What do you do when video game accessibility is inaccessible?
A common tool for gamers like me is missing from a long-awaited release
It’s 2014. I’m months-deep into a major depressive episode. Nothing is enjoyable, not even my all-time favorite video game. I feel listless in the worst of ways.
Several of my friends are playing “Dragon Age: Inquisition” (DAI), the latest installment in the long-running video game franchise by developer BioWare. Because of my SMA, most video games are inaccessible to me. There’s no reason to believe DAI will be any different, but I’m desperate to lose myself in something — so desperate that I splurge on the $60 game.
I have no idea what to expect. I’m a “Dragon Age” (DA) virgin, with none of the knowledge necessary for the third installment. But the game is, to my surprise, completely accessible. I’m not good at it, but I can play, which is an improvement on most titles.
High on the inevitability of a new obsession, I order the first two installments. I play all three games several times over the years, and even manage to hook a couple of my friends.
DA holds a special place in my heart, so you can imagine my excitement when, after 10 years, the sequel to DAI was finally announced.
Doubt comes in
The gameplay trailer for “Dragon Age: The Veilguard” (DAV) received mixed reviews and made me question the game’s accessibility. There was just something about it that I couldn’t articulate. I knew I wouldn’t be able to play it.
Still, I held out hope. The first three installments of DA are unique in that, as the player, I can look around the world with just the arrow keys; this frees up my mouse to interact with the rest of the user interface, specifically my onscreen keyboard (OSK). I felt, perhaps idiotically, that DAV would retain this feature. Why fix what isn’t broken?
Breaking what’s fixed
A few days before DAV’s release on Oct. 31, a friend of a friend confirmed that the game was not OSK-compatible.
I wasn’t surprised. Annoyed, yes, and frustrated, but thoroughly unsurprised. I texted my friends, who immediately offered to hang out on Oct. 31 and play the game for me.
Halloween dawned. We lit a candle, started the game, and settled in for an adventure.
It didn’t take me long to realize the game was, in fact, OSK-compatible. Relieved, I bought the game and begged my internet to download the 90-something gigabytes with something resembling speed. Finally, after what felt like an age, I launched the game and dived into the settings.
DAV boasts 55 accessibility options. That’s nothing to sneeze at. From difficulty settings to subtitles and aim assist, BioWare has gone to great lengths to make the game as accessible as possible. Yet I was gutted to realize that the one setting I really needed — the ability to remap what controls the camera — was missing.
When accessibility isn’t enough
Inaccessible games are nothing new. But this loss hit harder than I’d expected. More than anything, I needed to lose myself in a new story. Discovering that a franchise I’d loved for a decade was no longer accessible to me was, in short, devastating.
Remapping the camera isn’t difficult. In fact, it’s a feature the publisher has included before; both “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” and its sequel, “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor,” allow the player to remap the camera controls. It’s the only reason I was able to binge the series early last year. So I was frustrated. Why would one of gaming’s simplest accessibility options be so difficult to find?
I’ve played DAV twice now, vicariously, thanks to my friends. It’s shaping up to be an incredible game, and I’m mad as all get-out that I can’t play. But more than mad, I’m disappointed.
No, not disappointed. Discomfited.
I keep coming back to the whopping 55 accessibility options. That’s a lot of customization. Many of the settings included in DAV’s release were unthinkable a decade ago. But the thing about accessibility is that it’s not one-size-fits-all. What’s accessible for one person will be inaccessible for another.
So what do we do? How do we champion universal accessibility when the very concept is unfathomable?
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Note: SMA News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of SMA News Today or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to spinal muscular atrophy.
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