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TO Game Developers, From Gamers with Accessibility Needs:
aandrethegiant
Member Posts: 3,369 Arc User
The results of my research for one of our Armistice Day/Veteran's Day videos, riled up some serious emotions for those who attended and watched this video. We feel this is as good a time as ever to take a look at our game, Neverwinter, and have an open discussion (this means clean) for those in need of adaptive devices and/or simply better programming code, in order to allow them to play Neverwinter.
My video is meant to inspire us ALL, and to get developers and most importantly the industry EXECS that make these kind of decisions to THINK, and ACT. We need ONE big company to make waves, and change the way other developers think.
**
My question to our playerbase: What can Cryptic developers do to make Neverwinter more accessible to those of us with disabilities?
Thank you for your participation.
**
Our video, which I hope can raise awareness:
http://youtu.be/nzUpU8CCEhY
**
FIND HELP if you need it:
Recommended organizations to seek knowledge:
http://www.ablegamers.com/ in the US
http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/ in the UK
**
The research:
VETERANS & ADAPTIVE DEVICES FOR VIDEO GAMING
...what Developers Can Do To Help.
Button-customization
Relatively simple and inexpensive to implement, button-customization functionality is just one of many ways gamemakers can make their products more accessible for players with physical disabilities. And it's not just people born with medical problems who could potentially benefit from the implementation of accessibility standards: Genetic diseases and injuries can affect anybody at any time.
"We have ticking time bombs in our DNA," said Mark Barlet, co-founder of AbleGamers, a nonprofit that has been agitating for gamers with disabilities. "A bad day at work or a split-second at a stoplight on the way to the store and your life could change."
Barlet, who has limited use of his legs because of a spinal cord injury he incurred while on active duty at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C., says button remapping is just the tip of the iceberg. As games get more complicated, poor design choices can make them difficult even for gamers without disabilities.
"So many games are using button combinations that make it almost impossible for all but the most practiced able-bodied person to play a game, much less a disabled person," Barlet said in an e-mail. "Just because you can use all the buttons at once does not mean you should."
Closed captioning
Game designer Reid Kimball, who has worked on titles like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Tony Hawk: Ride, said it's sad how rare closed captioning is in games.
"It's cheap to develop compared to other game technology," Kimball told Wired.com in an e-mail. "The players love having it as an option and there's tons of opportunity to innovate in this space."
Nonverbal sound cues
In many games, nonverbal sound cues can be essential for success. AbleGamers' Barlet says text-based representations of a full spectrum of sounds and visual cues would be immensely helpful for the hearing-impaired.
"These are not features that nobody has ever done before, or features that need lots of exploration and research," said game designer Matthew Burns, who has worked on titles in the Call of Duty and Halo series, in an e-mail. The problem, he says, is that accessibility options are often the first thing cut during crunch time, when time and money are at a premium.
Color-blind features
"It will continue to be piecemeal and slow unless a large, influential company took a stand and made a conscientious effort to be better about this stuff across the board. "That would be the turning point."
Should Microsoft mandate that all Xbox 360 games ship with certain accessibility options, developers would have no choice but to make them a priority. But he doesn't see this happening.
"We have high-level contacts at one of the big [hardware makers], and they have shown little interest beyond lip service at pushing content producers to think about accessibility," he said.
Still, the issue's not going away.
We have two wars going on, and our soldiers are not all coming back in the same condition as they left. Those men and women are gamers.
My video is meant to inspire us ALL, and to get developers and most importantly the industry EXECS that make these kind of decisions to THINK, and ACT. We need ONE big company to make waves, and change the way other developers think.
**
My question to our playerbase: What can Cryptic developers do to make Neverwinter more accessible to those of us with disabilities?
Thank you for your participation.
**
Our video, which I hope can raise awareness:
http://youtu.be/nzUpU8CCEhY
**
FIND HELP if you need it:
Recommended organizations to seek knowledge:
http://www.ablegamers.com/ in the US
http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/ in the UK
**
The research:
VETERANS & ADAPTIVE DEVICES FOR VIDEO GAMING
...what Developers Can Do To Help.
