The Fight To Make Games Accessible For Everyone - Or how Nintendo fucking hates the disabled

[vertexwindi]

[...] Accommodation advocacy groups have responded enthusiastically to Sony and Microsoft’s efforts to make games a more inclusive space for those with disabilities. The same cannot be said for Nintendo.

“There are other companies like Nintendo who no matter how much we reach out or how many times I rattle the cage in interviews, continue to go do their own thing, blocking gamers with disabilities largely out of their amazing virtual worlds,” Steven Spohn, COO of AbleGamers, says. When I ask about the back and forth with the company, he explains that promising discussions with Nintendo of America about promoting accessibility are always killed when “corporate gets involved.” “We’re not privy to details,” he says. “We have tried reaching out to Nintendo on the corporate level only to be met with silence.”

Much of Nintendo’s marketing rollout for the Switch has been hung on the idea that gaming should be for everyone, with television advertisements dedicated to showing people of all ages taking their Switch wherever they go – playing in living rooms, on rooftops, in garages, with their friends. However, for gamers with disabilities, Nintendo’s inaction has painted a different picture, one of a company that’s willing to engage with an ideal for marketing purposes but apparently has no interest in following through on those notions in a practical, compassionate manner. A brief Google search will reveal a bevy of articles from gamers with disabilities talking about how motion control mechanics for puzzles in Breath Of The Wild being impossible to perform, thus barring them from progressing as well as those who lament the lack of options to remap the controls in Splatoon 2. [...]

The Fight To Make Games Accessible For Everyone

We talked with console makers, developers, and accessibility advocates to get a full picture of the efforts to make the idea that games are for everyone a reality.

www.gameinformer.com

Based Nintendo. Fucking gimps should've been more careful lol

 

[RetardedCat]

I thought we'd already established that video games weren't for disabled people like journalists after they complained that Sekiro was too difficult. Now that they're done asking for easy mode they want an easier to use controller too?
But I do love Nintendo cause they understand how to sell shit better than Microcock and the other one that made one good console.

 

[Nobunaga]

I thought we'd already established that video games weren't for disabled people like journalists after they complained that Sekiro was too difficult. Now that they're done asking for easy mode they want an easier to use controller too?
But I do love Nintendo cause they understand how to sell shit better than Microcock and the other one that made one good console.

Remember when god hand got a bad score because journalist are retarded?
I still member

 

[byuu]

I unironically support them.
Fuck motion controls, and fuck not letting me customise controls.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

Right, have the cripples ever considered that not everything is going to be suited for everybody and it's not actually anyone's fucking fault? Accessibility options in games are great, don't get me wrong, but there are costs involved (companies basically have to set up an entire department to handle this sort of thing). There are more egregious cases at times - an online game I played dragged their heels so badly on colorblind support that someone made a user-end mod for it, which got smote angrily by the devs because it conferred a VERY TINY advantage to non-colorblind players who used it. They then dragged their heels AGAIN until finally releasing colorblind support that fucking sucked and called the issue settled. Nintendo in general is a remarkably dickheaded company, to be fair, but this "let the handicapped play OR ELSE" is a gun being held to the head of EVERY dev, including the ones that might not be able to really afford much of a solution.

 

[PoisonedBun]

To an extent, I can sympathize with people with a disability who struggle to play video games. It has to be difficult, another facet in life they can't enjoy in the same way that everyone else can.

What I'm not sympathetic to are the journalists writing these articles. They're like the stoners vying for medical marijuana of the video game world. They want easier games because games are just too hard.

 

[RetardedCat]

Right, have the cripples ever considered that not everything is going to be suited for everybody and it's not actually anyone's fucking fault? Accessibility options in games are great, don't get me wrong

I'm fairly certain the cripples aren't the ones asking for shit, it's a bunch of asshats who think they're the voice of those who are "underrepresented".
I can guarantee you they're probably annoyed as fuck that other people are trying to tell them what they want and don't want.

 

[RG 448]

“We’re not privy to details,” he says. “We have tried reaching out to Nintendo on the corporate level only to be met with silence.”

“We don’t know what’s going on but need a story so we’re just gonna fill in the blanks.”

I do think Microsoft’s idea for handicap controllers is pretty neat and I do hope it catches on though.

 

[Bad Headspace]

I am skeptical of "advocacy" groups. It starts out as a noble sentiment, then it will be forced on everybody.
How about caring what happens to the majority of people for a change? lol

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

I'm fairly certain the cripples aren't the ones asking for shit, it's a bunch of asshats who think they're the voice of those who are "underrepresented".
I can guarantee you they're probably annoyed as fuck that other people are trying to tell them what they want and don't want.

I'd get pretty pissed about that too, to be fair. The notion that I would be unable to represent my own interests as a consumer is rather fucking patronizing.

 

[Autistsforuganda2]

You want easier video games? How about you just stick to walking simulators.

