GAMES LIKES ALL OTHER PEOPLE
Gaming with a visual disability
Gaming with a visual disability
Visual disabilities can be categorized into three major types: blindness, low vision, and color blindness. Worldwide, there are well over 50 definitions of blindness. The World Health Organisation's definition of blindness is: less than 3/60 in the better seeing eye. This means that the better seeing eye cannot read the top letter on the Snellen visual acuity chart at three metres. People with vision worse than 20/200 or a field of vision of less than 20 degrees in the better eye are considered 'legally blind'. Low vision is related to blindness and is often described as visual loss, which cannot be corrected by standard lenses, medical treatment and/or surgery, and which interferes with daily life activities. It is estimated that about one 
in every 20 Americans has low vision. Color blindness is an inability to detect certain colors. It ranges from total color blindness, where the person perceives the world as shades of gray, to more common types where a one cannot distinguish between red and green or yellow and blue. Research has shown that one in every 12 person has some degree of color blindness.
Screenshot of Dropheads as seen by gamers with different visual abilities: regular vision, colorblindness, macular vision, retinis vision and no vision at all.
It is estimated that about 3.5% of the population of an average Western country has a visual disability (this includes seniors). Of course, not all of them are playing computer games. Actually, there are no statistics on how many people with a visual disability (try to) play computer games. An estimated guess is that about 2.6% of the population of an average Western country has a visual disability and uses a computer. So, the potential target group for the game industry is about 2.6%. In Holland, with a population of about 16 million, this means that there are about 416,000 potential gamers with a visual disability.
in every 20 Americans has low vision. Color blindness is an inability to detect certain colors. It ranges from total color blindness, where the person perceives the world as shades of gray, to more common types where a one cannot distinguish between red and green or yellow and blue. Research has shown that one in every 12 person has some degree of color blindness.Screenshot of Dropheads as seen by gamers with different visual abilities: regular vision, colorblindness, macular vision, retinis vision and no vision at all.
It is estimated that about 3.5% of the population of an average Western country has a visual disability (this includes seniors). Of course, not all of them are playing computer games. Actually, there are no statistics on how many people with a visual disability (try to) play computer games. An estimated guess is that about 2.6% of the population of an average Western country has a visual disability and uses a computer. So, the potential target group for the game industry is about 2.6%. In Holland, with a population of about 16 million, this means that there are about 416,000 potential gamers with a visual disability.
Games people with a visual disability play
In the early days of video gaming visually disabled gamers hardly encountered any accessibility problems. Games consisted primarily of text and therefore v
ery accessible for assistive technologies. When the graphical capabilities in games grew, the use of text was reduced and 'computer games' transformed into 'video games', eventually making the majority of mainstream computer games completely inaccessible.
The games played nowadays by gamers with a visual disability can be categorized by 1) games not specifically designed to be accessible (text-based games and video games) and 2) games specifically designed to be accessible (audio games, video games that are accessible by original design and video games made accessible by modification).
ery accessible for assistive technologies. When the graphical capabilities in games grew, the use of text was reduced and 'computer games' transformed into 'video games', eventually making the majority of mainstream computer games completely inaccessible.The games played nowadays by gamers with a visual disability can be categorized by 1) games not specifically designed to be accessible (text-based games and video games) and 2) games specifically designed to be accessible (audio games, video games that are accessible by original design and video games made accessible by modification).
Text-based games
Text-based games have been in development for at least the past 20 years. These include textadv
entures (sometimes also referred to as "interactive fiction"), classic tabletop games such as Yathzee and Battleship, and online (HTML-based) Multi-User Dungeons (MUD's). There are hundreds of these text-based games with many developed in the 1980's by regular game developers and many more recently with the rise of the Internet by web designers. Unfortunately, text-based games are often very simple, do not offer a lot of variety and lack the 'computergame'-experience that mainstream games provide.
entures (sometimes also referred to as "interactive fiction"), classic tabletop games such as Yathzee and Battleship, and online (HTML-based) Multi-User Dungeons (MUD's). There are hundreds of these text-based games with many developed in the 1980's by regular game developers and many more recently with the rise of the Internet by web designers. Unfortunately, text-based games are often very simple, do not offer a lot of variety and lack the 'computergame'-experience that mainstream games provide.Mainstream Video games
Some mainstream video games are playable by gamers with a visual 
disablity due to extensive use of auditory feedback. A fine example is blind gamer Brice Mellen from Lincoln, Nebraska, who beat Ed Boon (developer of Mortal Kombat) in a game of Mortal Kombat. Interestingly, many examples include Fighting Games, such as Tekken, Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur. The Grand Theft Auto-video games are known to be quite fun to play around with by many visually disabled gamers due to an advanced sound engine as well as the open structure of the game. Unfortunately, there are only a handfull of mainstream video games that provide such advanced auditory feedback. And although this type of game is playable by the blind, these games are not fully accessible. For instance, these games still use visual menu's without auditory feedback.
disablity due to extensive use of auditory feedback. A fine example is blind gamer Brice Mellen from Lincoln, Nebraska, who beat Ed Boon (developer of Mortal Kombat) in a game of Mortal Kombat. Interestingly, many examples include Fighting Games, such as Tekken, Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur. The Grand Theft Auto-video games are known to be quite fun to play around with by many visually disabled gamers due to an advanced sound engine as well as the open structure of the game. Unfortunately, there are only a handfull of mainstream video games that provide such advanced auditory feedback. And although this type of game is playable by the blind, these games are not fully accessible. For instance, these games still use visual menu's without auditory feedback.Audio games
Audio games are games that consists of sound and have only auditory (so no visual) output. Audio games are not specifically "games for the blind". But since one does not need vision to be able to play audio games, most audio games are developed by and for the blind community. There are well over 100 audio games. Examples include Drive, Kaze No Regret, Demor, Chillingham, TopSpeed, KM2000, Shades of Doom, Alien Outback, Troopanum, Super Liam, Dynaman and GM
A Tank Commander. Audio games are developed by small dedicated companies (1 to 3 developers/designers/programmers), hobby game designers, academics in research projects and gamers themselves. Most audio games are very simple games (compared to mainstream games) and lack much of the properties of mainstream games such as diversity, multiplayer functionality and good replayability.
A Tank Commander. Audio games are developed by small dedicated companies (1 to 3 developers/designers/programmers), hobby game designers, academics in research projects and gamers themselves. Most audio games are very simple games (compared to mainstream games) and lack much of the properties of mainstream games such as diversity, multiplayer functionality and good replayability.Video games that are accessible through original desing
There are several examples of videogames in which accessibility for the blind has been included throughout the design of the game. Examples include Terraformers, Sudo-San, The Blind Eye, Banjobusters, KM2000, Skyballs, and Tag. Unfortunately, not many examples of this type of game exist and many lack properties of mainstream video games such as good replayability and fun gameplay. Most of these games are developed by small dedicated companies and academics in research projects.
Video games made accessible through modification
Games are sometimes modified by gamers themselves to g
ive it more or different functionality. So by modding a game it is possible to add accessibility-functionality, enabling blind gamers to play a regular game as well. Only one example of this type of game is known and that is Accessible Quake - an accessible modification .
ive it more or different functionality. So by modding a game it is possible to add accessibility-functionality, enabling blind gamers to play a regular game as well. Only one example of this type of game is known and that is Accessible Quake - an accessible modification .
