Forum Thread
  Posts  
A matter of curiousity...... (Forums : General Banter : A matter of curiousity......) Locked
Thread Options
grouchbag
grouchbag I art grouchier than thou.
Mar 18 2013 Anchor

A friend of mine who is disabled asked me what I thought was a legitimate question.Why don't these big game companies make accommodations for them? My friend has no use of one of his hands,and the other is partially paralyzed. Is that discrimination against the handicapped?

Mar 18 2013 Anchor

because big game companies don't make consoles or controllers, they make games. and usually, game developers do not make games with the only goal to please disabled, they make games following the design they want to see come alive, which does not usually plays with one hand. I recall seeing a xbox360 controller physical add-on that helped people with weaknesses in their hands though so I'm pretty sure there are companies or people out there making disabled-friendly controllers

Mar 18 2013 Anchor

Guiboune wrote: because big game companies don't make consoles or controllers, they make games. and usually, game developers do not make games with the only goal to please disabled, they make games following the design they want to see come alive, which does not usually plays with one hand. I recall seeing a xbox360 controller physical add-on that helped people with weaknesses in their hands though so I'm pretty sure there are companies or people out there making disabled-friendly controllers


There is a lot that happens on the dev table (before you get to controllers and consoles) that helps people with disabilities - sure in this case a specialised controller would be a good place to get an in but if the controls are mapped by the developer/designer in a manner that is just not feasible for the add-on to be used - it's a 'double' dead end.

grouchbag wrote: A friend of mine who is disabled asked me what I thought was a legitimate question.Why don't these big game companies make accommodations for them? My friend has no use of one of his hands,and the other is partially paralyzed. Is that discrimination against the handicapped?


Discrimination would be a touch harsh term to use as this would imply they are specifically creating games to NOT cater for the disabled and/or otherwise handicapped.

There has been a push for more 'accessiblity features' in games but with the traditional target market still bringing in the money it does, it's probably a case of people just not wanting to change the way they work or not wanting to be more inclusive.

A lot happens/gets set from the design stage- if the features are not presented then - there game is not going to be accessible. Something like including full closed captions needs to be included in dev time, is the player going to be able to remap the controls?
It's a pity because bigger companies can employ the necessary people to cut the dev time (budget) but indies don't suffer from as much red tape.

Gaming overarll- although has opened up in many ways- has also become a bit more of a 'club' in other ways than in previous years- especially when you look at the rise of terms such as 'hard core' games/gamers- what is being described is more than just a genre (FPS lovers) but a certain type of person and when you look deeper at the description of the 'hard core gamer'- 'being inclusive' suddenly drops from the priority list of To Dos in favour of other requirements to fulfill the customer's needs. This drop applies when developing for other gamer types as well (casual, 'mid core'...etc)!

Will there be more accessible games in the future? YES
Will it happen soon ? PROBABLY
Why will it happen? MORE PROFIT IN STRUGGLING ECONOMY, SMALL GAME COMPANIES AND INDIES TRYING TO MAKE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES
Will big titles become more accessible ? PROBABLY (if someone continually strikes it big partly because of accessibility features a la Half Life 1 and 2)

While the big guys are otherwise occupied- maybe talking to devs here on indieDB to make their games more accessible would be a start. It may take a while before AAA/ hardcore games change but a start is a start- and indies are rather open ( since most are their own boss - the red tape and hoops to jump is greatly reduced to approve such features).

Edited by: A-Frique

ambershee
ambershee Nimbusfish Rawks
Mar 18 2013 Anchor

A-Frique, your commentary is surely backwards.

To answer the OP, the answer is unfortunately a simple one - there are indeed a number of handicapped people who would like to play games; however their handicaps often differ significantly. Ultimately, it's quite costly to try and develop a game that can cater to people with a broad variety of handicaps - and as such it does not make business sense to cater for it as the return is tiny by comparison.

Two handicaps that are catered for to some extent tends to be colour blindness and deafness, but more physical handicaps lie away from developers and more into the realms of hardware.

grouchbag
grouchbag I art grouchier than thou.
Mar 18 2013 Anchor

You are very correct. I just wasn't sure on my own,so I can show this to my friend. We can only hope that maybe things can change in the future,so hopefully maybe some big companies will read something similar to this.In the mean time I teach a few people in my building to play games suitable to their tastes. Most of them like Bingo.That's okay for them,but I still like my my fps and others.Thank you all for your input,it has been very much appreciated.

--

"sweet"  little old lady

Reply to thread
click to sign in and post

Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.