34: Gamers with Disabilities
Sinan Kubba and Joe DeLia start off 2010 accompanied by Mark Barlet of AbleGamers.com and the AbleGamers Foundation. They interview him about gamers with disabilities, how Mark’s site caters for such gamers, and how informed the industry and press are about accessibility in gaming.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:29 — 63.7MB)
A really great show guys, it’s nice to have interesting and thought provoking topics covered.
I think a lot of us gamers are guilty of not considering how disabled people play games. The real sad thing is that a lot of the solutions sound so easy on paper so why can’t they be implemented?! Being able to change colour schemes, font sizes, fully customisable controls, mandatory subtitles seem like easy things to put in.
Being colour blind I come across quite a few issues, particularly with colour based puzzle games. Games like Puzzle Quest Galactrix was completely unplayable for me because of the colour palette used. Compared to a lot of disabilities it feels like I’ve got off lightly! At least I’m able to play the majority of games without a problem, some people aren’t that lucky.
Thenks Benjo, very glad you enjoyed it.
I think that’s the major thing, that really the solutions are so simple and yet so often they’re not considered. So many puzzle games feature colour as an important element to differentiate, you’d think that the developer would think to put this in, but I guess it’s something that will hopefully come with time.
Another great show. It’s really interesting to hearing about how accessibility can (and should) be introduced in videogames.
As interesting as your guest was, he came across as douche. In the end I stopped listening because of his snide comments.
Keep up the good work!
Hey nunami – welcome to the site and thanks for the kind comments about the show. Sorry to hear that you thought Mark came across that way. Each to their own, of course, but Joe and I did find him to be really enjoyable to talk to, and he was extremely generous with his time. But you cannot please everyone, I guess – and radio/podcasting can be a cruel mistress in that regard!
Very illuminating show, guys. I didn’t realize that it was posted during my recent, hopefully temporary disablity, but I’m sad to admit it’s something I’d never thought about before, either. And Mark is right, you never know when something like this might affect you. Thanks for raising awareness of an important issue.
Hey, Mitch – thanks for stopping by
First off, like I said on the blog, hoping that you do recover soon of course, best wishes from both of us here. But thanks for the kind words – the response to this episode has been very gratifying.