Accessibility in gaming is a ‘must-have’ – BBC News

Kellie Dingwall is one of a growing number of visually impaired people who are gaming online.

“One of my best friends and I became closer through playing online games and it became a weekly habit,” she told BBC Scotland.

“Now it’s a small community of blind gamers.”

Game studios are increasingly taking into account issues such as visual impairment and motor skills issues as they look to make games accessible to a whole new audience.

Disabled gamers have pointed to a cultural shift in game development, with features now being built in ‘from the ground up’.

According to Kellie, changes could be as simple as increasing the size of the text on the screen for people with partial vision impairment or providing better color contrast options.

Other games have more custom elements.

“I recently found a game that allowed me to use text to speech, where I could do things like read out letters or options in conversations,” Kellie said.

Despite the shift toward accessibility, Kellie says she’s sometimes hesitant to try new games.

“I usually read reviews before I buy anything,” she said.

“In general, I prefer not to pre-order games because I don’t know what the accessibility features will be like.”

James Kyle, who works for RNIB Scotland, runs a gaming group for people with visual impairments like himself.

“There is no reason why people without vision should be left out,” he said.

One of the game styles he highlights is an audio game, where players wear headphones and navigate through a 3D audio world, accompanied by sound effects and audio descriptions.

James said his group of blind gamers consists of people from Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and other parts of the world.

Video game development is estimated to generate £350 million a year for the Scottish economy, and developers are increasingly aware of their markets.

Dundee has a long history in games development and Abertay University, a university in the city, says ensuring accessibility is central to what it teaches.

Dr Lynsay Shepherd from the university said: “Disabled gamers have been excluded for too long.

“Measures must be taken to ensure that everyone can experience the fun of playing games.”

She said accessibility was “instilled” in students from day one.

“We make sure that this is discussed from start to finish, and also the challenges that exist there,” she said.

According to Dr Shepherd, accessibility has grown “tremendously” in recent years and she believes eye-tracking for people with physical disabilities could be the next area of ​​interest.

“Webcams on laptops these days are very high quality,” she said.

“These can be used to capture the eyes to control the machine, and that can be incorporated into games.

“It will soon become much more accessible to a wider group of people.”

Dundee is also working to open up the gaming market to people with complex physical needs.

Konglomerate Games has designed a game to help young people with Cystic Fibrosis.

This uses the player’s breath to control mini-games, such as shooting darts at balloons.

The idea is that they have fun while doing the necessary breathing exercises.

“We’re trying to make games accessible to people with different disabilities or conditions so they can improve their lives,” said CEO Jamie Bankhead.

“The market is huge. If kids can play games and get something useful out of it, that’s great.”

According to Mr. Bankhead, developers need to consider people’s motor skills and whether holding a controller might be physically daunting or whether the vibrations might be uncomfortable.

He said accessibility features are “increasingly becoming a must-have, not an add-on.”

“People actively refuse to play games that don’t offer the bare minimum and that’s only going to become more and more common across all games,” he said.