FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler acknowledges the Accessibility Guidelines for Games for his work to educate game developers on how to include players with multiple disabilities
London, Tuesday, June 17, 2014 – As part of the M: Enabling conference in Washington DC, Game Accessibility Guidelines – a free web-based resource created to help developers create games that include multiplayer with disabilities – has been announced as the winner of the President’s Award for Advancement in Accessibility, the world’s leading award driving innovation in access to information technology for people with disabilities. The Accessibility Guidelines for Games are intended to help developers give better consideration to people with disabilities when creating video games on PC, consoles and mobile devices and are available at http://www.gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/
The President’s Award for Advancement in Access is a featured project of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Access and Innovation Initiative and has been presented to President Tom Wheeler by President Tom Wheeler. Game Access Support Guide. The FCC has made accessible communication technologies one of its most valuable missions because people with disabilities are the nation’s largest minority group – meaning that any progress made in Accessible communication will enhance the lives of millions.
More than 20% of game players suffer from some form of disability and interactive entertainment can be an important contributor to quality of life, allowing access to entertainment, culture and society. But gamers with disabilities are often denied access to these life-changing benefits due to a simple lack of awareness among developers. So the tutorial project was created to address this need, making it easier for developers to access the knowledge they need to start extending their games to a wider audience. It was initiated by designer and accessibility specialist Ian Hamilton, who worked at the BBC, with background knowledge in creating games and digital content for children with disabilities. disability, and is also the winner of Transport for London’s recent Accessible Applications Award.
These guidelines have been produced through the collaborative effort of an international team of game developers, experts and academics, and tested with players with multiple disabilities. They cover all forms of disability, from color blindness to autism, deafness to cerebral palsy, and offer workflow advice and examples of features and considerations. This includes allowing controls to be reconfigured, using icons and colors, and enabling replay of stories.
Disability gaming journalist Robert Kingett said, “The guidelines include simple innovations that allow me to play on par with physically fit gamers, such as text size/contrast and control mapping options The game has helped me in unique ways academically and socially that other media can’t. I’m glad the FCC recognized video game accessibility because perhaps, this dynamic will encourage more developers to deploy accessibility far and wide, even before development.”
Lynsey Graham, guide co-author, game designer and accessibility expert added: “It’s great to see more recognised principles and needs for accessibility. Hopefully that as more developers become aware of the problems and how to solve them, the game world will be open to more people.”
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Click contact
Name: Ian Hamilton (tutorial co-author, UX designer & accessibility expert)
Email: i_h@hotmail.com
Phone: +44 777 909 6041
Twitter: @ianhamilton_
Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/ianhamiltondc
About the Game Accessibility Guidelines
A collaborative effort between a group of studios, experts and academics, to create a simple developer-friendly reference on ways to avoid unnecessary exclusion of players and ensure that the game Play as much fun as possible for as many people as possible. This resource was launched in September 2012, and has since been used regularly by studios, from professional companies to the largest AAA organisations. It is used in course materials, cited in academic research, and has formed the basis of industry and government initiatives ranging from disruptive games to bots. sponsor.
About FCC’s A&I Initiative
In an effort to advance the basic level of accessibility found in advanced Internet-supported communications technologies and services, the FCC has developed a variety of non-regulatory approaches to enhance its efforts in achieving these instrumental goals. One of the most successful programs is the Outreach and Innovation Initiative, which focuses on fostering problem-solving collaboration between academia, industry, consumers, and government to achieve capabilities. accessibility.
