My Zelda Cane: Strategies Used by Blind Players to Play Visual-Centric Digital Games

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how blind players use diverse strategies to play visual-centric mainstream games, highlighting accessibility challenges and adaptations through analysis of YouTube gameplay videos.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of strategies employed by blind players in mainstream games and discusses implications for game accessibility design.

Findings

Blind players develop specific strategies to overcome visual barriers.

Audio design choices have significant incidental effects on accessibility.

Design trade-offs impact accessibility, agency, and engagement.

Abstract

Mainstream games are typically designed around the visual experience, with behaviors and interactions highly dependent on vision. Despite this, blind people are playing mainstream games while dealing with and overcoming inaccessible content, often together with friends and audiences. In this work, we analyze over 70 hours of YouTube videos, where blind content-creators play visual-centric games. We point out the various strategies employed by players to overcome barriers that permeate mainstream games. We reflect on ways to enable and improve blind players experience with these games, shedding light on the positive and negative consequences of apparently benign design choices. Our observations underline how game elements are appropriated for accessibility, the incidental consequences of audio design, and the trade-offs between accessibility, agency, and engagement.