TO CLOSE

Erin Hawley does not care if she wins or loses, but with adaptive controllers, she and many other players with disabilities can play.
UNITED STATES TODAY & # 39; HUI

Play has been a prominent part of Erin Hawley's life since she started playing Atari as a little girl.

When the digital content producer of the Easterseals charity, based in Keyport, NJ, age 35, leaves the world of work, she immediately goes to her computer or Xbox and often continues to work. 39, at the time of going to bed.

Hawley is a fan of shooting games such as "Overwatch" and "Half-Life", but she's going to play adventure games, puzzles, just about anything. She is also a regular on the Twitch live streaming platform, owned by Amazon.

The game is the way Hawley relaxes, interacts with his friends and forgets him.

And it provides a social outlet for other purposes: Hawley has muscular dystrophy, anxiety and scoliosis, and defends the rights of people with disabilities.

She created a blog called The Geeky Gimp. Through her work with Easterseals, Hawley has helped nurture communities of young women with disabilities called Thrive, where she leads discussions about gaming, technology and life with disabilities.

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"Getting out of this way is an act of self-esteem," says Hawley. She met her partner for almost four years after the person recognized her in a Twitter chat on the table game.

"Video games as a way to connect can be helpful, especially when people do not have any other way to connect," says psychologist Nancy Mramor in Pittsburgh.

This potentially includes at least 46 million players in the United States alone, according to researchers at AbleGamers Charity, a nonprofit organization that is attempting to use the power of gambling to eliminate the obstacles of isolation economic and social development of children, adults and disabled veterans. "

This is a low estimate, as the number does not include people with dexterity, force or tremor disability, neuro-diversified problems, or even people with motor or other abilities. are declining with age.

In general, people with disabilities are no less fanatical about video games than people without physical or cognitive problems. Of course, there are many types and degrees of disability, whether it's a birth, a progressive illness or an injury. And, unsurprisingly, just like those who are not disabled, their skill levels also vary.

Make video games more accessible

The challenges faced by players with disabilities often mean that some accessibility adaptations need to be made.

Hawley is one of those who rely on Microsoft's $ 99.99 Xbox Adaptive controller, which allows players to customize the controller to get exactly what they need to play in the way they want. For example, the controller can be placed on the floor to allow players to use buttons with their feet. It can also be mounted on wheelchairs or tables.

Microsoft has collaborated with AbleGamers, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, SpecialEffect, Warfighter Engaged and Craig Hospital to develop the controller. Last month, Microsoft and the US Department of Veterans Affairs announced a collaboration to provide the controller and other gaming technologies (hardware, services, games) to 22 VA rehabilitation centers in the country.

Microsoft is collaborating with the VA to provide veterans to the Xbox Adaptive Controllers. (Photo: Microsoft)

Bryce Johnson, Controller Design Manager at Microsoft, said, "While we want to ensure that people with disabilities have the opportunity to play video games, we also need to recognize that we do not provide an unworthy competitive advantage. to someone who might not have a disability. "

Game developers also have to deal with this balance. For example, the designers of the The Celeste video game for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Steam (PC and Mac) developer Matt Makes Games – the goal is to survive a character with inner demons and the most difficult challenges. Celeste Mountain – has added an accessibility option of Assist mode that allows someone to play at his own pace and difficulty level.

After receiving feedback, Chandana Ekanayake, CEO of Outerloop Games, has changed the shapes and intensity of the colors of her first-person adventure game, Falcon Age, for PlayStation4 and PlayStation VR, to simplify things for the color-blind. It is also ensured that the PlayStation controller could be remapped to support certain game features to meet the needs of people with special needs. The big characters of the game make it easier for people who are hard of hearing or deaf.

"There is a range of our fans and we want to support them," said Ekanayake. At our size, "it's easy for us to take comments and adjust them.Our schedule to make changes to our games is much faster than a triple-A game that has to come out at a certain time."

In general, however, more needs to be done, say the lawyers.

Companies that slowly but surely pay more attention to accessibility are motivated by a convergence of factors. Yes, some want to be more inclusive and do the right thing. But there are also market imperatives.

"I have never told sad stories to a video game company," says Mark Barlet, the disabled veterinarian who founded AbleGamers in 2004. Instead, he told them "that people with disabilities earn billions dollars in nonsustainable income, "and that" there is money left on the table "if you ignore them.

The message passes. "In the last three years, the industry is 180 degrees from what it was before," says Barlet. "I'm currently speaking with all triple-A studios. I will say that accessibility is no longer a big word and it was at one point. "

For example, EA has created an accessibility portal to allow players to more easily find features and accessibility resources for all games.

Karen Stevens, a software engineer who leads accessibility efforts at EA Sports, says she considers "accessibility as a correction of a mismatch between a person and his environment." It's up to developers to create games that everyone can enjoy, including people with disabilities. " "

Last October, AbleGamers launched an accessible game development model, called the Accessible Player Experience or APX, focused on the user: "While we can learn, socialize or otherwise improve ourselves through games, most players play because they want to play. have a wide variety of experiences. Disabled players are no different. For players to really play your game, it's not enough to just give them access to the controls of your game so that they can steer a car or shoot an arrow, but rather give them the experience of Being a Formula 1 driver or an adventurer in a fantasy world. "

Do not dilute the game

With this in mind, APX is not supposed to provide a version of a game that mitigates this experience.

Disabled players or those with accessibility needs generally want to play the same games as everyone else.

A screen of the mobile game Shadow's Edge for teens suffering from diseases. (Photo: Shadow's Edge)

The developers of "Shadow's Edge "took a different approach, and their free mobile support game for iOS and Android, which recently won the Edison Awards, targets teenagers and young adults with serious illnesses.

Sheri Brisson, who survived brain cancer when she was younger, and co-author of "Digging Deep: A Journal for Young People Facing Health Problems", on which "Shadow's Edge" is based , said: "the goal is to get kids through an emotional healing process when they have an illness, something that makes them different from other kids in school or in their groups peers. "Children express their emotions through journaling and graffiti.

But Hawley and others like her are mostly engaged by traditional games.

Disclose a disability

"People are about you in the context of the game; Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center in Newport Beach, Calif., Says that you are no longer handicapped in this environment. You have the opportunity to improve your self-confidence because you are skilled in something that others value, "

AbleGamers chief operating officer, Steve Spohn, agrees: "In practice, we can play these games together, and we can all have this common experience of conquering this beast, winning the game or being the character clutch at the last second and get it, we did it. & # 39; This type of social contribution is just as important as sunlight for your body. "

Erin Hawley is a video game enthusiast and is disabled. (Photo: Robert Deutsch, USAT)

Hawley plays against friends who, like her, have a disability. One of them, for example, uses a gaze tracking device to participate. But not all his opponents are disabled.

By playing against strangers, Hawley openly shares the fact that she is disabled. "I think it's important not to pretend I'm not disabled, because the more people see it, the more people can normalize their disability."

Most people with disabilities want to avoid stigma and be treated like everyone else.

Yet, some choose to keep it private.

"Disclosure is a fun thing. We work with many people whose disability is a factor in their identity. It's wonderful and we celebrate it, "said Microsoft, of Johnson. "But there are other people who are like:" I play these games as an escape from my everyday life. I want to be different here.

Barlet of AbleGamers describes video games as "the big equalizer, you do not know if I'm disabled, you just know that I'm an ogre or a character or a demonstration that I'm involved with in the game. a question of community., about connecting with a shared experience. "

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