Playing Blind

TLDR

Previous research on games for people with visual impairment has mainly focused on co‑designing or evaluating specific games under controlled conditions. The study adopts a game‑agnostic, in‑the‑wild approach to investigate the habits, opinions, and motivations of people with visual impairment regarding digital games, aiming to inform more inclusive game development. The authors surveyed and interviewed gamers with visual impairment online to examine their gaming habits and concerns. The study found that digital games are particularly appealing to gamers with visual impairment, that social gaming history and a balance between complexity and accessibility are key, and that industry attitudes and emerging technologies such as VR and AR raise accessibility concerns, thereby giving voice to an underrepresented group.

Abstract

Previous research on games for people with visual impairment (PVI) has focused on co-designing or evaluating specific games - mostly under controlled conditions. In this research, we follow a game-agnostic, "in-the-wild" approach, investigating the habits, opinions and concerns of PVI regarding digital games. To explore these issues, we conducted an online survey and follow-up interviews with gamers with VI (GVI). Dominant themes from our analysis include the particular appeal of digital games to GVI, the importance of social trajectories and histories of gameplay, the need to balance complexity and accessibility in both games targeted to PVI and mainstream games, opinions about the state of the gaming industry, and accessibility concerns around new and emerging technologies such as VR and AR. Our study gives voice to an underrepresented group in the gaming community. Understanding the practices, experiences and motivations of GVI provides a valuable foundation for informing development of more inclusive games.