Accessibility Issues in Game-Like Interfaces Roland Ossmann1 , Dominique Archambault2 , and Klaus Miesenberger1 1
University of Linz, Institute Integriert Studieren Altenbergerstr. 69, 4040 Linz, Austria {roland.ossmann,klaus.miesenberger}@jku.at 2 Universite Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6, INOVA 9, quai Saint Bernard, Paris 5, France
[email protected]
Abstract. This is a short position paper which invites to put game accessibility on the agenda of accessibility and assistive technology research. Games are important for social inclusion and concepts of game interfaces enter into standard HCI and web interfaces. This makes game accessibility subject to standard software and web accessibility and asks for according R&D activities. New tools and interfaces have to be developed to bring games accessibility into the mainstream games. Key words: Game-Like Interfaces, Mainstream Games Accessibility, Design for all.
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Introduction
A lot of people with impairment are excluded from most computer games because of accessibility problems. Indeed games accessibility has initially been regarded as an area of minor importance as other accessibility topics have been seen as much more important and also more ”serious”. Since the middle of the nineties, lots of works have been focusing on making office computer applications accessible, and it’s a fact that nowadays office applications, web browser, mail clients, etc. are reasonably accessible. First of all neglecting accessibility of games tends to exclusion as games are of particular in social communities. The pure focus on games for people with disabilities as a therapeutic and rehabilitation tool is not enough – games must be fun! Therefore, new ways of games accessibility have to be developed, making this kind of games accessible, especially because it’s often not longer ”just playing a game” but a question of inclusion into real life. Several steps for games accessibility are already done. There is a positioning paper from the International Games Developers Association [1], there are research projects (e.g. [2]), there are publications [3] [4] and there are guidelines for the development of accessible computer games [5]. Furthermore games [6] had been developed under the slogan of ”designed for all”, which means, they
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are playable for people with and without any special needs. These activities are an excellent basis for further R&D.
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Game-Like Interfaces
New aspects in the (computer) society asking for increased attention on games accessibility. ”the time has come to take computer games seriously, really seriously” [7]. Games and game like interfaces are entering mainstream HumanComputer Interfaces (HCI) [8] (e.g. avatar technology; the best example here is Second Life1 , where your avatar is more then just a playing figure). Leading experts speak of ”creating a science of games” [7], using game approaches, besides entertainment, for other domains like learning (”edutainment”). The most famous game in the area of game-like interfaces is Second Life. But it is no game according to our common understanding. There is no target to reach, no enemy to defeat, no lap time to beat... . It is a simulation of real or virtual life situations, where a character (called avatar) represents the player in the game. Style, behaviour and movements of the avatar can be defined. Most important are the communication with other ”people” and the interaction with virtual objects defined. When the game becomes more popular, companies discovered Second Life as a good place for own activities like training and advertisement. Companies, governments and other organisations establish their space in the game. This trend culminates with parts of conferences [8] and job interviews [9] in Second Life. Such activities are good example for the fact that games accessibility is not just dealing with leisure time activities, it has reached serious topics of life. If a governmental body opens a virtual office in Second Life it is at least subject to web accessibility regulations and asks for addressing games accessibility in a serious way.
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How to go on?
