Thinking Inclusiveness, Diversity, and Cultural Equity Based on Game Mechanics and Accessibility Features in Popular Video Games

Abstract

Video games remain inaccessible for many players with disabilities. Limited knowledge, misconceptions and poor design choices hinder a large segment of the population from engaging in the cultural and social life video games provide. This chapter analyzes how developers of popular video games conceive inclusiveness, diversity of practices, and cultural equity through the design of game mechanics and accessibility features, as well as what video games reveal about the discursive and social context from which they emerge. Using a sociosemiotic methodological framework based on the Foucauldian concept of “discourse,” the authors analyze and discuss the implications of the mechanics and accessibility settings of the video games Celeste, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and The Last of Us Part 2, as well as the paratexts surrounding their release.