Developing Inclusive Games: Design Frameworks for Accessibility and Diversity

*Matheus Cezarotto, Pamela Martinez and Barbara Chamberlin*

#### **Abstract**

All players should have the opportunity to play, engage with and enjoy a game, especially games that are designed to educate or transform the player. In addition to the game interface, mechanics and artwork, high quality games must also ensure that all players can use the controls, understand the context, receive information from the game, and have a sense of belonging to the world of the game, or ability to identify with messages and in-game worlds. Design teams may well have the desire to create games that are both accessible and representative of all players, but find the process of doing so overwhelming. Based on evolving work in an educational media studio, this chapter presents two frameworks to guide teams in reviewing the issues involved in accessibility, equity, diversity, inclusion and representation, with recommendations on steps to take towards integrating these design approaches into consistent development processes.

**Keywords:** inclusion, learning, process, a11y, DEI, representation, needs

#### **1. Introduction**

The ultimate goal of a learning game is to provide an engaging and effective learning experience, fostering a change to the player's knowledge, skill, behavior, emotion or physiology [1]. Extensive publications have offered guidance on making quality games, highlighting key markers of quality, identifying affordances of games, and justifying the potential of games to transform. Yet, fewer publications emphasize the importance of extending this access to all players, or ensuring that all players can see their culture, identity, and representation in the games they play. Inclusion is a state of being included in a group or activity. In game design, inclusion is the state of giving all players a sense of belonging to the game, messages or gameplay, as well as giving all players access to play, navigate and enjoy the full experience of the game. "The people who design the touchpoints of our society determine who can participate and who is left out… Design shapes our ability to access, participate in, and shape our world" ([2], p. 6–7). Inclusive design is often considered a bridging terminology to enable multiple types of backgrounds and abilities: including age, culture, economics, education, race and accessibility. "The focus is on fulfilling as many user needs as possible, not just as many users as possible" [3]. Because designers hold the power in

making games inclusive, it may be helpful to view inclusivity in terms of two aspects: accessibility and diversity.

All players, regardless of their abilities, need a degree of accessibility to properly play and interact with a game [4]. Accessibility represents the features that developers design into the game to allow access and use of the game by players with a wide range of needs [4–7]. Accessibility is a large part of making games inclusive from a mechanical standpoint, in that accessibility usually gives a player access to ways of interacting with a game. Inclusivity also includes the way players see themselves in a game, identify with the content or intent of the game, and are given access to the game content in a meaningful way. This can include the presentation of characters, storylines and game environments that represent multiple worldviews, but issues of diversity, equity and inclusion also include fostering diverse teams, research, games, mechanics, and communities [8]. As more game developers prioritize accessibility, diversity, equity and inclusion in design, games will have wider appeal to more players, empowering and enriching players who are often underrepresented [9].

Researchers and developers have been making improvements in designing for accessibility, prompted in part by legislation such as, in the US, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 [10]. The publication of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act [11] guided web development, which in turn prompted calls for greater accessibility in web-based games. Designing for accessibility has included several different terms, such as "Design for All" [12], "Barrier-free Design" [10], "Inclusive Design" [13], and "Universal Design" [10, 12]. Accessible design emphasizes the creation of products, systems and interfaces which includes all users.

Many individuals still face barriers in their daily life because their needs are not considered when products or systems are designed—which includes games and digital media. Prejudice and disablism against those individuals are still present in our society, disabling them from having equal opportunities to engage and participate in society [13]. In light of the "emancipatory research paradigm" [14] the authors acknowledge that users with disability are the true knowers of their challenges, desires, and needs; disabilities should not be falsely simplified as a tragedy to be pitied; researchers and developers need to foster an environment where users with disability can benefit by empowering them through participation; the research role should be in identifying and striving towards removing disabling social and physical barriers.

