Accessibility

This is an interesting assignment.  I am to get a better idea of what people with disabilities go through when trying to play a game.  I am to play a game of my choosing and go through several scenarios to help with understanding how to make games easier for end users to participate.  The game I chose is Mass Effect for the PC. 

10 minutes of regular gameplay:  The controls are pretty easy to setup and use.  Just an offshoot of the basic keyboard and mouse  first-person shooter.  As I originally played FPS games this way it is not difficult and makes, for me at least, easier and more accurate than a console controller.

10 minutes of gameplay with no arms:  Well this is quite difficult.  I was able to move around somewhat, but I could not aim and died in game frequently.  The setup is not conducive to using my feet.  The keyboard and mouse are not shaped to be used with my feet and I am not coordinated enough to using these appendages for control.  It is nearly impossible for me unless you are used to using your feet.  Possibly with modifications to the hardware, gameplay mechanics of the software and  tweaks to the sensitivity settings could adequate play be achieved. 

10 minutes of the gameplay with no monitor:  With the shooting, movement and character speech interaction menus purely visual based it was impossible to play.  You would totally have to rebuild the game up with lots of verbal feedback from all in game characters.  Also an interactive 3D controller, Novint Falcon comes to mind, would help with tactile feedback to help with the the virtual environment interaction.  Good use of surround sound would be needed as well.  Understanding gameplay to accommodate visually impaired users would require lots of testing and major changes in game design.  I admit it would be difficult to adapt Mass Effect.

10 minutes of gameplay with one arm:  I had the idea of using my feet as a movement controller and using my arm to aim.   I got the idea from Time Crisis as it had a foot pedal for interaction. I was good, not great but with practice I feel I could be decent.  I have a 5 button mouse and mapped the most I could to it.  Game play would be pretty good if a controller designed for the feet were involved.  I remapped the movement buttons but since the keyboard keys are small I need something bigger.  I probably would tweak the menus and layout a bit to help with navigation.  Overall the change would not be a major reworking.