Report: Industry missing out on revenue from aging, disabled gamers

That's touching dude. Especially considering the soundtrack of the games.

I have the same kind of thing with my mom and Zelda, we always talk about the different games and bosses / levels, she's always playing one of the titles.and is disabled as well.

@Jerry, have you ever bought a walkthrough book? They're quite nice AND sometimes they can be collectors items. I enjoyed having one for OoT, Goldeneye and Starfox 64.

I try not to use guides anymore though.

What?

Elaborate, please?

You mean you want to steal from the big gaming companies and hand them out to the elderly and disabled?

Good for you!

Yes.

They like those things... but only in real life.

Guitar Hero: Def Leppard.

The way I interpreted it, is that yes there could be games aimed a specific age/disability demographics (the 7-128 company seems to make just those kinds of games), but also that other games can be made more accessible and friendly to the disabled or elderly.

Take a text heavy RPG. From a gameplay format, it's probably pretty well suited to an older player. But if there is just a fixed font size, and that player has problems reading the text, the game won't be enjoyable. Adjustable font sizes in text heavy games just make a lot of sense, and I find it silly that after this many years it's still a feature that is never seen.

Bioshock 2 recently had an issue with color blind players. The hacking minigame was basically unplayable to people with a particular kind of color blindness. This is a fix that's as easy as allowing a pallet swap for that game.

I'm not convinced that the games industry is missing out on billions of dollars in sales, but I do think it's smart to at least consider some of these issues as you design games. Some of the "accessibility" features might be welcomed by core gamers as well.

I think you are missing the point. First, I am the President of the org that wrote the White Paper, so trust me, I know what I am talking about. The AbleGamers Foundation is a nonprofit that is run by disabled people for disabled people. The point of the paper is to show that making games more accessible will increase the market potential for game makers.

If you want a sad story and want me to guilt people into making games more accessible I can give you those, I can bring you to tears, but what point is that?

The face is the disabled and elderly community WANTS to be treated like ever other market. We do not really want your pity. We want to play games, we want to play great games. How better to get to that end than to make an argument about the market that the disabled population. I HAVE A JOB, I HAVE MONEY, NOW MAKE ME WANT TO GIVE IT TO YOU BY MAKING THINGS I CAN USE. It is that simple.

Companies everyday are working to get your money out of your wallet and into their hands, and it may shock you, but many disabled population is no different.

I am sorry Mr. Nook that you feel you need to use the words Cripple for shock value and did not even bother to understand who wrote the paper. It was not some slick marketing firm, it was a real nonprofit run by disabled gamers.

I invite you to check us out, http://www.ablegamers.org or our community site, http://www.ablegamers.com

Hi Mark, thanks for your time in posting a reply. I didn't use cripple for shock factor, it was used to demonstrate my interpretation of the article and the feeling I got from it. I think you missed the point - I started with saying - "The way this is worded is disgusting" and it is. It is worded in a way that says we've got to start mining these people for their bells.

I'm certainly pro-gaming, being a gamer since I was 8 years old back when Night Ranger was a serious player in the rock arena. I have a disabled mom that plays games, it's one of the areas in our lives that we really connect to each other with.

The issue isn't as you think it is, look at the wording, maybe you didn't read the article posted here, maybe you should. Here's a few highlights that shone like a piece of Tri-Force in the depths of a dungeon:

According to a report coauthored by the Able Gamers Foundation and 7-128 Software, the game industry is losing out on up to $3 billion in revenue by failing to cater to older or disabled gamers.

Losing? No, not losing - you cannot lose what you never had. The current install base is what it is, it sounds as if we're trying to lump together both demographics here while implying the loss is from the lack of these players being in the fold now.

Finally, Baby Boomers -- those born between 1946 and 1964 -- have much more disposable income than younger demographics, adding up to billions in potential revenue.

Assumption. Nothing more. You are forcasting numbers based on assumptions that you know what is in the wallet of every baby boomer, post Sept 08 crash and the ongoing crisis that is not ending as many government officials would like to have you believe.

"If the gaming industry does not realign their priorities to include accessible gaming," notes the report, "then a collision will happen in the next five years," resulting in "lost sales and lost customers."

Again, you cannot lose what you never had. This sounds like PR / marketing / admin fear mongering at best. The percentage of current gamers that may in the next five years that may experience an event that disables them is pretty low, to the point of making them get out of gaming? Not even worth mentioning these outliers, they will not affect the overall curve.

"By making video games accessible to gamers with disabilities, which includes older gamers," writes co-author Eleanor Robinson, "game manufacturers will unlock a lucrative, paying market of consumers for years to come."

Jeez, do I need to even comment?

So, the wording to me says that this isn't geared towards helping those who, unfortunatley, are at a disadvantage. It says to me, several times during the short write up, that the goal here is to get money. Nothing more. If I am so turned off to this short piece, what would make you think I would want to spend anymore of my time reading, when in my mind I would be expecting more of the same as what I just read?

I'd like to also add that we in the gaming community have seen an avalanche of titles that are well suited for disabled gamers, the Wii is a blazing example and really is the standard right now. It's at least a starting point, with Natal in my mind being the biggest thing for disabled gamers to begin to find another release in life. I wish everyone could have the same feeling achieved through a positive gaming experience, that escape and release session where you can run and jump from building to building, or just walk through the wide open fields exploring whatever tickles your fancy.

Otherwise this is all worded in a way that says - money, money, money. from my time here on this planet - when that is the focus - people are devalued in the name of. See: Activision.

Make the public focus on the people, not potential revenue streams and growing base numbers. That's just not appealing. It's disgusting.

It doesn't matter one ioda to me if we're talking able bodied or disabled, the focus on money and revenue is the downside here. It should be on the people, and I fail to see where that is coming through in this piece.

Is revenue fear mongering the tactis being emplyed here to get devs to add simple items such as adjustable fonts? Colour pallet swaps? Adjustable difficulty? Simpler control scheme options? Single handed controllers? Foot controllers?

We can do better. We have to do better. I don't like my mom being viewed as a never ending supply of money. That viewpoint is void of something I like to call, being human. It may have not been the intention for it to come across like this, however it does.

holy crow! sorry everyone.

*looks again*

wow.

Sad but true. It's the arrogance of being human, we always think we know more than what we really do.

We really know nothing, so in the end you might say we're just as guilty - with our plastic disks and new hardware every few years instead of maxing out what we've got.

Just as guilty, if not more because there are more of us consuming.

Though the greatest positive to effect change is being aware of this situation, and now we're aware. Will we change by choice though?