Research and development recommendations specific to diversity and equity are somewhat newer in game design, yet other media offers an insight regarding the need for representation. In a review of more than 160 studies on representation in media, Armstrong [15] documents a significant lack of representation of people of color, emphasizing the predominance of White characters in software, books and learning tools. Where progress has been made among representation of different racial, ethnic, and gender groups, characters who represent marginalized groups are still underrepresented. "Even when characters of diverse racial, ethnic, and gender groups are represented, these may not be accurate depictions. Some cases may reinforce stereotypes, limit portrayals and roles, and present inaccuracies" ([15], p. 30). To improve the situation, she calls for an improved sense of belonging in media for all individuals, cultural authenticity by engaging diversity among content creators, and recognizing nuanced identity by providing details of characters which reflect complex stories, relationships and situations [15].

The International Game Developers Association provides an overview of designing and developing inclusive games, with great emphasis on diversity. The framework in "Inclusive Game Design and Development" offers suggestions for strengthening overall development, starting with a diverse team, thorough research, world building, characters, design and mechanics, and even marketing [9].

### **2. Designing for inclusion: challenges and benefits**

Facilitating dialog that leads to change can be challenging within design and development studios. Creating effective learning games is a complex task; incorporating inclusive design approaches can add extra challenges for design teams. An inclusive game design provides access to the game but also can foster acceptance and belonging among players [16, 17]. However, engaging in discussions about inclusion identifies gaps where others are still excluded. In a broad picture, both **accessibility** and **diversity** involve acknowledging the existence of people and/or groups who lack social power, prestige, or entrenched advantage, as well as establishing an awareness of their marginalization or exclusion based on social or physical barriers [16].

Developers of learning games experience additional challenges to making their games accessible. In addition to issues related to user interface and communication of game status to the player, games which seek to change the player in a meaningful way must also balance the learning goals and content-specific educational approaches with the needs of users. For example, mathematics is traditionally taught with visual guides such as maps and graphs: translating facility with these mechanics into gameplay can be challenging. Adding full accessibility to these games presents an additional level of design considerations.

By making games accessible and addressing diversity, equity and inclusion, development teams not only benefit players but also make their games better. Blackwell [18] coined the term "the Curb Cut Effect", to denote instances when accessibility changes benefited unintended audiences: curb cuts in sidewalks help people in wheelchairs move from the paved sidewalk to cross a street, as well as parents with strollers and delivery drivers with carts. A game that provides subtitles for the narrative offers benefits to users who are deaf as well as to those who are playing in a second language, those who cannot use sound at the moment, and those who need more time to cognitively process the information. Designing games towards accessibility also increases the game value as a meaningful experience for players and the community, fostering equality and a relevant social connection between players with and without disabilities [19].

Because curb cuts are now commonplace, their origins in accessibility are sometimes forgotten, without recognizing them as having been intentionally designed. Similarly, designing for diversity must also be intentional in providing access to multiple stories, identities and cultures. It gives learners—who may not traditionally have the opportunity to see themselves in materials—a mirror through which they see people like them, and gives all learners proficiency in a "broader range of expressive, analytic, and cognitive styles that are crucial to success in the twenty-first century" ([20], p. 17).

Progress is being made in both fields. One industry leader, Unity, offers an online free practical course [21] on game accessibility, supporting teams to design games for diverse audiences, with modules considering the design and development process. Microsoft has been very active in supporting the development of accessible media, with special attention to the gaming community. From their initiative it is worth highlighting the online course "Gaming accessibility fundamentals" [22] and the

inclusive design toolkit [23]. Schell games provides an online accessibility matrix [24] that allows developers to identify, discuss, prioritize and find solutions to accessibility needs. A group of studios, specialists, and academics organized and keep updating the "Game Accessibility Guidelines," [25] a reference list for designing inclusive games. Able Gamers Charity [26] has been active in making an impact in players with disabilities' lives by providing peer counseling, engineering research on assistive technology, community development, user research to find solutions to barriers, and professional development promoting inclusion.