Button-customization
Relatively simple and inexpensive to implement, button-customization functionality is just one of many ways gamemakers can make their products more accessible for players with physical disabilities. And it's not just people born with medical problems who could potentially benefit from the implementation of accessibility standards: Genetic diseases and injuries can affect anybody at any time.
"We have ticking time bombs in our DNA," said Mark Barlet, co-founder of AbleGamers, a nonprofit that has been agitating for gamers with disabilities. "A bad day at work or a split-second at a stoplight on the way to the store and your life could change."
Barlet, who has limited use of his legs because of a spinal cord injury he incurred while on active duty at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C., says button remapping is just the tip of the iceberg. As games get more complicated, poor design choices can make them difficult even for gamers without disabilities.
"So many games are using button combinations that make it almost impossible for all but the most practiced able-bodied person to play a game, much less a disabled person," Barlet said in an e-mail. "Just because you can use all the buttons at once does not mean you should."
Closed captioning
Game designer Reid Kimball, who has worked on titles like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Tony Hawk: Ride, said it's sad how rare closed captioning is in games.
"It's cheap to develop compared to other game technology," Kimball told Wired.com in an e-mail. "The players love having it as an option and there's tons of opportunity to innovate in this space."
Nonverbal sound cues
In many games, nonverbal sound cues can be essential for success. AbleGamers' Barlet says text-based representations of a full spectrum of sounds and visual cues would be immensely helpful for the hearing-impaired.
"These are not features that nobody has ever done before, or features that need lots of exploration and research," said game designer Matthew Burns, who has worked on titles in the Call of Duty and Halo series, in an e-mail. The problem, he says, is that accessibility options are often the first thing cut during crunch time, when time and money are at a premium.
Color-blind features
"It will continue to be piecemeal and slow unless a large, influential company took a stand and made a conscientious effort to be better about this stuff across the board. "That would be the turning point."
Should Microsoft mandate that all Xbox 360 games ship with certain accessibility options, developers would have no choice but to make them a priority. But he doesn't see this happening.
"We have high-level contacts at one of the big [hardware makers], and they have shown little interest beyond lip service at pushing content producers to think about accessibility," he said.
Still, the issue's not going away.
We have two wars going on, and our soldiers are not all coming back in the same condition as they left. Those men and women are gamers.
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
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Comments
. . . . . If anyone knows a way to make WSRM work with Windows 8.1's Speech Recognition, please do let me know as I am missing being able to play STO and other games that have a lot of buttons. Thanks!
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Thank you for the support Rhoric.
It is so easy to see the benefits of doing this, isn't it? Whether the person in need is a Veteran or not... the value of doing something in addition to what is already available in Neverwinter is HUGE. For veterans in particular, we know the benefits would be astonishingly welcomed.
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
Obsidian Oath - Warlock
A whole lot of other Obsidian toons as well.
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
Thank you very much for this feedback Obsidian and Becky.
Maybe someone high up the food chain is reading? If not, in a few days when we have a few more comments, I'll alert the dev team of this thread.
This grass-roots effort can only make the game better in the end. Hopefully, many more speak up...
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
"Ask a stupid question and the Morons will answer."
"The True measure of a gamer is the ability to ignore epeen and just enjoy a game" -- Hanok Odbrook
Yeah I rose this one in Alpha. I think its a major over-sight which would be widely accepted if implemented... It would provide much needed options to the community that need just that.
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
Looks like a trial download is free, purchase seems fairly cheap as well: $9.95 USD.
http://voicefinger.cozendey.com/
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
And unfortunately I have to say my stance is still the same.
There is no way for the developers to fix this on their end. It's like asking a FPS to no longer be a FPS.
If any system was implemented to make it friendlier to those who can't use a controller or keyboard and mouse combination it would simply be far too superior to the action combat third person shooter theme to be viable.
People play to win. They will use whatever gives them an advantage and if that is something which takes away from the enjoyment they will as long as it's within the rules to do so.
This game is a third person shooter. It can't be anything else without ruining a key element of the game and any "option" to not be a third or first person shooter would be so far superior it wouldn't be an "option" anymore to anybody besides the most hard-core casual player.
