Game Accessibility: Enabling Everyone to Play

Abstract

Most people play computer games—whether on a desktop, console or smartphone—without a second thought. However, those with disabilities—such as blindness, deafness, partial vision or hearing loss, color blindness, motor or dexterity impairments, and cognitive limitations—often find playing games to be difficult or impossible. They are frequently unable to see screens clearly or at all, distinguish colors, operate complex controllers, or hear sounds that announce or indicate important game events. The importance of these limitations is magnified as games are increasingly used for activities such as education, training, and healthcare. There are now growing efforts to develop technologies and techniques—which the sidebar “Helping Disabled Gamers” details—to make games accessible to disabled individuals and to convince game developers to take action