Re: Accessibility in video games
Well it's not just games though, I mean in terms of mechanics, like what do I do at place X in game Y.
I know Liam for example has mentioned using, I think, a capture card with his X-Box so he can do OCR on menus. Somebody who hears about "playable" or "accessible" games and decides to get a console isn't going to know a damn thing about that. I get not going through how you're doing whatever on every game stream, that would probably be pretty boring. But I mean, maybe somebody will see that they need additional hardware and decide not to play because it's not for them.
That's kind of more what I mean, even just the basic setup. Something like Slay The Spire is accessible, though it still has a learning curve. Something like Hades doesn't sound very accessible, from my standpoint, at least I don't see how people who play it, if they are, are doing it. But you know you ask, "what's accessible", and somebody will go "fighting game X", and then you find out you need a capture card, or sighted assistance in parts, or whatever. I'd call that playable, but with a lot of work. I'm not gonna piss on anybody doing that, it's great that they're enjoying it.
I just wish they'd be forthcoming about what it involves so that you have a much better idea about what the playable/accessible claim means. I think they feel that they've figured out a way to do it, so that means everybody can or should do that, and that's just not the case. I personally don't care so much about whether game X is fully accessible or involves a lot of button mashing or whatever. I mean I do, because I'd like to know what experience I'm getting. But I don't care in terms of what we might call really playable.
That's a debate I'm not interested in having. You're playing it and enjoying it? Awesome! It's playable for you, whatever that means to you. But I think the problem is that people then just claim it's playable, without specifying what that actually means in practical terms. I should be fair and say some people. I think Liam, the only person I follow on any kind of regular basis so feel free to recommend more people if you think it's worth it, is pretty up front about how playable or not a game is, at least in general terms. And I don't fault him for not doing more because he is trying to just stream games and have fun, and getting into the nuts and bolts every single time would bore people to tears. But he at least tells you some stuff and gives critiques and all.
But yeah, more guides and more practical discussion so people know what "playable" means in terms of each game would be really helpful. I mean people keep talking about consoles getting more and more accessible. That's probably true. But is it to the point where I'd be willing to buy one? Not so far as I can see, and none of the vague accessibility talk from most places is changing my mind. And I think that's sad because the big way to get more of this stuff happening is for more people to support it by buying it and using it.
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