The Power of Accessible Gaming

Globally, gaming is huge. And for disabled gamers it can be a chance to be a part of a supportive and inclusive community. DRM spoke to Martin, a carer and disabled gamer who has found great wellbeing and support in the gaming community…

MY self image is of being a carer rather than being disabled as my experience has generally been through other people. I have chronic, progressive, lung fibrosis and am towards the tail end of treatment for cancer. I carry an unexpressed gene related to lupus which increases susceptibility to inflammatory complaints. For the last decade, I have been carer for three people: Raz, my mother, and my brother. In the last year my mother and brother have both died. I continue to care for Raz, whose fairly complex needs include a mobility limiting spinal injury and deafness.

The popular image of carers is being low paid with the reality of being unpaid. Much of caring, for me, has revolved around the logistics of four peoples’ lives, coordinating with various professional organisations and simultaneously running a small business. An education in Biology, then Software Engineering and then Philosophy tends to make me seek out pedantic facts and figures and to want to understand things within science as a framework. My part time work - given that caring is a full time job in itself – is subsidised caring. Runescape fits into that as a kind of clock with culture.

Having programmed computers since I was a teenager, it seemed natural to play connected, online, fun, social games. Professionally, I write boring accounting programmes which lacks extremes of fun. I have played games from early MultiUser Dungeons, like Lambda-MOO to Minecraft. Online games move beyond passive entertainment and becomes an experience that is much more than getting a high score, such as in games like Runescape. The range of daily, weekly, seasonal and structured events give a sense of connection to a coherent and changing world. It is an isolation reducing rhythm. Being someone else for a few hours can even be a powerful respite.

Runescape does something fundamentally right: actively cultivating community. Jagex supports mental health and disability charities, acknowledging good health grows within communities. Runefest brings players and developers together, annually, for

“BEING SOMEONE ELSE FOR A FEW HOURS CAN EVEN BE A POWERFUL RESPITE.”

announcements, to celebrate Runescape and the Community. Developers get to meet and mix with the people who play their games. There is ‘community’ beyond the escapism of playing. Which is a positive support for well-being.

Runescape has had two decades of development, growth and change; influencing, quite literally, millions of people. Being influential means characters like Grandma Potterington’s wheelchair using presence - which hints at a rich backstory - introduces people to disability and visible diversity. Which is something I have always believed to be important in games, online and offline: play drives cultural change.

All online games offer a relatively level playing field to access other people. This emergent feature can benefit carer and disabled players in powerful ways. With millions of users, failures amplify rapidly, making mistakes vivid. Not only apparently minor things like subtitles, colour schemes for colour blindness, and how keyboards and controllers work but also about representation. Features trivial to one player are a barrier to play for others and that can detract from gameplay – Developers are not always keen to address that failure because they put so much effort into that feature. Jagex does make accessible effective efforts: not unique, but rare.

Computers can create an environment where the exact features of personal identity are obscured. Done well that facilitates wellbeing and even personal achievements for Players. Giving a sense of personal control over visibility. Games like Runescape do this in a way that will never suit every person. Online games stop being about escapism and become a means of personal enrichment.

Author: Martin aka Hubert Hazza Website: runescape.com/splash Twitter: @RuneScape Instagram: @runescape

Image is a screenshot of Runescape gameplay.