Accessible Gaming

Shared from Within Reach Magazine Winter 2024. Flick through the whole magazine here!

For many years playing video games as someone with a limb difference was at best difficult, and often downright impossible. But thanks to modern technologies and increased awareness, gaming is now more accessible than ever, writes Paul Carter…

I grew up surrounded by video games. Living with two older brothers who already had a computer in the house, (a ZX Spectrum to show my age!) I was aware of games from a very early age and naturally, I wanted to play them. But as someone born without hands, it often posed challenges. Being exposed at such a young age meant I was able to learn and adapt, and find my own ways of playing those early games that often only required the use of one or two buttons.

As I got older and graduated onto better computers and ultimately games consoles, the games naturally became more advanced and so, more difficult for me to play.  It became a fact of life for me that for many games, if there wasn’t an option within the game itself to customise the buttons, then I wasn’t able to play them. A lot of my youth was subsequently spent in game shops (remember them?) reading the back of the box or daring to try and open it to read the instruction manual inside to try and get a sense of how the controls worked.

Thankfully for the disabled gamers of today things have come on leaps and bounds from how they were for Nintendo-obsessed teenage me. Today, the majority of the major gaming platforms allow for controller layouts to be customised at a system-wide level, and also have the option for creating bespoke layouts and profiles for individual games and players.

But the perhaps the most seismic shift in recent years has been in how the gaming industry itself has finally recognised that we, as disabled gamers, exist and are a market to be catered for. This hit new heights in 2018 when Microsoft, makers of the Xbox consoles, released the Xbox Adaptive Controller – a customisable device that allows gamers to connect a huge range of assistive devices such as joysticks, thumbsticks, switches and buttons to create a fully bespoke gaming setup. The Adaptive Controller was designed with and by disabled people, something that would have been unthinkable even a decade prior. Then in late 2023, Sony followed suit with the release of the Access Controller for PlayStation, a device with similar aims but a very different design.

It’s not just the console manufacturers who have finally woken up to the fact that we have money to spend. Many big games releases now come with a raft of accessibility features built in, enabling more people with a whole range of impairments to dive right in. Last year I spent time with a totally blind gamer playing the racing game Forza Motorsport, showing just how far accessibility features have come. There is still a long way to go before every game is accessible, but the direction of travel is promising.

Away from the physical hardware and games themselves, today’s gamers with a limb difference have access to more resources and information than ever before, allowing people to make more informed decisions before they buy. No more reading the back of game boxes! Websites like Can I Play That? (caniplaythat.com) feature accessibility information for a whole range of titles. Special Effect, the fabulous charity for disabled gamers, have a website containing videos and guides on motor accessibility at gameaccess.info. Special Effect also provide a range of bespoke solutions for people who might need specialist equipment or setups to help them play more easily.  There is also a thriving gaming accessibility community on platforms such as Twitch or YouTube, where people with a range of impairments share tips and experiences.

All of this is not to say that the outlook is entirely rosy. As I faced when I was younger, enhancing and emerging technologies can often bring their own problems and difficulties for those of us seen to be outside the ‘mainstream.’ The growth of new gaming platforms such as VR, mixed reality and augmented reality are already bringing challenges. I’m still struggling to find a way to fully interact with my new Meta Quest headset, which requires the use of two handheld controllers, or uses hand tracking; neither of which are things that work for me.

Despite the challenges ahead, I’m heartened by the fact that for the first time, the gaming industry now acknowledges that we as players need to be listened to, and our needs catered for.

Playing video games is now firmly established as a mainstream pastime, enjoyed by people from all backgrounds, ages, genders and cultures. It has the ability to bring joy entertainment, togetherness and excitement.

And why shouldn’t we all be able to fully experience that?