| Written by Steve Spohn, on 19-06-2008 20:44 |
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Disabled gamers are now a category according to a GameSpot article. Popcap released a survey on June 11, 2008, the purpose of the survey was to discover how many of Popcap gamers are disabled. Disabilities come in all shapes and sizes including; physical, mental, as well as the learning disabled, and according to its survey, 20.5% of the respondents are considered disabled.
The survey in some ways is encouraging, because it means that, the gaming industry is finally seeing the disabled as a serious market. That is incredible news for AbleGamers since once we can get a voice in the industry we will finally be able to have a say in how games are made.
The survey also said that the disabled gamer plays for
longer periods of time than do people that are not disabled. This makes
sense, because a lot of disabled people do have more time due to the
nature of their disability. However, just because we choose to spend
that time playing video games does not mean that we are lazy. Disabled
people have been screaming from the rooftops for years saying that
playing in videogames puts us all on par with those that are not
disabled, the game is the great equalizer, and we are all bound by the
limits the game sets. For many it is a window to a world that they are
not able to interact fully in. Why is this a new discovery to the
world?
Those of you who have read my articles before will know that
I generally do not have an angry tone. I like to think of myself as
diplomatic. Being able to be diplomatic makes you a better writer; it
benefits the reader and the writer if the writer remains neutral.
However, I am struggling to find the neutrality in this article.
As I noted in the beginning of this article this story is
only in part about Popcap, in fact, I am so glad PopCap took on the
subject. However, the real story here is the choice of words by
GameSpot, the following was said in the article :
“However, there are some commonalities that seem to be
shared by casual gamers regardless of disability status. Disabled
gamers' taste in games "closely mirrored" those of their abled
counterparts, with their favorite game categories being puzzle, word
and trivia, and arcade games, in that order.”
“Disabled gamers' taste in games "closely mirrored" those of
their abled counterparts…” abled counterparts... now I realize some
people will take this as nitpicking but at what point in time was it
that I was no longer a gamer but classified as a disabled gamer versus
able gamers. I am not a leper I do not want my own special category. I
am a gamer, period.
I have read the articles written on PopCap’s survey, it is all
over the game and tech media outlets. The main benefit of reading about
the same data on many different websites is that you truly get a
feeling of how that website views the subject of disabled gaming. In my
opinion, GameSpot has shown me that they viewed disabled gamers as a
subcategory to gamers overall.
This is completely the opposite of why our website is here.
Actually, I take that back, the sentiment given at the end of the
article is not only against what ablegamers.com stands for but what
GameSpot itself is supposed to stand for. GameSpot is supposed to be
the place you go to get your news on gaming for everybody. Yet, if you
read that article, you would be under the impression that if you have
no disability your views on what a good game are different from mine
simply because of one of us being disabled.
The idea behind this article was good in nature but GameStop
really dropped the ball on the amount of sensitivity they used in this
article. The title starts out with the phrase “disproportionately
disabled” which right off the bat put a negative spin on the amount of
disabled people that are playing video games. To me, this article has a
condescending tone throughout the entire read and that is not something
that I like to look for in an article from a major news source for the
gaming industry. In short, this piece from GameStop is a lazy attempt
to cover something that is clearly not of interest to them.
The article should have gone more in depth to explain why
disabled people have more time to play video games instead of just
phrasing it that disabled gamers have more time to play video games. We
are not a lazy people who just sit around and do nothing but play
videogames because it is fun to do and we enjoy wasting our lives. Some
of us play videogames because it is what we want to do, some of us play
videogames because it is what we choose to do to keep our minds intact,
and others play videogames because it gives AbleGamers a sense of
normalcy. It is my opinion that GameStop could have very easily left
out any comments that were condescending, including using the words
disproportionately disabled and able-bodied counterparts. Politically
correct should go beyond one's choice of words; it should a part of
common sense when dealing with a subject that might offend others.
Further, they should take heed in what the Popcap survey is saying,
disabled gamers are not a small subset of gamers, we are one-fifth of
the market, and deserve to be treated as such.
On a side note, AbleGamers is very happy with Popcap and the work they did to gather this info. We hope that this is going to be a real win for all AbleGamers. Thank you Popcap, Thank you
Recommend this article... Last update: 19-06-2008 20:53
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