Game Accessibility - Barriers To Access

Barriers To Access

Video game Accessibility problems can be a categorized into three different categories that correlate to a specific type of impairment:

• Not being able to receive feedback from the game due to a sensory impairment. Examples include: not being able to hear dialogue between game characters or audio cues, such as an explosion, because of an hearing impairment or unable to see or distinguish visual feedback, such as different colored gems in a puzzle game due to a visual impairment such as (colorblindness).
• Not being able to provide input using a conventional input device due to a motor impairment; for example, users who rely upon using switch controller or eye trackers to interact with games may find it very difficult or impossible to play games that require large amounts of input.
• Not being able to understand how to play the game or what input to provide due to a cognitive impairment. People with learning disabilities, may have low literacy or a combination of Complex Needs, for instance an individual might also have Ataxia or limited coordination. For example, real time strategy games require a lot of micromanagement, which may be too difficult to understand and to perform for someone with a learning impairment.