Accessibility & Gaming: beyond the controller

Accessibility & gaming: beyond the controller #ID24 – September 2023 Hector Osborne Rodriguez @HecOsborneRod Accessibility & gaming: beyond the controller #ID24 – September 2023 1

Hola! He / Him Senior Manager @ Accenture Front End Development. Gamer. Hola! My pronouns are He / Him Senior Manager @ Accenture Front End Development. Gamer. Find me in social media as @HecOsborneRod 2

What’s talk is not about? This talk is not about Console Wars. This talk is not just about a11y. This talk is not just about gaming. This talk is about Evolution in accessibility and gaming. This talk is about Inspiration, the inspiration I receive when reading or learning something new & innovative created by the gaming companies. We’ll be talking about gaming accessibility and the impact it has had in other industries: - Marketing - Retail - eCommerce - Entertainment - Web / Application Development 3

I’ll show some examples that I have seen lately, and how they can be applied to other areas outside of gaming. 3

What’s talk is about? This talk is about the Curb-Cut effect gaming accessibility is having in other industries! This talk is about Evolution in accessibility and gaming. This talk is about Inspiration, the inspiration I receive when reading or learning something new & innovative created by the gaming companies. We’ll be talking about gaming accessibility and the impact it has had in other industries: - Marketing - Retail - eCommerce - Entertainment - Web / Application Development 4

I’ll show some examples that I have seen lately, and how they can be applied to other areas outside of gaming. 4

In this talk I will cover 01 Web vs gaming 02 Xbox’s Adaptive Controller 03 Spreading awareness 04 Accessibility & personalization This talk is about Evolution in accessibility and gaming. This talk is about Inspiration I get inspired every day when I read something new & innovative created by the console companies or game We’ll be talking about accessibility, but more importantly about gaming accessibility and the impact it has had in other industries: - Marketing - Retail - eCommerce 5

• Entertainment - Web / Application Development What can be see / learn from the work the gaming industry has done and we can apply in our work. 5

Topic 01 Web vs Gaming 6

Being an accessibility advocate “You face constant risks to career growth, personal mental wellbeing, burnout, fear of failure, rejection, reputation as well as the emotional toll of constant empathy for others.” - Cam Beaudoin Being an a11y advocate, evangelist, leader is not an easy task. ““You face constant risks to career growth, personal mental wellbeing, burnout, fear of failure, rejection, reputation as well as the emotional toll of constant empathy for others.” Cam Beaudoin shared in his Linked In page a few weeks ago. Most of the time it feels like we’re not heard, like we’re not understood, like companies don’t care for us. In my personal experience I always think: Is it me? 7

maybe it’s a language barrier? Am I communicating properly? Are we not that important to ABC company? 7

WCAG vs Game accessibility guidelines Web guideline (3 pages) Game guideline (1 page) Working on web accessibility the most important term you’ll hear is WCAG (Web Content & Accessibility Guidelines) It’s a comprehensive document created in 1999 and used globally as the standard & legal obligation for making websites accessible. In places like US & Canada, it’s mandatory in certain provinces & states to follow the Guideline or you can get into legal obligation. This document is extensive and comprises many pages written in a highly complex language. In my office we have an open forum were we discuss interpretations of the WCAG every time we face an issue. “What do you think they meant with?” “Is this experience compliant?” Based on this experience and trying to create something easily consumable the gaming studios, specialist and academists, among them Ian Hamilton & Gareth Forth Williams, created the GAG. “A straightforward reference for inclusive game design” It’s not a law, it’s not a mandate, it’s a guideline. A set of recommendation. It continues to grow with community feedback and console development of 8

new features. 8

In 2023 96.3% of Home Pages had accessibility failures! https://webaim.org/projects/million/#wcag Even though WCAG is the law in many countries, we still face the following issue: In 2023, 96.3% of Home Pages had detected accessibility failures! https://webaim.org/projects/million/#wcag If the home page is the front face of your store, your brand, and less than 4% is fully accessible, you can imagine how this statistic will go down the pipeline when you traverse the information you so desperately are looking for.. 9

