ABSTRACT

Video games have become one of the preferred leisure options for many and are also increasingly being used beyond entertainment in areas such as education, training, health and advertising. However, most video games are not accessible or fully accessible to people with disabilities. Game accessibility promotes a design-for-all that allows for a high degree of customisation, so that different players can choose the features that best suit their specific needs and can enjoy the game without a reduced game experience. This chapter provides an overview of game accessibility for blind and visually impaired players. First, it provides a historical review of games that are accessible for such users, with a focus on audio games. It then moves on to address critical issues in improving game accessibility, such as design guidelines and the applicability of audio description in games. It also reviews current research on game accessibility and discusses research methods applied in this field, such as descriptive research, evaluative research and experimental reception studies. Lastly, it explores future directions for improving game accessibility from both academic and industrial perspectives.