2009 Accessible Game of Year - Dragon Age: Origins UPDATED
Fully accessible mainstream games are the core mission for the accessible gaming movement. AbleGamers selects one game to represent the most accessible game of each calendar year. This year is no different, one video game stood out from the rest with accessibility options far beyond what most companies are willing to include.
AbleGamers is proud to present Bioware with the “2009 Mainstream Accessibility Award” for their smash hit “Dragon Age: Origins” for PC with a score of 9.8 out of 10.
Dragon Age: Origins offers some of the most astounding accessibility options seen in any game this year. With only one accessibility complaint, Bioware far exceeded expectations for an accessible title. However, the relatively small font size was immediately addressed by Bioware, bringing the number of accessibility problems to zero.
The accessibility of Dragon Age: Origins includes:
- Multiple levels of subtitles - You are given the option of no subtitles, only subtitles, or subtitles plus ambient noise subtitles. In addition, even when selecting no subtitles as your option, the game places subtitles in the interactive cut scenes at the top of your screen.
- Extreme mobility options - Users can control the characters from multiple camera angles allowing for various play styles. Players can use the keyboard or both mouse buttons to control the cameras and the characters themselves. There are precise movements needed in some situations, but most actions are very forgiving and easily managed. Moreover, there is no need for a mouse sensitivity option and on-screen keyboards work perfectly.
- Colorblind friendly - With the addition of improved fonts, all status bars are easily read no matter the color impairment.
- Cognitive friendly - Perhaps the most underrepresented disability in mainstream games, cognitive impaired gamers can pause the action quickly and as often as necessary in the heat of the battle. Orders can be issued during the pause, allowing anyone to keep up with the game no matter the level of cognitive impairment.
- Extra accessibility - Ambient noises, subtle movements, clearly marked terrain, multiple levels of difficulty, and many other small accessibility options.
What makes this title so exceptional is the level of options given to the gamer to choose their level of accessibility. Options are the key component to adding accessibility without harming the overall gameplay of any title. As long as developers like Bioware continue to add accessibility in layers of options that enhance their gaming titles, disabled gamers will continue to be able to play great titles such as Dragon Age: Origins.
AbleGamers congratulates Bioware and the Dragon Age: Origins team on an outstanding video game, chocked full of accessibility and hours of fun.
UPDATE: Mark Darrah, the Executive Producer for Dragon Age: Origins says, "The Dragon Age team is honored to win this award. We try to appeal to as broad of an audience as we can and accessibility is certainly part of this effort. It makes me proud to have the game this well received by this community."
UPDATE II: AbleGamers has a lot of press on this one. Read it all
- Atomicgamer - Dragon Age Receives Recognition from Disabled Gamers
- Gamasutra - Dragon Age Wins AbleGamers' Accessibility Award
- Apple - Accessible Adventures
- Yahoo! Tech - "Dragon Age: Origins" lauded as most accessible game of 2009
- Ars Technica - Dragon Age wins high marks from disabled gamers
- Inside Mac Games - AbleGamers Gives Dragon Age Mainstream Accessibility Award
- Escapist Magazine - Dragon Age Wins "Accessible Game of the Year" Award
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
@ Render - According to Bioware forum it is already done and awaiting the patch. Plus the ability to add ui mods is something EA usually shied away from historically, the fact that the community rallied to support the need only impressed us further. 
I thought this was a really cool comment by someone named Knight Templar from Escapist Magazine, "You know, that alone makes this award worth more than any Gametraliers or Destructoid game of the year award. It taught me something, how many awards do that?"
http://www.escapistmagazine.co...20#4374291
John, AbleGamers does not rate games for the totally blind. We do call out examples of games that do something special for the totally blind community, but it is not a ratings criteria. Why? Because after talking to AbleGamers staff, outside consultants (including you) and many blind people the question was "is there a reasonable expectation that mainstream video games be accessible to the totally blind?" the answer to that was "It would be nice, but no there is not"
So when Steve says "Fully Accessible" he does so based on our ratings, not "Universal Accessibility" that is a whole other ball of wax that the game space is not at yet.
@Bearstion:
*Points to the "(yet)" in his comment and walks off.*
I wasn't being picky, merely being exact. Would not want someone to pick it up thinking the problem is resolved atm and be disapointed.
OT: A little tip for those not aware of it. The DAmodder tool is great for installing and removing mods. (Would pointing to danexus be considered spam here?) I also recommend the advanced tactics mod. If anytihng else just so you can finally tell your healers to rez fallen allies via a rule.
Mark,
That's an excellent point.
The totally blind gaming community wants mainstream games that they can play.
This is technically possible for many, but not all games.
However, given the slim (or negative) profit margins for mainstream game developers, and the extra cost for total blind accessibility, it is not likely to become widespread.
Therefore, if the AbleGamers focus is mainstream games, as opposed to indie games, then simply mentioning total blind accessibility, when it occurs, seems best.
In other words, Oh yes. Now I understand your logic.
John
As a totally blind person myself i can say that if there is a mainstream game that is able to be played by the total VI community, its being very well hidden. I search frantically for anything i can play which is more complex than hitting keys in response to sounds from various directions. I'm currently playing Dragon Age with my fully sighted partner controling the character and keeping me up-to-date with cut scenes and how great it looks on screen when an enemy explodes in a shower of ice and blood. I played through Oblivian and one or two others this way but it is frustrating not to be able to play without his help for movement and reading. I understand the points made above, but maybe able gamers are in a position to encourage the mainstream to take total blindness in to account or at least give it some thought. Its true that Bioware have done a fantastic job but it never hurts to remind the big developers that there is still an unsolved problem in the gaming closet.
by the way, couldn't help noticing the lack of an audio alternative to the code which must be entered before posting!
Ash, thank you for the comment. As for the lack of audio, we we say in the VI compatible template, there is NO capcha for members of the site. So given that you are an AbleGamers, you should take a few and joint he site. Capcha is only for strangers...
Recaptua is coming for the comment section soon. We do hope for mainstream gamers for the totally blind, but we do not think video game tech is there, and I do not think that it will be there for some time.
Reading this comment thread just led to a very neat project idea. If I was still a computer science major, I'd probably use this for a class. You'd think there would be a way to make some sort of complex game for blind players. Those old text based RPGs, like Zork, would be very easily adapted to include audio tracks... I'm sure those sorts of things are out there, but if they're not, it seems like a wasted opportunity. It also seems like a shooting gallery type game could be made using surround sound technology, or an impact vest could be added to make games of the halo variety more inclusive. I don't think it's a matter of video game technology not being there, as that it's just not being utilized. As far as the profit margins go, I'd think that the overhead for creating games without all of the earth shattering visuals would be much lower, and there's enough of a community out there that the gaming industry is potentially missing out.
