Inclusivity

With most young game developers today, you’re likely to find that their political and spiritual ideals would align with the desire to be less exclusive when it comes to gamers, and to include more multifaceted characters and stories that don’t mostly cater to white, straight, monotheistic god-fearing males. Whether or not developers can actually incorporate these alternative aspects into their games, however, seems to be a conflicted discussion.

Therefore, I’d like to propose a way that developers can be more inclusive that isn’t controversial, and wouldn’t negatively affect sales. In fact, it could open the doors to include more players who previously may not have been able to participate. The secret lies in the options menu. I’ll explain:

I recently was tasked with creating the sound design and mix for a beautiful documentary on autism and sensory perception. While preparing for the project, my research led me to a forum of gamers with unique sensitivities to sounds, and their feedback was almost unanimous; they wanted to have more control over the game’s sound and graphics settings.

Some of these players had trouble distinguishing the dialog if there was also music or sound effects playing. Some players had difficulty concentrating if the characters' dialog was too 'present', or had too many mouth sounds when they spoke. Some players wanted to remove the music entirely. Everyone’s experience with how they heard the world was a little different, but it was clear that they wanted a way to sneak into their game’s audio controls to improve so they could actually immerse themselves into the games they enjoy without having to hit the mute button.

While this online community applauded several games that incorporated some or all of these sound options, it was clear that they were a rare occurrence. The solution seems simple; include toggles and sliders for players to adjust separate volume levels and EQ settings for dialog, music, and sound effects. I would expand this to also include color and video settings for colorblind players and others with visual sensitivities. Include a toggle for blood and gore. Include a toggle for adult language. Reach out to your community to find out what options and settings would allow the most people a chance to enjoy playing the game.

It’s easy for anyone, game developers included, to assume that most people think, act, and perceive things about the same as they do. If awareness can be raised to the needs and sensitivities of players to aren’t the same, but who equally desire to join in the fun, we can include a whole community of players without having to completely alter the story, characters, or content of a game, particularly one that’s already well into production.

Finally, as a way to get the industry at large more aware of this unique but eager demographic, I think it’s as simple as reaching out and having a dialog. There are several online forums that cater to gamers with Asperger’s and autism, and even non-gaming autism organizations are eager to get involved with anything that helps raise community awareness. While I hope that the industry can someday incorporate characters and stories that better reflect the greater audiences that actually play their games, augmenting the options menu is a simple solution to be more inclusive that we get do right now.