Players with disabilities need to use Assistive Technology to play accessible games. But contrarily to any other computer application, this must not take off the characteristics of these applications that make them games. It is not only the task which one fulfils with an application (e.g. with office/mail software) but it is the procedure of playing the game itself which is fun and which provides learning benefits. In other terms, games accessed with AT still must be games and due to this it challenges the usage of AT. This also addresses the game-like interfaces. An accessible application with a game-like interface (which also will be called game or virtual world, e.g. Second Live once again) must not lose its characteristics. It’s fundamental to keep the flair, such applications (should) have, also in accessible versions. 1
http://lindenlab.com/
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Achieving these goals of making games and applications with game-like interfaces accessible, new assistive software will be needed. These new assistive software applications, which we will call Assistive Game Interfaces (AGI) will not likely be unique for a specific kind of impairment (like today a screen reader allows to access any office application). Depending of the ability constraints, some could be dedicated to a specific game or a game engine, some would be dedicated to a kind of games and finally some others would be generic (covering a large range of games). Good examples might me a captioning system for any kind of objects in a game or avatars entertaining kids or showing sign language. Further examples are the navigation in a maze (like often used in first person games) or the navigation on a racing track. Additionally new technologies, being on the way to become mainstream interfaces (e.g. voice recognition or the Wii Remote2 ) have to be evaluated and included, if they seem to be useful. But the Assistive Game Interfaces are just a part of this Games Accessibility Framework. The first steps to carry out the specification of the Games Accessibility Framework are: – a typology of game interaction situations and – a characterisation of accessibility in terms of functional requirements. From the study of these expected results, the specification of the Game Accessibility Framework can be produced, including the data formats and exchange protocols to transmit information between games and Assistive Game Interfaces. Nevertheless, AGI can not make all games accessible to all special needs. If a game bases mainly on one sense or on some special ability, it still will be non accessible to some groups of players. But AGI might be able to support other groups of gamers. Another part of this Games Accessibility Framework will be a toolbox, with a collection of tools, helping game and application developers, making their products accessible by including the Assistive Game Interface and fulfilling the Games Accessibility Guidelines [5]. Further parts of this toolbox might be – game platform specific introduction and documentation – validation programs for game accessibility guidelines – simulation tools (simulating Braille device, simulating audio only, colour and contrast testing . . . ) and – plug-ins for various game development environments and platforms. Developing this Games Accessibility Framework will be a lot of effort and needs time, money and knowledge in accessibility issues and game development issues. So at least one (or better several) game companies will be needed as partner, especially for the knowledge in game development. Another significant reason for the cooperation with industrial partners is that the framework has to be used for commercial games and game-like interfaces to bring games accessibility to the mainstream. 2
http://www.nintendo.com/wii/what/controllers
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Conclusion
Now it is time to make a significant move. This implies some participation from assistive technology specialists as well as from mainstream games developers. Bringing games accessibility (including the game-like interfaces) into the mainstream, only can work, if the main computer game companies will give support for the implementation of the Games Accessibility Framework and furthermore using this technology making their games accessible.
References 1. International Games Developers Association: Accessibility in games: Motivations and approaches. http://www.igda.org/accessibility/IGDA_Accessibility_ WhitePaper.pdf (2004) 2. Archambault, D.: The TiM Project: Overview of Results. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Paris, France (2004) 3. Archambault, D., Ossmann, R., Gaudy, T., Miesenberger, K.: Computer Games and Visually Impaired People. In UPGRADE (European Journal for the Informatics Professional), Vol. VIII, issue No. 2, April 2007 http://www.upgrade-cepis.org/ (2007) 4. Lepicard, G., Vigouroux, N. and Vella, F.: Accessibility Interface for Video Games. In: European Conference for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE). San Sebastian, Spain (2007) 5. Ossmann, R., Miesenberger, K.: Guidelines for the Development of Accessible Computer Games. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Linz, Austria (2006) 6. Grammenos, D., Savidis, A., Georgalis, Y., Stephanidis, C.: Access Invaders: Developing a Universally Accessible Action Game. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Linz, Austria (2006) 7. Zyda, M.: Creating a science of games. ACM Communications 50(7). (2007) 8. Kellogg, W., Ellis, J., Thomas, J.: Towards supple enterprises: Learning from N64’s Super Mario 64, Wii Bowling, and a Corporate Second Life. In: Supple Interfaces: Designing and evaluating for richer human connections and experiences. (2007) 9. Athavaley A.: A Job Interview You Don’t Have to Show Up For. At: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118229876637841321-PBcFyZS6CL_ QH_w11ezhoix8Ne0_20080619.html?mod=rss_free (2007)
