Super Sick Blog Tour: Cloud Strife & Depression

Super Sick Blog Tour: Cloud Strife & Depression

Welcome to the blog tour for the book Super Sick: Making Peace with Chronic Illness! I’m excited to host Allison here at The Geeky Gimp. Each stop in the tour features a fictional character who experiences chronic pain or illness. Check out the rest of the tour dates below!

By Allison Alexander

Often, when a book or movie represents a disability or illness, the entire thing is about that illness; think Forrest Gump or The Fault in Our Stars. These characters’ identities are entirely swallowed up by their disabilities. In other shows, characters with illnesses are only there on the sidelines to “inspire” the protagonist, in the way that Tiny Tim’s only purpose in A Christmas Carol is to be pitied by Scrooge.

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How HyperDot Got it Right, and the Importance of Accessibility in Gaming

Erin next to text that reads this game is so accessible

My latest vlog is all about an amazing game called HyperDot, developed by GLITCH! It was created with accessibility from its early planning stages, and the developers had many disabled play-testers; they listened to our feedback and reworked different aspects of HyperDot to make it playable for even more disabled gamers.

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Accessing VR: Don’t Leave Disabled People Behind

Neon outline of a person's head with disability symbols inside. There is a VR beam

by Erin Hawley

After watching a Polygon video titled “VR is Good Now,” I commented that VR games are not accessible for many disabled users, and I worry that this trend toward VR will, like modern console gaming, leave many disabled people behind. While game accessibility is starting to be a topic picked up by major news outlets, there was a long period of time where that conversation was mostly silent. Disabled people talked about it, and expensive or complex solutions were available (expense is part of accessibility, especially for many disabled people living on Social Security Income), but mainstream media was not interested in our needs.

The Xbox Adaptive Controller (XAC) is a fantastic move toward making consoles more accessible and creating mainstream dialog; while its invention opens Xbox gaming to more people, it hasn’t solved everything. PlayStation and Nintendo need to catch up. We still need game design that works better for D/deaf, blind, and/or developmentally disabled people. Games with complex control mapping and button sequences are still an access barrier, even with the XAC. This is why we need to start talking about VR accessibility now, while the technology is still in its infancy. The conversation must be one for today rather than one for ten or twenty years in the future when a major company finally decides to listen to us.

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Accessibility Report: HyperX Cloud Revolver S Gaming Headset

Black headphones on a dark blue background

by Lydia Rivers

Note: This review focuses on how the item interacts with my disability. If you wish to read about technical specifications and general features, I recommend Techradar’s comprehensive review. This is not a paid review or endorsement.

Hello everyone! My name is Lydia, and I’m a disabled gamer, writer, and visual novel designer. I’m constantly listening to all kinds of things to help me concentrate and relieve stress; it’s common for me to exceed ten hours’ worth of daily listening to music and other sound-intensive media, whether I’m active at work or sick in bed. I have chronic migraines, dyslexia, and clinical ADHD, so when it comes to a headset, I’m as needy as they get! Numerous symptoms interfere with my ability to utilize most headsets on the market, and it’s difficult to know where to begin because of the chronic lack of information addressing my concerns. Well, I recently purchased a HyperX Cloud Revolver S, and here is my experience for those in a similar predicament!

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Accessibility in Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Image of Lara Croft on a tree, a temple behind her, and a sun outlining her face
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was my most anticipated game of 2018; when I read about the accessibility features, that excitement then morphed into a mixture of relief, curiosity, and hope. As games and controllers become more complex, especially with the popularity of VR, I worry that the hobby I take part in right now will soon become a hobby I can no longer enjoy – and Tomb Raider isn’t exactly known for its simple controls or combat. But with aim assist and other features I will explain below, I am proud to share that I am able to play Shadow. And it was easier than any other game of this genre in recent years.

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Symmetra Needs to Stay Accessible for Disabled Gamers

Symmetra's new teleporters

by Erin Hawley

Overwatch is my favorite video game – I play it every day. What initially drew me to the game was its accessibility, and how every skill level is considered – from people who have trouble aiming, to expert first-person shooters. Overwatch originally prided itself as having a hero for everyone, but the development team is slowly deviating from that mission statement. When I first started playing, I was a D.Va main, a tank hero who can shoot and dive into people. There wasn’t a lot to think about or mechanics to manage with her; aiming was involved, but she was more about mobility and blocking with her defense matrix.

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Game Developers Conference: A Wheelchair User’s Experience

Cherry in their wheelchair in front of a map display for a game

Guest blogger: Cherry Rae

I recently attended my first Game Developers Conference, which was as intense as everyone who went to GDC promised me. It was also a successful and positive experience for me! However, I encountered some physical accessibility barriers.

I have fierce impostor syndrome and didn’t think I would be half as busy as I ended up being, but I experienced much more of the conference than I thought I would. I was invited to attend as a speaker on a panel discussing the current state of accessibility in games and where we see it going in the future. They also afforded me the opportunity to give the final presentation of the day-long Games Accessibility Conference that runs on the Monday of GDC.

The moment I said yes, I tried to figure out how accessible things would be. Aside from travel being difficult, as an autistic wheelchair user with very limited energy, it’s important that I plan and know what to expect in a busy and intimidating environment.

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Disabled Gamers Need A Way Out of Button Mashing

Two main characters from the A Way Out game, white men in prison clothes

by Erin Hawley 

Button mashing simulates physically difficult situations, making the gamer press a button quickly until a task is complete – which, admittedly, is kind of fun as a disabled person who can’t even lift a phone off the table. It has the potential to be exciting if implemented in an accessible way, but it’s rare to come across button mashing that I can complete myself. Due to Muscular Dystrophy, I don’t have the strength or stamina needed for this mechanic, and I often rely on someone else to do those parts of a game for me. It can completely ruin an otherwise fantastic gaming experience, like when you’re constantly fighting off zombies in Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Michonne, for example.

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Eye Win – Windows 10 Update to Improve Eye Tracking for Disabled Gamers

blue launchpad with Windows background

Guest blogger: April

Gaming with a disability can sometimes pose problems for a PC gamer. With many games requiring the use of multiple input devices at once, such as a keyboard and mouse simultaneously, sometimes games become difficult or completely unplayable to folks without certain motor skills. Fortunately, Microsoft is living up to their word and improving the Ease-of-Access options in Windows 10. A new Windows update releasing this month will include support for eye tracking. According to Microsoft’s support page, Ease of Access (found under the control panel) will allow you to control your PC with only your eye movements and the help of hardware by Tobii.

Read moreEye Win – Windows 10 Update to Improve Eye Tracking for Disabled Gamers