By Aaron Spelker | From BayLines Express, September, 2024
Since losing my sight 5 years ago, I have unexpectedly become an expert in the area of mobile accessible gaming. Over the past 5 years, I have started a Facebook group focused on mobile gaming for the blind community. I write articles about accessible gaming for
PocketGamer.com. I have interviewed on YouTube dozens of game developers about their efforts in creating accessible games. And, earlier this year, I presented at a conference about why accessible gaming is important to the blind community. The more I immerse myself in gaming, the more I realize that it is a vital component of the emotional well-being of a visually impaired individual.
Playing games is an integral part of the human experience, however there is a portion of the global population whose access to this most essential human activity has been limited.
In a 2020 study completed by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, they identified that 1.1 billion people worldwide live with vision loss. 43 million are categorized as completely blind and 295 million are considered significantly visually impaired. Based on global demographic trends, the BBC reported that the number of individuals with significant vision loss is expected to triple by the year 2050.
In the Prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated factors in an urban, ophthalmic population article, the authors stated that individuals with acute vision impairment suffer from anxiety and depression at a rate nearly three times higher than individuals without a vision impairment. This depression and anxiety arise from feelings of inadequacy, lack of purpose, and inability to make social connections.
These statistics related to vision loss and the associated emotional impact mirrored my own personal experience. I spent my entire sighted life enjoying casual gaming, but an accident in my mid 40s caused me to go blind. In the immediate aftermath of my vision loss, I had trouble finding moments of joy from my new blind life. Over the next couple of years, I learned to adapt to life as a blind person. I learned how to operate a computer with a screen reader, use my iPhone with voiceover, navigate my surroundings with a cane and a guide dog, learn the basics of Braille, and watch television utilizing audio descriptions. I learned a new auditory way to interact with the world. After learning all of these new techniques, I still had a large hole in my life. It dawned on me one day that I had not played an electronic video game in over two years. The lack of gameplay meant I was missing the benefits that come with gaming.
A 2024 WebMD article explains that video games have several cognitive and mental therapeutic benefits. Video games require strategic problem solving, build social connections through online gaming, create a sense of purpose and accomplishment as the player completes the game or obtains achievements, teach players self-reliance as they learn to overcome failure by trying again, and provide a distraction from everyday worries and psychological traumas. The associated burdens related to severe vision loss can be remedied by playing video games.
After experiencing the pleasure and satisfaction of playing accessible games, I made it my mission to ensure that other visually impaired and blind people were aware that gaming opportunities are available. This is how I found myself on the leading edge of advocating for and promoting accessible games. Unfortunately, of the millions of games that are available to the sighted public, only a mere fraction is accessible to the blind community. Only the most popular board games offer a Braille accessible version, but at a significantly higher cost. Braille playing cards and dice have opened up a swath of games to blind individuals. However, electronic gaming offers the greatest opportunity to expose blind people to a wide variety of game genres at a reasonable cost.
For decades, audible screen readers on computers and phones have provided the ability to interact with the elements on the screen. Blind and low vision people can navigate websites, word processers, spreadsheets, and phone applications. The issue is that when games are built, accessibility is often an afterthought. In some cases, small game developers do not have the resources to make adding accessibility financially viable. While some game creation software programs have integrated accessibility add-ons to provide game developers the tools to make their games accessible, the majority of the game-maker programs do not provide accessibility features. Developers using these programs need to build an accessibility interface from scratch if they want their games to be accessible. This often means that the blind community is unable to participate in hot new games.
Gaming can be a vital component of mental health. The blind community’s levels of anxiety, isolation, and depression coupled with the potential sense of decreased self-worth can be mitigated by playing video games. Many blind people are hungry for gaming opportunities. Through my work reviewing accessible mobile games, I have learned that blind people love a wide variety of gaming genres. The only obstacle that hinders blind individuals from playing video games is the audible feedback that many games lack. I have been working with game developers, game reviewers, and game accessibility advocates to further promote and advance accessible games for the blind and low vision community. As a reader of this article, I hope that you will make your presence known as an accessibility gamer by downloading, purchasing, playing, promoting, reviewing, and sharing accessible games. The louder our voices are heard for the creation of quality accessible games, the more likely game developers will develop more games.
Here are three accessible mobile games to get started on your gaming journey:
Dice World – Dice Game – Developer: AppA11y
Dice World provides 5 different online multiplayer dice games. In this turn-based game play, you will compete against players from around the world.
Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven – Choose Your Own Adventure RPG – Developer: Jim Dattilo
Through your actions and decisions, you will drive the narrative of this text adventure game. Zombie Exodus is part of the Hosted Games platform, which hosts hundreds of text adventure games across a variety of genres. When you finish Zombie Exodus, browse the entire Hosted Games catalogue.
To the Dragon Cave – 3D Audio Adventure – Developer: Kikiriki Games
In this 3D audio fantasy adventure, you will play a blind heroine tasked with rescuing the kidnaped prince. You will battle waves of enemies using a bow, sword, and magic in 3-dimensional space by using binaural sound.
Now, stop reading and get playing!
Aaron is the founder of ‘Mobile Accessible Games’ which provides weekly long-form reviews of iPhone games that are accessible to blind and vision impaired gamers. His game reviews are posted to the Facebook group of the same name.