In today’s world gaming is one of the essential factors in human life. Probability says, 92% of human beings play video games every day. Despite this, no game developer would shun the idea of making sure that everyone can understand the game. Here is why game accessibility matters for gamers, so they know how the game is being played.
Accessibility means avoiding unwanted barriers that prevent gamers with a range of impairments from accessing or enjoying the output. Several people are interested in video games. And in today’s world, gaming is not only useful for entertainment purposes but also for educational use. For example health games, rehabilitation games, driving games, and so on.
Until now, game developers assumed that a person has certain abilities to play their games.
For example, we can simply give the option of holding the button downside instead of pressing it repeatedly. Or by simply giving one stick for movements instead of 3-4 separate buttons. Because it makes a huge difference for players with conditions like cerebral palsy or arthritis.
When it comes to playing games, players with some vision disorders find it difficult to read texts in the games due to the small font sizes. And sometimes it gets even worse when you don’t provide subtitles for words that are hard to understand.
But nowadays many young gamers are coming forward to get rid of such problems. A good example of this is the Nintendo switch. Some talented gamers are discovering their solutions so they can use controllers, including foot controllers and soft keyboards. A foot controller means you can control motions from your foot.
Another example of easy gaming accessibility is the Rock band accessibility kit. This device is meant for wheelchair users.
Reasons Why Game Accessibility Matters
Some gaming companies have invented audio games for blind gamers. Games like this can be played without visual feedback. It uses audio-based techniques such as audio cues. Due to these factors gaming accessibility matters the most.
Accessibility is nothing but avoiding unnecessary obstructions which stop people from ample impairments. It is usually used for accessing or enjoying any of the output. Accessibility has uncountable respect from gamers’ side. It has not just made their lives easy but made them possible to enjoy the graphics and controls of the game in the easiest ways.
It becomes tough to have a good holdover game you are playing. Therefore, using accessibility is the most preferred option. Various users are temporarily or permanently disabled. But they love to play games to spend their time. For such people, it has become a boon. Because you can easily handle the game over some easy control systems. It has made their lives happy and happening.
Difference between a gamer with disability and without disability
A person without a disability can play games two or three times faster than a person with a disability. However, the same person with a disability can cover up at the same time using accessibility. You can easily run your fingers on the game in a fluent manner.
However, describing what is accessibility in a game is like finding water in the Desert. It’s very difficult to let anyone know the importance of accessibility. Though having accessibility doesn’t allow you to boss over the game. It has certain limits till it’ll be helpful for you. But after the same, you have to apply your sharp gaming mind.
Besides that, you need to understand there is a major difference between gaming accessibility and hardware accessibility. Game accessibility is effective for those games which have a difficult user interface. In such cases, you can use accessibility for a better physical interface.
However, using accessibility to make games look easy would be a wrong approach. You will lose your interest in a game if you commit that thing. Beforehand while creating a game you should make a game in such a way that it would be simple to understand and entertaining to play.
Final words
The best way to define game accessibility is nothing but giving a proper experience of the game to those who don’t know how to operate the game. Though you aren’t able to handle the game you can experience it with the help of accessibility.
That’s the simple reason why game accessibility matters in the gaming industry. Because a person who is unable to understand the game won’t be able to enjoy the same. This is where game accessibility gets lots of demand.
20% of the gamers have some type of disability.
Yes, games help them to get over social anxiety and depression.
The main reason is that reality can cause stress in some way, so people prefer playing games to stay away from stress.