Talks about accessible gaming are an extension of work Echobatix has done in assistive technology. Mia Correia and I talked about O.U.T. metrics: Outcome, Usability, and Time. Those metrics lead directly to accessible gaming metrics: SPLAT! Social, Price, Load, Action, TIme. Accessibility and gaming experience can be measured in those five categories. What you measure, you can remeasure, and thereby work toward improving the accessibility of a game, and of the gaming experience.
Last night at St.Edward's University it was great to talk about accessible gaming with students and members of the public. When the video recording from St. Edward's is available I'll post the link here. You'll also find the video via STAPLE! The Independent Media Expo, the annual convention founded by Chris Nicholas. The talk last night introduced SPLAT! metrics for accessibility in five categories: Social Price Load (Labor) Action Time S.P.L.A.T.! * Social * Games are often played in a social context--at game night, with in-game chat, or perhaps playing a console game in a living room at someone's home. A gamer who has difficulty communicating with others may not show up for game night at all. * Price * Some people have to pay a higher price to play the same game, perhaps because they need to purchase an adaptive controller. * Load (Labor) * To play a game, the cognitive load and kinematic load--mental and physical effort--can be much higher for someone with a disability. Blind people, for example, can have a much higher cognitive load from having to memorize what sighted people can reference on a screen at any time. * Action * Work in accessibility tends to focus on "actions"--whether or not gamers (users) can read text, finish a level, or complete a puzzle. It is necessary but not sufficient to ensure a gamer can play a game; we also consider that ability to complete actions within the context of social considerations, price, load/labor, and time. * Time * Can someone with limited use of their hands complete a level of a platformer in the same time as someone whose use of their hands is not limited? This metric can be measured easily with a stopwatch, or by noting time codes in a video recording of a play text. But improving a game so that all gamers can complete in about the same time--or within a period of time that doesn't detract from game play--can be very difficult. I'll dive into each of the SPLAT! metrics more in the coming days. Have a good weekend, y'all!