2023 Inspiration Spiderman 2 Slow Motion in action scenes Forza Motorsport: Blind Driver Assist Dead Space Remake: Censoring traumatic images & themes (like suicide) Project Leonardo: Playstation’s adaptive controller In web we rarely hear success cases, or good accessibility implementations. Let me put it this way, we hear more about lawsuits to big corporation’s vs great innovations like BeMyEyes app (a mobile app that connects people needing sighted support with volunteers and companies through live video around the world) In gaming, we have the opposite. We mostly hear about the new Feature that a game implemented. Most of this (if not all) are described in the Gaming Guidelines. In 2023 alone we saw these success cases: 1. Dead Space Remake: customizable controls, subtitles, colorblind settings, content warning & censorship. 2. Forza Mortorspot: a game that will release next month, we have Steve Saylor a legally blind gamer demonstrate how he used Blind Driver Assist (and other features) to win his first driving race! 10

Personalization options, Larger fonts for captions, color captions, colour blind contrast. 10

Takeaway 01 Lead with inspiration, nobody likes leaders who rule with fear. 11

Topic 02 Xbox’s Adaptive Controller 12

Speaking of inspiration “Sometimes a change comes and feels like breath of fresh air, you enjoy it greatly. It is new, thrilling, and invigorating” The Adaptive controller has been an inspiration story for me. I have learned through a series of conferences and own research what Microsoft team did. I hopw to bring some of that knowledge to you today. Let’s talk about the Xbox’s adaptive controller. 13

What is it? At first glance… it just looks weird and simple. Is this device ready? What am I missing here? The Xbox Adaptive Controller (XAC) is an officially licensed controller from Microsoft Xbox. In Microsoft’s by Xbox research group started an initiative to build an Xbox-branded hub that can bring down costs and frustration for users and caretakers alike. From a high-level perspective, it can be said that It’s a connection hub. with 19 ports on it’s back, all 3.5mm jacks. What? Let me rephrase that, it’s a device that allows limited mobility players to connect various switches (that they might own already) and arranged them in an infinite number of combinations. Combine that with DPAD and large buttons on the top of the controller and the possibilities of usage are limitless 14

Each switch connected to the hub can be mapped to a input in the Gaming Console or PC. Now, why is this so important? What I love most about this history is the inclusion and research conducted by Microsoft to make this product happen. This unique controller (first of its kind) was created with the help of disabled consultants, and charities like AbleGamers. Microsoft’s research team explored the ways hospitals, charity groups, and non-profit organizations already help limited-mobility gamers enjoy the hobby. They created a space in their Seattle offices to invite gamers, organizations and other consultants in the industry and try to understand they way to help this group os users. During the process of research, they understood that sometimes brining someone outside of their home does not reflect the reality of their home setup. Sometimes gamers have an specific setup / space devoted for gaming. Imagine a switch button zip tied to a chair, and another two on the floor while a joystick is used on top of a Desktop. Complex setups could not be achieved at the Seattle office and also it’s not realistic to the end-user to take them out of their comfort to do a user study. What did the team do? They visited gamers in their homes to understand their personalized setup. To understand what were their frustrations or needs. And also to create a connection with this gamers. I have not seen this level of research depth being conducted in other industries. When you work close to the end users, not he connection with the end customer is so unique. 14

User research Now, why is this so important? Nothing for us, without us. Researching and testing with people with disabilities is critical for success of products that address accessibility. This unique controller (first of its kind) was created with the help of disabled consultants, and charities like AbleGamers. Microsoft’s research team explored the ways hospitals, charity groups, and non-profit organizations already help limited-mobility gamers enjoy the hobby. They created a space in their Seattle offices to invite gamers, organizations and other consultants in the industry and try to understand their way of playing. During the research process, they understood that brining someone to Microsoft’s offices was not reflecting the reality of their home setup. Sometimes gamers have a specific setup / space devoted for gaming. A switch button zip tied to a chair, and another two on the floor while a joystick is used on top of a Desktop. 15

Complex setups configuration could not be achieved at Microsoft’s offices. It wasn’t realistic. What did the team do? They visited gamers in their homes to understand their personalized setup. To understand what were their frustrations or needs, while creating connection with this gamers (future customers) I have not seen this level of research depth being conducted in other industries. When you work close to the end users, not he connection with the end customer is so unique. Passion & care can’t be taught. 15

