Blizzard and the hidden population of disabled players

by Mike Schramm Sep 5th 2008 at 4:30PM

A Dwarf Priest has a nice long post up about the relationship between Blizzard and one of the more hidden (and yet surprisingly large) groups within their population: disabled gamers. It's no secret to anyone who's played WoW for a while that a lot of disabled gamers have found a lot of solace in a social game where you can be almost completely anonymous and play a character at whatever pace you want to play. Even if you go with the lowest of estimations, there are about 525,000 people playing the game with some kind of disability in real life. That's a much bigger number than I expected, and it's a significant number of people paying Blizzard every month.

Fortunately, Dwarf Priest found that accessibility is relatively good in Blizzard's game -- most of the work is actually done with third-party addons, but the UI and display is so customizable that even with the default interface, many people without a full range of controls or movement can figure out how to play the game. For their part, Blizzard has agreed that a customizable UI is the best way to make a game accessible -- J. Allen Brack says that's a priority in this interview with Able Gamers.

Dwarf Priest has lots more, including a quick comparison with accessibility in Warhammer Online, and even a weird wrinkle in the Glider lawsuit (the botting program's creators are apparently claiming it helps disabled players play their characters). It's a very well-written post about a subject that doesn't get covered much, and there's lots of extra reading to dig into at the bottom as well.

Tags: a-dwarf-priest, ablegamers, accessibility, blizzard, brack, disability, disabled, glider, players, population, warhammer-online

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, News items, AddOns

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Barnister Sep 5th 2008 4:45PM

Boooring, me being disabled myself, I don't care about all this fuzz and whatnot.

I'm disabled that's is. I don't need special attention, thank you!

Iwanttobeasleep Sep 5th 2008 5:20PM

I'm sure the disabled of the world are very happy they elected you their spokesperson.

Alu Sep 5th 2008 4:49PM

Accessibility is relatively good, yes, but great? Not really. Being deaf myself, one thing that I've found to be a bit irritating in WoW is the fact that certain guilds and pugs make it an absolute requirement to be on Vent at all times during raids. So, needless to say, I've been kicked out of groups a couple of times due to not being able to get on vent even though I knew all of the boss fights and the schematics behind them.

I just don't see the reqs of being able to use vent unless you're trying to get over 2000 in arena or getting a server first on a raid boss.

kilana Sep 5th 2008 5:13PM

While I do understand the plight of being kicked from raids/groups due to not having vent, I do see the reasons for Vent. While you are unable to use your hearing, most people can, and it's another sense that people use to play. Vent makes it easy for a raid to communicate with each other, as people often do not read the raid chat when in the middle of a battle, not to mention the time it takes to type something out is longer then the time it takes to simply say it. They're watching the fight, the mobs, the patrols, etc. Should they watch chat more? Probably, but it's another thing competing for your sight, and people have opted to use another, faster sense to take in snap information.

As for you knowing the fight, it's not uncommon for someone to claim they know the fight, but then go running through a Flame Wreath on Aran or cross beams in Netherspite. People don't trust pugs. There's plenty of pug horror stories out there, so you can't blame people for being leery of pugs. You need to earn their trust, and if they aren't going to even let you in the door to try to prove it, then don't bother with it, just move onto a more openminded group. So some guilds and pugs won't let you in due to your disability. It doesn't matter. Find another guild. There are plenty out there.

Iwanttobeasleep Sep 5th 2008 5:23PM

If it's helpful for anyone. . .

My guild required vent, but we'd make exceptions if you couldn't use it for reasons other than being an asshat about downloading it. If you can't hear vent you need to know the encounter better than those who can, and the RL might need to set up a few macros to announce things to people not on vent (and likewise for the people not on vent so that they can communicate with the raid). But that's as easy as giving the person not on vent assist, so they can make announcements for everyone to see easily.

It's understandable to require vent for people who can't hear, but finding ways around it is sooo easy.

medelina Sep 5th 2008 9:28PM

I m a relay operator IRL and sometimes I think about how a sort of relay service for Vent and raids could work.

RetDwarf Sep 6th 2008 9:35AM

@ kilana and Iwanttobeasleep

I think you both missed the point, Alu is deaf, no matter how helpful you may think vent is, Alu can't hear it... Vent being a requirement for any group isn't very fair. While on the other hand, WoW, like life, is comprised of little cliques and subgroups of people that do their best to exclude while being pseudo-outcasts themselves.

The use of macros to communicate is a great idea and the people who spend the time to create and use them are doing a favor to those with bad or nonexistent hearing.

I'm also a disabled player, I was injured at the workplace and have had to deal with the loss of my previous ability. I used to be a class VI heavy lifter, lifting and carrying an excess of 150-200lbs. multiple times a day. Now, I'm lucky if I can carry 15.