Color blind issues need to be resolved.
Third party software support particularly for voice controls is a must.
However they should not re-invent the wheel.
If you have extremely special needs the best thing to do is find solutions designed by companies which specialize in those departments.
Cars aren't sold handicap friendly. Nor can they be special ordered handicap friendly because the car dealership isn't in that business. Cars are purchased from the dealership and then modified by specialists who focus on improving the functionality for disabled people on a case by case basic based on the individual needs.
A video game should be no different.
Certain things are very much doable such as color options. Core mechanics changes just simply aren't something which should be touched.
As Ambi knows well, I politely disagree with this one
I believe Neverwinter is a perfect game to be adaptable to those that have special needs, be it there are so few buttons/movements necessary to play. Button-customization is relatively simple and inexpensive to implement, which is why so many games just like Neverwinter have this built in. And you know what? Almost none of the player-bases object, in fact if they say anything at all, its to offer more button customization.
In fact, I'd like to see some standards set voluntarily by the industry that makes it a requirement before the game exits the alpha stage that it IS accessible/playable by a majority of our disabled community. At the end of the day, this is the only way Developers across the industry will heed the call.
The game will still be a third person shooter. Almost every third person/first person mmo allows you to completely map the button layout to your liking. Button customization has little to do with the architecture and everything to do with the Devs. It can be done.
It's not that easy, as many in our community have stated since pre-alpha... through alpha, through beta, and after launch. A non-customizable UI is the reason. And expanding UI options wont just help those with "extremely special needs" whatever that is, but the much larger portion of the playerbase that after years of gaming are coming down with carpal tunnel, nerve disorders, sight and hearing disabilities. Then you have those new to MMO gaming, but with all kinds of relatively minor issues compared to say someone like Aieron, but play Neverwinter with great difficulty, if they can play at all. This can be addressed by devs, but first it needs to handled by the execs who are in charge of the budget.
Sorry my brotha from anotha motha, but you're wrong again
Listen to a great song by my main man, guitar legend Leslie West --> and what happened to him. ANYTHING is doable if there is motivation. I believe inspiration breeds motivation in all of us, even those with the power to write a check and change the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6SMb-FtlY
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
This isn't specific to Neverwinter so not everything on the site will be relevant to Neverwinter's mechanic, but the following is a free resource on accessibility with a broad range of considerations that can make a big difference to gamers with a wide range of impairments, from colourblindness to autism, dyslexia to deafness:
http://www.gameaccessibilityguidelines.com
In some extreme circumstances in gaming, that's true, bespoke third party solutions are best. But even in those situations where you need external tech as a fix, there are often design considerations that can make the difference between whether or not you can actually use it.
Also, "disability" isn't an attribute, it isn't something that people have. Disability is circumstantial. People have medical conditions, and when those interact with some kind of a barrier, resulting in difficultly going about your day to day life, you at that point and that point alone are disabled. The vast majority of those barriers are put there by designers, and that goes for games too.
In games, some barriers are necessary, but many are completely unnecessary, and accessibility is about avoiding or removing those unnecessary barriers.
See the site linked to at the start of this post - most accessibility issues can be solved by very simple design considerations that simply make the game better for everyone, as a barrier that completely excludes some people is also often a barrier that is an inconvenience to everyone else.
It broadly comes down to just two things: allowing flexibility in play style, and communicating information in more than one way.
Yes, absolutely. If you change what's fun about the game, you've made what was fun about the game inaccessible to everyone. You should never dilute an experience, instead it's about offering that experience or an equivalent experience to as many people as possible.
It's worth putting alot of thought into though, as often what constitutes the core mechanic is actually a bit looser than at first glance. Take Bayonneta, the developers realised that their mechanic wasn't actually doing lots of complex button presses... instead, it was players pushing their motor skills to the limit, and being rewarded with flashy moves. They were able to make some quite surprising design decisions as a result. Start to think about things in that way and you often find surprising ways to grow your audience while keeping the core experience intact.
Absolutely, button remapping, like most accessibility considerations, is something that's just as beneficial to hardcore players as players with disabilities. And hardcore players with disabilities, and everyone else inbetween.
