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Disability discrimination in games


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65 réponses à ce sujet

#1
Zandbergo

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Sorry for the agitating title, but more and more games are, in their desire to make a game as casual and 'port-able' as possible across all gaming-devices, unaware of a very basic thing;  key-remapping.  If you have a disability, either by birth or through war injuries; it makes games unplayable (and not in the whiny "I dont know how something works so Ill go to the forums and yell ITS UNPLAYABLE, I WANT REFUND!"  - but literally unable to play).

 

Yes, key-remapping is possible.  However even the most basic mouse keys (2 mouse thumb buttons) are not recognized.  I dont have a left hand, so cannot use the casual 'AWSD' set-up, or ctrl/shift/numpad buttons.  South Park Stick of Truth, Dark Souls II, and now DAI are the 'big' titles I played that dont recognize or even allow remapping those keys.

 

MAKE IT SO.  NOW:

 

- Recognize middle and thumb mouse buttons to remap

- Make auto-attack auto...  Without needing to press a button

- Automatically highlight 'stuff' without having to spam 'search'

- Make movement possible with mouse-click


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#2
InterrogationBear

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Well, that's unfortunate. A temporary solution would be to use third-party software, like Key Remapper. Seems to work fine.



#3
DWard

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Zandbergo hope they provide this option real fast. Have you tried StealthSwitch3?
 

http://stealthswitch...stealthswitch3/

 

Program keystrokes, hotkeys, macros, mouse clicks and you could potentially have 5 foot pads assigned to different keys.

Just wanted to let you know if you didn't already know about it.



#4
ligernull

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Accessibility is an excellent topic of discussion, actually.

I'm holding off on opening my copy until they come out with a 360 patch, so I've little first-hand experience with the interface. But the problem a lot of people seem to be having is the tiny text size, which can be a hardship for sight and hearing impaired players. Adjustable type size could go a long way towards fixing this problem.

As a company that prides itself on its progressive values, Bioware should be making disabled access a priority. While everything can't be accessible to everyone, a certain minimal effort would be great.

#5
StargeezerTim

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OP, I'm glad you posted this.  I still have both my hands, but both have limited use due to moderate-to-severe arthritis.  Bioware's decision to "hard-wire" such basic functions as your "auto-attack" (which is suspiciously absent any "auto") to a shoulder button is peculiar.  Even more perplexing is jettisoning a tried-and-true mechanic that highlighted interactive objects with one that requires you to constant spam a "search" button, and then mapping that to a button under the same stick used to move your character.  And while we're on that subject, I wonder if they could have found a worse color to "highlight" objects that are lit up by your sonar pings.  These are hard enough for people with little-to-no eyesight maladies to successfully locate (as watching game streams will readily attest to) -- it's doubly-so when you have old eyeballs and are trying to pick out a pale yellow outline amidst a wash of very similar background colors.

 

I have to play in brief "bursts", putting the controller down for a while when it becomes too painful to continue.  I have almost 30 hours into the game, and only just hit level 6.  While part of this can be chalked up to my almost insufferable compulsion to explore every inch of a map, the rest of it is easily accounted for by setting the controller down for 10-15 minutes at a time to rest my hands.

 

On the PC there appear to be some third-party work-arounds that will remap keys.  Unfortunately for console players, such a luxury isn't there.  I really wish that developers would take some of this into account when they are making decisions for their UI.



#6
Joan Moldovia

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While I have no problems thanks to controler support, I to am disabled, and wholeheartedly indorse this thread, if it wasn't for Controller support it would be litterally unplayable for me, I am sorry to hear you are having such issues and I hope something is done to help you in the future.  As others have suggested third party key mappers have helped me in the past maybe they can do the same for you.



#7
SunburnedPenguin

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I also have arthritus, which is worse in my left hand, so I try to use the mouse for all controls as much as possible. I have a cyst in my right hand so even then, I prefer controls that are the least click mad. My favourite method is holding down both mouse buttons to move, and then tab to auto attack with my left, using number keys to fire off skills. This means I can pretty much rest my hand on the keyboard. I cant do that with wasd controls.

 

I am quite dispointed to read (wont be playing till friday) that there are such crippling (literally) limitations on key mapping.

 

I can use my left hand to some degree, and I am disapointed. I cant begin to imagine how much worse it feels for those with no left hand to use.

 

Hoping for a patch before I get my new pc on friday.....



#8
Zandbergo

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Yes, the need to hold down a button to 'auto-attack', as well as needing to spam a 'search' button to highlight interactive stuff (reminds me of ME2 failed mining system... Bioware must have a fetish with tedious actions) is ridiculous.  Finally the 'using both mouse buttons (or just one; like DA1-2) was superior to this annoying shooter-setup.

 

So, BIOWARE.  If you are reading this (Ill send them an email now too):
 

- Recognize middle and thumb mouse buttons to remap

- Make auto-attack auto...  Without needing to press a button

- Automatically highlight 'stuff' without having to spam 'search'

- Make movement possible with mouse-click



#9
Grieving Natashina

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You could also try tweeting the devs, like Mike Laidlaw as well about this.  That's not a bad place to get a response from the devs.  I think you have a great point OP, and I think the DA team would be more than happy to hear you out.  As well to the other folks that this affects.  :)


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#10
Zandbergo

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Thanks Natashina.  Unfortunately I dont have Twitter :P    Ill see if I can make an account for this though.  Thanks ;)



#11
Brogan

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Signed...

 

Think it's absolutely disgusting that Bioware ignored this issue and segment of the community when they casually decided not to bother testing the pc control scheme before release.

 

As long as they got that pre-order money! 

 

- Hey, you think we should we bother mentioning in some official release that pc controls would not be like they were in DAO or DA2? 

- Nahhh...  we might lose sales...


