If you have read the title, you are probably intrigued by the topic!
But if you are saying – “This is absolutely not true! There is no way of doing it!” You are completely wrong.
And Karen Stevens, the Lead from EA Sports Accessibility team is here to prove it. This was the topic of the latest Game Developers Conference Presentation as it focused on methods for allowing people with impaired or no eyesight to enjoy playing video games.
How This Idea Came To Be?
It all started when blind gamers started complaining about not being able to play some latest versions of video games. One such particular case was a person who said that the changes of the kick power meter in the latest NFL Madden video game were not adapted properly, making it harder for him to play.
They soon started realizing that blind people are not only playing this game, but other EA Sports games like UFC Undisputed, NHL and even Need For Speed as well.
They thought to themselves – “There is something to this madness” and started developing ways to please these particular groups of gamers.
Methods for Blind People Playing EA Sports Games
So how can this be done?
Karen and her team immediately started developing ways for blind people to play. Since they can’t rely on the main part necessary to play video games, the video part, they had to focus on their other senses.
Luckily, the case with blind people is that their remaining senses are much higher.
Thus the idea came to improve video game commentary and narration that goes with the game. If people are playing NFL or NHL, they can listen carefully and follow everything that is happening. It is like listening to a video game on the radio.
On the other hand, the same thing goes for games like Need for Speed, as the gamer can also concentrate on the pitch of the engine and the screeching of tires.
Besides hearing, players can also concentrate on feeling, through the vibrations of the controller. The intensity of the vibrations can also be regulated so a gamer knows if something good or bad is happening to them.
Additional Help
Besides making gameplay easier for blind people, Karen Stevens went out of her way to help them out in various other ways.
For instance, some people are blind from their birth so they have never seen a game of football before, they cannot imagine what it is. But they heard about it and can understand it better through helpful audio tutorials that carefully explain the history of the game, the actual game, all the rules, and how to play the video game version.
They also decided to add ways to help them create accounts and various other necessary features.
To Conclude
EA Sports has really made an effort here and made a lot of people happy, not just added an all-new demographics of gamers to the mix.
Would you like to try playing one of these games blindfolded?