In our evolving world of social justice, more developers, design teams, and educational institutions are acknowledging the importance of **diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)**, a trending topic. There are many published works regarding the wider scope of the topic. Rittner [27] provides a critical review of systems such as the *institutional*, *economic*, *social*, *political* and *interpersonal* as a way to recognize the need for change and how designers can create impact through their work. Alozie et al. [16] provide an overview of the importance of designing for equity and inclusion and the impact on student outcomes when consideration for the diverse needs of diverse students is taken into account.

In dividing *inclusion* into two categories of *accessibility* and *diversity*, this chapter attempts to guide design teams by offering two simple frameworks for understanding key components, facilitate discussion among developers, and refine processes used in development to address each aspect in accessibility and representation. While each concept is complex, teams can begin by identifying the specific areas that must be addressed, then translating them into steps relevant to their own design processes.

### **3. Frameworks for inclusion: accessibility and diversity**

Several barriers may keep teams from engaging in the design of inclusive games, which are consistent with fears articulated by Holmes about inclusion in general [2]. Individuals may be fearful about engaging in the discussion, out of fear of using the wrong vocabulary or unintentionally hurting others; designers may fear that they cannot solve the entire problems, so it is not worth trying; fear of scarcity means worrying there aren't enough resources, such as people, money and time.

Simplified frameworks can help teams familiarize themselves with the key issues, build their vocabulary around inclusion, and begin to identify reasonable steps they can take to address parts of each problem. Inclusion as a broad goal suggests games are available to all players, but design teams may find it easier to break inclusion into two types of actions: accessibility and diversity. Simply: frameworks are a gateway for each design team to establish best practices for inclusive design of the games they create.

#### **3.1 Framework for designing games for accessibility**

**Accessibility** in games represents a set of characteristics that developers design into a game to provide players access, considering players needs related to vision, hearing, motor skills and cognition [28]. By understanding game accessibility from the *social* model of disability, in contrast to the *medical* model, accessibility lives in the product and not in the user [29]. It means that the disability is a mismatch between the design and the person's needs, instead of a personal health condition. Thus, a good game design that matches users' needs enables players, and a bad game design that does not match users' needs disables players.

*Developing Inclusive Games: Design Frameworks for Accessibility and Diversity DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108456*

#### **Figure 1.**

*Framework for designing games for accessibility.*

All players fall somewhere on a spectrum of need in three possible scenarios: permanent need (e.g., a person with one hand), temporary need (e.g., person with a hand injury), and situational need (e.g., a new parent holding a baby) [23]. Identifying and addressing those needs can be a challenging task, since there is a wide range of needs. One approach to support this task is to discuss the needs in categories, being able to see an overview picture. In the literature four main categories of needs are used—**visual**, **hearing**, **motor**, and **cognitive** [30]. These categories allow the identification of possible barriers players may face in games (**Figure 1**).


Each area of need exists within a spectrum, from low to high, and there are specific types and profiles within each category—for example, two players with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) can have different cognitive needs to support attention. Instead of having discrete boxes for needs and disabilities, they are frequently co-diagnosed, with any given user having needs across several different types of issues—for example, a deaf player will likely have needs associated with hearing, and may also have needs associated with some cognitive functions.

#### **3.2 Framework for designing games for diversity**

**Diversity** in games represents components of inclusion that developers incorporate into their teams and games for broader accessibility. Diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and accessibility have come to the forefront of education and societal issues, forcing developers to focus on addressing them in more meaningful ways to support social imbalance. As specializing in DEI continues to evolve, so do references to it. Often seen as DEI in the past, it is evolving to represent the order of concentration, Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (EID). Diversity in relation to games is observable in how diverse a development team is (who is part of the team, who is making decisions, who has the power) and transparency in knowledge and sentiment towards inclusion. Moreover, it includes how this design team portrays game worlds, environments, storylines, and characters in their games to promote identification, acceptance, and counteract stereotypes.

In creating a framework, the authors drew from the expertise of the International Game Developers Association Diversity white paper that provides a unique structure. This paper offers a more succinct framework for diversity with a more in-depth perspective on accessibility to strengthen inclusion practices in game development (**Figure 2**).

