I'm saddened by the prospect of not being able to even beat the next Burnout at all anymore. My reaction is getting slower, my eyes ain't what they used to be, but hey, that's ok. I get old, and I'll play what's there for me. No biggie. I'll be as good as I am.
Toning down the game to make it "accessible" would feel like cheating to me. Multiplayer or not. In multi, it's even more blatant because, well, what would keep a non-disabled person from using those tools as well? In single, I'd feel like I cheat myself.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Accessibility is an issue that affects millions of Americans (and worldwide) with disability, not just disability due to aging. While the implications of aging will affect a lot of contemporary games and the current "gamer" population, there are quite a few youngsters with disability who are disenfranchised from the enjoyment of video games due to access issues. I remember hearing an article on NPR about the blind being able to play text adventures through text-to-speech. While I doubt the feasibility of statements like "Blind people should be able to play XBox 360", I think that the gaming industry, especially consoles, has matured in sophistication enough to start adding accessibility features to their games. I can think of several off-the-shelf solutions for consoles right now (using one-handed controllers or a Dance Dance Revolution pad for playing RPGs or tactical strategy games, in folks with manual dexterity problems, alternate input devices for consoles, etc.), but it would be nice to see more effort on the software side. After all, gaming is a great hobby for those who may be wheelchair-bound or have to stay indoors for one reason or another.
I have young-ish eyes (not perfect but near vision is not where I have my problems), but just because I can read rather small fonts doesn't mean I want to.
It does tend to mess some sites up, but usually it's no loss. (For example, the much-linked-by-Slashdat "Escapist" gaming magazine is completely unreadable, but "obviously unreadable due to typographic reasons" is still an improvement over "subtly unreadable due to excessive pretension".)
I also remember being in a Science Museum and one of the exhibits claimed that the best reaction times on their particular exhibit in traditional studies were seasoned Aircraft Pilots.
There was also a study comparing ordinary drivers to racing drivers. Under normal circumstances the reaction times of both groups was the same, but as the speed/pressure went up the ordinary drivers exhibited the expected degradation of reaction times - while the racing drivers reacted faster and faster commensurate with the stimulus.
Training and focus under threat of real pain. IF you want to get better at games, have a friend stand behind you with a cricket bat.
KFG
I enjoyed this article because it relates to me. There's a reason why I don't own a gaming console. I haven't owned one since Atari 2600. Due to my four fingers on my hands, lack of thumbs, and inablility to hold game controllers in mid air, I cannot use those console controllers very well. I have to use them on tables to hold them. This is why I do better on computer games because of keyboards, mice (small light ones like those old two/three button ones), and simple small joysticks (think of those old one/two buttons one like those old school Atari 2600 joysticks). I currently have a Microsoft Sidewinder joystick, but they have too many buttons and too big for my hands, so I don't do well when flying (I avoid flying in Battlefield games ;)). :(
I also have speech and hearing impediments, so I don't use Teamspeak or any voice communications. I tried it once in Day of Defeat (original version) and obviously, no one knew I was saying (even my friends whom I talked to!). Hearing is another problem since I don't hear well with my analog bone conduction hearing aid (mono -- one microphone and can't determine audio directions). I love games that use closed caption/CC and suititles like in Half-Life 2 games (only use the dialog ones) and F.E.A.R..
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).