Link: “Video Games Are for Everyone—And That Should Include Disabled People”
This was such a great article, and having a physical disability myself (limited mobility in my right arm) I found a lot in here to relate to.
There are sooooo many games that I’d love to play, but they require quick reflexes and a level of dexterity that I don’t think is possible one-handed. Pretty much any action game rules itself out for me, even though there are a ton I would have liked to play – action platformers like Hollow Knight, action roguelikes like Dead Cells, and innumerable action RPGs. I’ve also never really been able to play console games (except games with motion controls, which was mainly a thing in the Nintendo Wii era…) because controllers require two fully-functional hands. Actually, through this article I’ve now discovered that accessibility controllers exist, which expands my options a little.
I also liked the point, though, that the gatekeeping about “games shouldn’t offer ‘story modes’ that let you skip the hard stuff or make it easier because it’s contrary to the intent of the game” is a toxic attitude. It’s bad for disabled gamers but also bad for like, newbie or casual gamers who just wanna experience a game everyone else is talking about. In the past I’ve played some turn-based strategy games where even the easiest mode is impossibly difficult, and I just… don’t like it. I get that it’s a genre that mostly attracts people who do like it, but I don’t see how those people would lose anything from the existence of a beatable “easy mode” alongside harder modes. I don’t want to waste hundreds of hours on repetitive content I keep failing at when I could go play something that’s actually fun, lol. Give people the choice! 👏
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Jessica Smith on .