 

[pentylspacer2600]

yeah just because someones body dosent function properly dont mean things might be more difficult for them. its not like game companies make products that will apeal to as many people as p[ossible who just so happen to be able to function properly

 

[Autopsy]

The article is pretty clearly about actual "accessibility" as in physically being capable of playing a game to the extent another without a disability might be. I see no problem with that.
So far as I can tell, the only time accessibility, as in the ability of a lazy shithead or mentally disabled person to play to the extent of someone without such a disability, comes up is in the 'extended discussion' section under "SLOW AND STEADY, TOWARD THE HORIZON" header. The author therein conflates the Sekiro 'debate' on hard gameplay with the one actual disabilities, possibly because lazy assholes are a big lobby in games while cripples are not.
Let that sink in.

 

[UF 404]

Here you go, an adapter that lets you play Switch one handed. Costs $7 and has great reviews.

 

[Fek]

I'm sure non-profit "charity" groups with a vested interest in keeping their agenda on everyone's minds (thus keeping the money rolling in) would never do something in bad faith.

Maybe I should start one for paraplegics to be given equal footing on treadmills. It's their right as human beings to be able to use one, after all.

This article stinks, to me. You can want something from someone else all you want, but that doesn't mean they're under any obligation to do it for you. It also doesn't suddenly mean they're bad or evil for telling you to kindly fuck off.

Players with physical disabilities have often turned to third-party manufacturers or outreach groups to create custom (and pricey) controllers just to have a chance to enjoy the video games that able-bodied gamers have played for years.

What's this? A sensible solution that doesn't involve forcing anyone to do anything? Well that won't get anyone to click on this shitty article and sperg about it onli-

...oh, right.

Edit: Bonus!

“There are other companies like Nintendo who no matter how much we reach out or how many times I rattle the cage in interviews, continue to go do their own thing, blocking gamers with disabilities largely out of their amazing virtual worlds,” Steven Spohn, COO of AbleGamers, says.

The man of the hour. HAHA, oh wow.

 

[Ahffline]

TBH, those of use who grow up as disabled gamers usually aren't strident about shit like this because we understand from the outset that not only is it impossible to make everything accessible to everyone all the time, but there are simply cases where our disabilities prevent us from participating in certain things. A person who uses crutches or a wheelchair won't become prima ballerina with the Borzhoi Ballet, for instance. Not all games are playable by all people.

Most of time time, this hew and cry originates from ABs who became disabled later in life, to be honest. They tend to be the most pissy that everything doesn't automatically conform to their specific needs.

 

[No creativity]

Remember when god hand got a bad score because journalist are exceptional?
I still member

I wish that was an isolated incident.

r/elex - IGN reviewer mashing instead of timing his attacks (2:15)

41 votes and 42 comments so far on Reddit

www.reddit.com

While reading a review for a game called Enclave I noticed that the reviewer was playing the game in easy mode and then proceeded to criticize the combat for problems that are only a thing in easy mode.

That's the main reason why game reviews made by journalists are worthless. Maybe the reviewer is qualified to write the review, maybe he's a complete mongoloid, you really can't tell unless you've already played the game yourself and at that point do you really need their reviews anymore?

 

[Eryngium]

I'm fairly certain the cripples aren't the ones asking for shit, it's a bunch of asshats who think they're the voice of those who are "underrepresented".
I can guarantee you they're probably annoyed as fuck that other people are trying to tell them what they want and don't want.

Pretty much this, there are shit ton of disabled people that made videos beating bosses in Sekiro telling gaming journalists in the description and video to fuck off.

"People saying this game is to hard and want an easy mode. I even saw one post using disabled people with poor motor functions as an excuse for an easy mode. So here's the Corrupted Monk done by me a quadriplegic. "

 

[Clop]

Most of the world is already accessible due to human compassion, holding the door open for a guy who can't use his arms and the like. Just like any grownup, most handicapped people want to be treated like adults who can wipe their own arse. Handing the world over on a silver platter because of a disability isn't any less stupid than giving it to a healthy person, it just makes them an entitled infant for the rest of their life.

When you make compassion enforced you'll just make everyone lose in the end.

Like already noted above, you can buy peripherals for gaming to help you for peanuts, and if you have some very rare deformity, you can bet your ass that someone will make you one for fucking free because that's what people do already without you insisting that Nintendo gift wraps an entire line of products for you.

 

[Crichax]

Most of the world is already accessible due to human compassion, holding the door open for a guy who can't use his arms and the like. Just like any grownup, most handicapped people want to be treated like adults who can wipe their own arse. Handing the world over on a silver platter because of a disability isn't any less stupid than giving it to a healthy person, it just makes them an entitled infant for the rest of their life.

When you make compassion enforced you'll just make everyone lose in the end.

Like already noted above, you can buy peripherals for gaming to help you for peanuts, and if you have some very rare deformity, you can bet your ass that someone will make you one for fucking free because that's what people do already without you insisting that Nintendo gift wraps an entire line of products for you.

I do appreciate customizability and options in my games. I don't mind (optional) things like Braille addons for Xbox controls, the option to disable motion controls for puzzles on BOTW, and etc. But on the other hand, I don't want games becoming far too easy. And disabled people with no arms (or something severe like that) will have to accept that they will not be able to play games.