Sacred Symbols+, Episode 106: The Fight for Accessibility in Games (Video)

Thank you for listening! Glad you enjoyed our talk.

Colin Moriarty

I found this interview to be super fascinating. As an aside, I opened up settings for The Ascent, and I noticed they have TONS of options for subtitles - size, opacity, background opacity. But then when I went in and played the game, ALL THE OTHER TEXT in the game is TINY. I just found it so odd that they would not give players a way to adjust the size of ALL THE OTHER TEXT (of which there is a fug-ton) also. In fact most of this other text is more critical to the gameplay than cut scene subs. I don't think I would have even been thinking about things this way, before I had heard what Joel had to say.

Guybrush Threepwood

We will.

Colin Moriarty

Great show, gave me a lot to think about and really opened my mind to this topic. If there was ever an episode to make free I'd definitely recommend this one.

Andrew Gambill

Well, I hope you particularly found our conversation useful or interesting. =)

Colin Moriarty

I'm glad you found use in it.

Colin Moriarty

As a wheelchair user that has mobility issues and the use and control of both fine and gross motor skills, I am grateful that you where willing to have this conversation. I am in my mid 40s and have loved gaming since my early childhood seeing the Atari 2600 for the first time. I think too often as gaming has advanced throughout my life, I has seen the industry and "gamers" equate an increase in a games input and control complexity with an increase in that games' quality.

This was a very interesting episode it definitely opened my eyes to accessibility issues that I hadn’t thought about.

Wayne Moss

I agree. Opened my eyes, for sure.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for listening!

Colin Moriarty

A stand out episode, we can all use a little perspective sometimes. This gave me a few new angles from which to consider accessibility.

BlindRiot

Such good episode. I really appreciated Joel's perspective. Like Ian above me said, he brought up so many things that I've never even had to consider because of my own mental and physical health.

AaronElWhite

Wolfenstein II has stuff like that, too. Kinda neat.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for your kind words.

Colin Moriarty

We'll have him back to go deeper. =)

Colin Moriarty

You know.. as I listen to this conversation, the game The Surge came to mind. As a Dark Souls fan, I was drawn to it, and I still have yet to finish Surge 2 (it's freaking hard LOL) - but the intro to The Surge was interesting in that you start out in the wheelchair, and as morbid as it may be, you are splicing limbs off your opponents to attach armor sets onto your Exoskeleton. I wonder if Joel had ever played that game or at least experienced the intro. In a weird way, it's a sentimental intro to a hardcore game (some Avatar vibes too for sure). Great conversation, and wonderful to meet Joel. Thanks for these great interviews, Colin. Really great stuff.

Tony Rivera

And you’re interview skills are perfect. How you do these not in person are amazing.

Ian Andrews

Brilliant episode. Very interesting and informative. My daughter has disabilities and I haven’t even begun to think about so many points Joel raised. Very impressive man.

Ian Andrews

What a great insightful conversation, a big eye-opener to accessibility in gaming. Joel was such a good guest made me even want to educate myself more in this subject for the future.

Glad you enjoyed it, ma. =)

Colin Moriarty

What a wonderful conversation! Joel is not only well versed on accessibility but he’s super inspiring as well.

BettyAnn Moriarty

You're welcome!

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for listening.

Colin Moriarty

<3

Colin Moriarty

Thank you.

Colin Moriarty

We will eventually.

Colin Moriarty

You're very welcome.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for listening!

Colin Moriarty

Agreed.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks!

Colin Moriarty

What a lovely man! This was something different and a huge eye-opener. Thank you Colin.

Your Boi Nicky V

wow, I learned a great deal! So much we don't think about! Thanks

TheSilverLabGuy

Fantastic interview, really likeable guy and as you said Colin, opened my eyes to a few things too.

Joe

Wow, this was probably the best conversation I've heard on accessibility in the games space. Extremely elucidating

Tristen Wilbers

This was a great episode. I really think you should make it freely available on your YouTube channel so as many people as possible can learn from it. If even one developer hears it and is inspired to put more effort into accessibility, that would be great and important.

Aaron Merrick

Wow absolutely Blown away. Great conversation. Thank you Colin for doing this interview.

Christopher Morgan

This guest is so thoughtful and articulate, great job interviewing as well Colin, was a pleasure to listen to. 👍

Ryan Harvey

Dope and necessary conversation.

Caleb Greer

Super insightful and awesome guest.

Abel