Wow gave me something to focus on while I was recovering and I've had a great deal of life-changing conversations with the great people I met through the game. I was even lucky enough to find love with a caring, understanding and beautiful woman. Funny enough we met in a Pug group.

Disability, as I've found while attempting to re-enter the workforce is something that people still look down upon. Regardless of how many laws are passed it's simply a matter of education and consideration. Most reasonable players would take the time and consideration to come up with something to help them communicate more easily with their disabled compatriots. Not everything in this game has to be about your e-peen.

Alu, if you ever find yourself on US Feathermoon alliance, My toon is Mcallen and I'll roll with you.

-Mc

Shulkman Sep 5th 2008 5:03PM

Funny story... a friend of mine had been heckling me for a while, telling me that I should start playing WOW and I kept saying no, no, too busy, etc. Then I got injured on the job, and got 8 months off work with nothing to do... So while I am, for the most part, healed... I only started playing because of a temporary disability.

onetrueping Sep 5th 2008 5:06PM

I find the human tendency to deliberately refuse help, even when it is needed, to be rather amusing. At any rate, here's my perspective on the whole thing.

Imagine, if you will, that you were born with a really NASTY disability. I'm not talking deafness or blindness here, though each has its own issues. I'm talking about those who are unfortunate enough to be barely able to move, and are bound in a wheelchair most of their lives. A power wheelchair, at that, since they can at most move a few fingers. Most individuals in this situation can't talk at all well.

Now, give a person who's spent most of their life in this situation a switch, and a morse code translator on a computer. They can talk! People can listen! All of a sudden, the hard part isn't trying to figure out what they want to say, but rather trying to keep up with them!

While people who are only blind or deaf can enjoy a game with relatively few changes, it's a far greater challenge for one of these more disabled people to do anything. So when an application comes along that allows a man to suddenly be one of the best Unreal Tournament players, despite the fact that HE CAN'T EVEN MOVE HIS ARM, it's huge.

Because of the completely customizable interface in World of Warcraft, many of these people can play the game as easily and well as the bulk of non-disabled people, and few can actually tell the difference. And to them, this means more than anything.

Remember, next time you see a "keyboard turner" in a battleground make a few kills, it might be more than he's been able to do all his life.

uncaringbear Sep 5th 2008 9:49PM

Thank you - best comment I've seen today.

onetrueping Sep 6th 2008 3:11AM

Well, living with one of the pioneers of the computer accessibility movement can do that to yah, heh.

Dyermaker Sep 5th 2008 5:09PM

I had toyed with creating a blog for disabled gamers, was going to call it Broken Joystick. But, my laziness has proven successful yet again... someone else has already done it!

Serisa Sep 5th 2008 5:11PM

I'm visually impaired, I use a white cane and I love WoW. My disability has little effect in raids (although I do get horribly lost, just like the real world) unless there are fast mobs involved, like the pesky post-Curator mana wryms in Kara. However my guild know about it and are very helpful. My disability is not one I can escape from even in WoW but a little improvement on the accessibility front, such as making the text bigger, especially in the chat boxes would go a long way, ditto the option for bigger maps.

onetrueping Sep 5th 2008 5:18PM

Well, the chat box option is easy enough (look at Prat and ClearFont), but I'm not sure where you could go to find a bigger map setup, since the default maps already have tiny details. Might be worth looking around, though.

Sae Sep 5th 2008 9:21PM

I received most of my mods from a friend in one big .rar- but it did include one which allows me to enlarge or shrink the map. I believe it is cartographer, though you may need to look into it to see if it can help you or not :)

Andostre Sep 5th 2008 5:20PM

That was a great post at Dwarf Priest. One of her better ones, honestly. You can tell she put a lot of effort into it. She usually does, honestly, but this one seems even moreso.

alex Sep 5th 2008 5:38PM

Do we mean disabled like wheelchair bound or disabled to the level its difficult to use the computer. Personally im disabled and so i dont go do atheletic activities but it doesnt impair my ability to use a computer which is why im studying Mechanical Engineering. WoW is a way for me to play something on an equal level regardless of financial (except $15 a month) or physical ability compared to other players... like chess or something.

Arcadios Sep 5th 2008 5:40PM

Very cool article. I am confined to a wheelchair due to a form of Muscular Dystrophy. I have very limited to use of my arms and hands and have found the macro capabilities of WoW to be very helpful to me. I basically play the game just like everyone else with a mouse and keyboard but due to my limited hand use I have to bind abilities to the keys in the immediate area of WASD. My disability is progressive so I am constantly finding new ways to get things working for myself.