1st Workshop on Game Accessibility: Xtreme Interaction Design (GAXID'11)

About the Workshop

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Child playing with switch controller The way we interact with software is increasingly modeled after how we interact with the physical world; as such interaction is most natural to us. However, the emergence of immersive 3D technologies such as video games and virtual worlds, as well as more intuitive forms of interaction, such as using motion sensing, has only raised new barriers for users with disabilities. For example, video games and virtual worlds typically lack any textual representations that can be read by a screen reader or tactile display. Games typically require a degree of control that goes beyond what can be feasibly provided with assistive technology such as an eye tracker or a switch input. With an increasing number of people are interested in playing video games and with video games increasingly being used for other purposes than entertainment, such as education, rehabilitation or health, it is important we research how video games can be made accessible, especially when players with disabilities could benefit from the social, educational and health opportunities that games offer the most. The purpose of this workshop is to build a community of researchers with a common interest in researching solutions that may allow for players with disabilities to play games and to investigate the following research questions:
  1. What is the current state-of-research and practice?
  2. What barriers do players with disabilities encounter?
  3. What are the major research challenges that this proposed community needs to investigate?
To explore these questions/topics the workshop will involve a mix of interactive discussions, interactions with players with disabilities to learn more about the barriers they face, hands-on design exercises and demonstrations of accessible games that have been developed by the workshop organizers or workshop participants.

Important Dates


Location

The workshop on game accessibility is a one-day event held on June 28, 2011, which is co-located with the Foundations of Digital Games 2011 conference and is held in Bordeaux, France.