That would be a beautiful thing indeed, but it's at too embryonic a level in the games industry for that to happen in the immediate future (it'll get there though, other industries are already there). I think that the closest that's easily achievable would be publishers and platforms setting requirements for their studios.. such as Ubisoft's requirement for all of the studios working for them to include subtitles in their games.
Until then, what we really need is just lots of examples of best practice. The more studios think about accessibility, the more the solutions just become widely used design patterns that others copy just because it's the done thing and what players are used to seeing. Anything that Neverwinter does will influence some other designer somewhere else.
Yes, absolutely!
That link is an excellent resource if someone wants to carry the torch at Perfect World/Cryptic for this super duper cause.
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
There's a strong business case as well as it being a decent cause.
15% of the general population has some kind of impairment. PopCap comissioned some wide scale research to find out if that stat applied to their own audience, and they found out that it didn't.. the figure they got back of how much of their audience regarded themsleves as disabled was actually 20%.
Obvious enough when you think that anyone with an impairment has no less a reason to want to play games, but some people have extra reasons, such as independence and socialising, because of limited recreation opportunities, for physiotherapy, pain distraction and so on.
And of course if you're catering to a niche, that niche will be very loyal.. and as the Solara developers found, often higher spenders on IAPs as a result.
So if you've got a potential feature than will not only improve the game for all players, but could also net you some new high value players that you didn't have before, it does kind of make sense to consider it
Every time I see people talking about voice chat being "required" to do something (dungeon run, join a guild, etc) I think about people with hearing problems, or people that have limited or no speech ability.
I know that not having voice chat isn't a good solution, but I just wonder how many people that insist that someone use voice chat to join their guild or dungeon run even think about the people that they are cutting off because they can not be bothered to spend a couple of minutes typing and reading.
Still, though, people are what they are. Probably many of the same people that insist that people have experience before they can join them on some dungeon run or another because they, apparently, can't be bothered to spend a few minutes explaining how this or that encounter works and which abilities someone would need to have slotted.
In the case of people with speech difficulties but no hearing problems, having voice chat on in order to listen to teammates can be invaluable, even if you're only able to respond back via text. It's really not any different from a group asking that you enable some kind of voice chat even if you don't have a microphone.
For the hearing impaired, a good group would be willing to communicate the important stuff via text.
People ask for use of voice communication because it's such a valuable utility, being instantaneous and hands-free. It's hard to type that you need help over in the corner while you're busy trying to not die. So while a legitmate situation causing difficulty using it can be accommodated, that's why many will say up-front, "We use this program and expect you to as well". (Many will also say, "You don't have to talk, but please be able to listen".)
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
Wow that's really awesome stuff Gavinruneblade! I think I'll address that one, thanks for the tip.
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
/bind <key> AdjustCamYaw <num> turns the camera that many degrees
/bind <key> AdjustCamPitch <num> points the camera up and down that many degrees
ie /bind a adjustcamyaw -30 will turn your camera left.
downside its a bit choppy as you have to rapidly hit the keys as they turn, but i also have one turning 90 and 180 degrees to speed things up. when you attack or move forward your character turns in the direction the camera is facing.
WHAT devs can do:
simply add the ability set keys for smooth camera sweeping right left up and down. this does not change the game system at all as you can already use binds to change camera angle. but will make the game more comfortable for people who can not use a mouse.
as far as colour blindness goes maybe have the option to make red circles a bright white or dark black. while it doesn't fix the issue it will make it a bit easier for some people.
Wow, thank you so much Sominator! You rock!!!
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
And, a big yes vote here for giving players an option to change AoE colours.
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
As to using the razor naga its simply to many buttons for me. the midi and game pads are also not much better than just plopping my hand on the keyboard and using what buttons my fingers can get to. the hand looses movement after for example about 20 or less pvp matches.
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment Throsbi! Your words mean a lot, and resonate clear.
The controller support issues here in Neverwinter definitely needs to be delved into much deeper.
TYRS PALADIUM - A Premier Neverwinter Online Guild
No Drama. Camaraderie. TEAM Focus. That's the TYRS way. If that's your style, come join us!
Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!