That’s a wrap https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2018/07/25/accessible-unboxing-of-the-xbox-adaptive-controller/ End user should always be considered in the products being created. When things are done with passion and with care every detail matters. With the Xbox Adaptive Controller, Microsoft knew they had to make the packaging accessible for gamers with limited mobility. That required to rethink some things about how products are packaged, including what type of moments would be most meaningful. Do you want then to use their teeth to fight a plastic wrapping instead of being amazed by the the quality of the product? It was critically important that we incorporate accessibility into the packaging design and unboxing experience. There’s lots that can be done in the ‘accessibility’ They set themselves goals like : - No teeth to open a package - No twist ties to hold the product (as they can be painful or can cause injuries 16

while trying to open them with scissors) At the end they created a unique packaging that, if you have never seen it before in action I would highly recommend buying the product or watching the video on the link on screen. Both the retail package and the product package can be opened with minimal friction. Every step of the opening process incorporates loops, that are highly proven to assists in accessibility. When you open this product package is like ”pealing an onion” and at the end of the process. The product reveals itself in the most amazing experience I have experience until now. What if all the products we got packaged and delivered today had this in mind? Imagine the happiness as a user when you avoid this micro frustrations during your day of hard work and all you want is to go back home and play. 16

Takeaway 02 Nothing for us without us 17

Topic 03 Creating awareness 18

The biggest audience • The largest live television audience in U.S. and where people aren’t skipping the ads. • The Super Bowl gives advertisers the ‘instant awareness’ they want to sell their product. • About 76% of likely Super Bowl viewers in the U.S. say they’re excited for the ads. [REMOVE] Diagnosed with a rare condition in my heart. I grew up involved in sports since the age of 5. I started in soccer, then baseball and ended up in a pool and never stopped swimming until reaching the pre-olympic team. Sports have been part of my life, and they still are. I know sports, I love doing them more than watching the. But I’ll be honest there are some that are not appealing to me…. I don’t watch American Football. I do enjoy watching the half time show the day after. Also the ads / campaigns that are shown in it. I know that the ads are expensive, and they have a good reach, but I wanted to know how much. I did a quick research to understand the impact of advertising in the Super Bowl. According to the internet: The largest…. The super bowl gives….. About 76% of super bowl viewers…… 19

As an accessibility advocate / leader it’s a dream to be reach an audience of this size and be able to put accessibility front and center in so many viewers! This is like a dream come true. Instead of me holding a megaphone screaming to everyone “Pay attention please”, reaching a large audience in their homes and talking about accessibility for some days is a dream come true. 19

Super Bowl 2019 “When Everybody plays, we all win” In 2019 Microsoft used their space to advertise the Adaptive Controller on TV. The campaign named: “When everybody plays, we all win”. 20

Next day reaction The day after the Super Bowl, as every year, everyone was looking for who “won the campaign’? Who had the best ad? Most of the news outlets and newspapers mentioned XBOX as the winner of the year campaign. All the feedback was positive. For the first time, that I am aware of, an accessible product was in every front page. Everyone was talking about accessibility. Imagine the happiness of every one that participated in this product, its research, its conception, all of those that made it happen. Imagine the reaction of all the community after seeing this. Hey, I am being represented, finally someone is listening to me! 21

The last two years More than 120 million viewers watched the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022, which featured Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar. It was the first Super Bowl halftime show to feature ASL performers, including rappers Sean Forbes and Warren “WaWa” Sipe. In 2023, during Rihanna’s presentation, Justina Miles, the ASL translator, stole the show. Justina, an Olympian herself, became the first female deaf performer for the Super Bowl’s halftime show. Next day comments: “ I never knew signing could have so much flavor and expression. “ “ I felt the lyrics. ” “ She brought so much LIFE to Rhianna’s lyrics ” 22

Her interpretation became viral during the show. Another great example of bringing awareness to accessibility in broadcast media. I challenge myself (and my colleagues) every day to think of ways we can create big impact like this. How can we make them understand? How can we advocate more? I dare you to think : What can you do to put accessibility in front of many people? What if everyone cared as much about accessibility as shown on these moments? 22