Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has launched an initiative with sighted, blind and partially sighted consumers to challenge perceptions and create real change in the world of video gaming.
Devised by agency The & Partnership, the activity sees the gamers link up on livestreaming platform Twitch to play popular video games and have an honest conversation about the issue in real-time.
To make the experience as authentic as possible, VFX company The Mill, has created five different sight loss condition filters, with the help of experts at RNIB. These filters work via cameras and respond to gaze and head tracking.
The sighted gamers’ screen is hacked with these filters, so they can experience first-hand the challenges for themselves. They range from partial sight conditions like retinitis pigmentosa, to showing the experience with little to no useful vision.
A study into accessible gaming, conducted in March 2022 by RNIB, in partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London and The University of Edinburgh, found that more than 70% of game developers would like to see sharing on accessibility knowledge and technology within the industry and better resources on accessibility good practice. However, only 15% of game developers reported currently having sufficient understanding of the needs of gamers with sight loss.
Dubbed Design For Every Gamer, the programme aims to create a better gaming world for people with sight loss and a rallying cry to the industry to start making real change.
The project builds on the recent success of ‘See The Person’, a perception-changing campaign featuring a partially sighted gamer. RNIB and The & Partnership worked on the project to raise awareness of how games can often feel inaccessible for blind or partially sighted players and to encourage people to see the person, not the sight loss.
Sighted, blind and partially sighted Twitch streamers have been recruited to the livestreaming events, by The&Partnership.
RNIB is also calling all blind and partially sighted gamers to join an exclusive panel where they will preview and test upcoming game releases to ensure accessibility is built in during game development, rather than as an afterthought.
RNIB director of consumer and business services Alison Long said: “RNIB’s research demonstrates that nearly seven out of 10 people with sight loss reported it as a challenge when it came to enjoying gaming.
“Within the industry, there just aren’t enough conversations being had about accessibility and so these Twitch livestreams will be a fantastic way for more people to get involved with building a community to make gaming more inclusive.”
The & Partnership executive creative director Toby Allen added: “There’s no better mass-adopted technology than gaming to put sighted people in the shoes of blind and partially sighted people, and no better place to rally the community to action than Twitch.”
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