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#12
Lady Luminous

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OP, I'm glad you posted this.  I still have both my hands, but both have limited use due to moderate-to-severe arthritis.  Bioware's decision to "hard-wire" such basic functions as your "auto-attack" (which is suspiciously absent any "auto") to a shoulder button is peculiar.  Even more perplexing is jettisoning a tried-and-true mechanic that highlighted interactive objects with one that requires you to constant spam a "search" button, and then mapping that to a button under the same stick used to move your character.  And while we're on that subject, I wonder if they could have found a worse color to "highlight" objects that are lit up by your sonar pings.  These are hard enough for people with little-to-no eyesight maladies to successfully locate (as watching game streams will readily attest to) -- it's doubly-so when you have old eyeballs and are trying to pick out a pale yellow outline amidst a wash of very similar background colors.

 

I have to play in brief "bursts", putting the controller down for a while when it becomes too painful to continue.  I have almost 30 hours into the game, and only just hit level 6.  While part of this can be chalked up to my almost insufferable compulsion to explore every inch of a map, the rest of it is easily accounted for by setting the controller down for 10-15 minutes at a time to rest my hands.

 

On the PC there appear to be some third-party work-arounds that will remap keys.  Unfortunately for console players, such a luxury isn't there.  I really wish that developers would take some of this into account when they are making decisions for their UI.

 

Not at all trying to lessen your experience, but may I point out that your colour setting may need tweaking? 

 

On my screen the ping is a dark orange that pops quite nicely. Hopefully that would be easier for you to see against the background. 



#13
Clarian

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Enable remapping the middle mouse button - I very much want that.  In every game ever, I always use MMB for switching targets.

 

Here are a couple things I started using for gaming after having some hand injuries:

 

Voice Activated Commands: www.dwvac.com

This lets you map any spoken word or phrase to any combination of keystrokes.  For example, I can set it up to type 'M' and bring up the map when I say 'map'.  Or for a more complex example, when I say 'emote, laugh', it can press enter, type '/laugh', and press enter again.  You can have different sets of commands to use for different games.

 

Foot pedals:

 

www.gamingmouse.com/gaming/fragpedal/quad

 

Four pedals, two for each foot.  You can map them to anything you like...I usually assign them to the left/right mouse buttons and things like shift and ctrl.

 

(Speaking of voice commands, though...the fact that you can't mute your mic in multiplayer...well, it would mean everyone would be annoyed to death with me saying commands.)

 

 

 



#14
Brogan

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Middle mouse button remapping has been almost universally recognized by Windows based games for almost a decade.

 

It's outright neglect. 

 

Or a freshman programmer who couldn't remember to put on pants before coming to work unless he set himself a phone alarm.



#15
Darkfyre

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it's not discrimination if it's not a deliberate act. i don't believe they deliberately withheld the ability to bind keys to certain mouse buttons or recognize certain mouse buttons. they probably just didn't think of it.



#16
Brogan

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Oh look, they didn't think of putting an access ramp to the restaurant where all those elderly war veterans frequent...



#17
Ashen Nedra

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For a company having (rightfully) been praised for its inclusive attitude towards the LGBT community and female gamers, this is downright shameful.

 

Don't they realize that a lot of people don't play consoles - EA/Bioware not-so-new-new darlings (see Mark Darrah's twitter background photo: nice PS4 disks you have, you old Pc gamer you) because they can't? 

 

Pc gaming is also a way to continue gaming if you are too old or injured to continue gaming on consoles and play action games.  So, gaming companies are blamed for their perceived or real sexism or passive homophobia but what about other communities?  Older people with arthritis or injured ones cannot play this new action-oriented DA


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#18
Brogan

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It's disgraceful.



#19
GoatLady

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I'm Hard of Hearing and playing on the PS3. Ended up rearranging my living room so I could sit close enough to the tv to read the subtitles, let alone the teeny tiny text in the worst box on the upper right of the HUD

For other console gamers with hand issues, I HIGHLY recommend the Avenger controller adaptor. It's been a God send with my arthritis. (Yep, I'm all kinds of torn up, thanks US military!)
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#20
Zandbergo

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The problem is not that (many) of the issues people bring up in this thread cannot be solved; the problem is that most are not an issue in other games.  Other games deal with it differently.  Especially the need to button smash, or not being able to remap keys cannot be considered anything but active neglect.  I doubt this will even be treated as a priority...



#21
Spaceballs604

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Wow, good to see this post on here. I was just sharing with how upset I am that the keyboard controls are so horrible, and I am limited to them exclusively because of a missing thumb and other finger injuries Afghanistan. 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Dragon Age Origins, not just because of the amazing story and characters, but also because the controls worked so well even with my disability. Somebody at Bioware really needs to just go back to Origins, and somehow copy and paste the system there to this game.



#22
Zandbergo

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Yes, let's hope this thread catches Bioware's eye ;)



#23
Black33

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I am a disabled gamer too and even with voice commands the game is really unfriendly to people with many kinds of disabilities. The WASD scheme to move, turn items in inventory, move tactical camera... is impossible to overcome for me. The controls for PC have received a severe critic from most users but to us is a slap in the face.



#24
Sartoz

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it's not discrimination if it's not a deliberate act. i don't believe they deliberately withheld the ability to bind keys to certain mouse buttons or recognize certain mouse buttons. they probably just didn't think of it.

Perhaps.

However,  key mapping flexibity existed in prior games. Why remove something fans liked?



#25
hwlrmnky

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I just went to the Ablegamers website and there is no Dragon Age: Inquisition accessibility review there. I encourage a disabled gamer here affected by the UI to write one. That would help get EA's attention.

I am disabled but not in a way that affects this game other than necessitating my switch to game pad on PC. If I wrote the review it wouldn't have the proper insight.
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