• **Team Building:** Design and development teams include professional instructional designers, educators, learning specialists, animators, web developers, programmers, and marketing and distribution experts with various educational backgrounds and expertise. In addition to the professional roles, each team likely includes individuals of different ethnicities, gender identities, varied backgrounds, and personal experiences. This richness contributes to the creativity needed to produce inclusive educational media, and should be encouraged in hiring practices: diverse teams are one of the easiest ways to make sure diverse voices are heard. Regardless of the makeup of any given team, professional development opportunities for diversity, equity, and inclusion coaching can increase the ability of a team to meet inclusion needs. Meet annually to discuss issues, engage in guided case study reviews, exchange ideas, and examine fresh viewpoints and perspectives. In addition, it takes intentional actions to curate a culture of inclusion where everyone has a voice, and to reflect on power dynamics. Even when it is assumed that all voices are welcomed, unseen power dynamics may make some individuals feel as though their voices are not encouraged. Ultimately the quality of the products represents the dedication of focus on accessibility and diversity for a broader range of inclusivity for players. This work should be ongoing, consistent, and reflective throughout the life of a studio.

**Figure 2.** *Framework for designing games for diversity.*

*Developing Inclusive Games: Design Frameworks for Accessibility and Diversity DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108456*


#### **4. Process considerations**

The Learning Games Lab is a university-based, non-profit development studio that develops educational games, virtual labs, videos, animations and other interactive tools to help learners of all ages learn from research-informed interventions. As part

of NMSU's Innovative Media Research and Extension department, the studio partners with research groups, faculty, and programs nationally and internationally to create educational media in various disciplines. Design-based research guides Learning Games Lab product development, informing the specific goals of each learning game, the audience, as well as the final product.

The Learning Games Lab has used both frameworks in developing their own processes regarding accessibility and representation. Their work occurs throughout the life of the studio, as well as at specific points in the development of a single game. All team members share responsibility in designing for inclusion, and their processes are evaluated continuously through their interactive design process. The team also discusses and integrates accessibility features into products beginning with early designs, so a wide range of users can use the products without interaction barriers.

Action research enables the teams to actively work to create change in their process to prioritize accessibility and diversity, following a continuous, ongoing, and iterative process, a self-reflective spiral cycle of *planning*, *acting*, *observing*, and *reflecting* [31, 32]. Additionally, the team investigates the work of other developers, community organizations, and experts to inform their own development practices, and revisits previously developed games to improve their accessibility and inclusion.

In using the frameworks to understand the key components of inclusion, the team works through specific steps to address the needs in every product created. This includes five specific processes (**Figure 3**).

#### **Figure 3.**

*Processes for designing inclusive games.*

#### **4.1 Recommendations for design teams**

1.**Engage the entire team in working towards inclusivity:** Create and foster an accessibility and diversity, equity and inclusion mindset among your team. The entire team should understand the value of inclusive games, have vocabulary and be given opportunities to talk about it. Establishing the core principles for your studio can establish lists of what accessibility and inclusion mean, and may provide valuable examples for reference in development.

*Developing Inclusive Games: Design Frameworks for Accessibility and Diversity DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108456*

For example, the Learning Games Lab design team has defined their core principles to include [33]:


In developing the core principles, it is helpful to engage in other opportunities.


Create a living document that defines a set of guidelines or principles for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility for the team to follow. Review and refine it yearly as the team becomes aware of new information and research that could benefit design and development teams.


*Developing Inclusive Games: Design Frameworks for Accessibility and Diversity DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108456*

• **Foster inclusivity conversations among your team:** Allow time for teams to meet and have those difficult conversations that may come with diversity, equity, and inclusion. If necessary, bring in a specialist to guide the conversation; it could save time overall. Meet annually to discuss the guiding principles and approach to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. Make sure reviewers—in-house, invited, or hired—are composed of diverse team members. Remember, everyone brings different experiences and voices to the table.

In creating their list of guidelines, the Learning Games Lab defines representation and accessibility actions in the following ways [32]:

#### **4.2 Representation: how the Learning Games Lab portrays individuals in the media it creates**

**In our products,** we seek to produce media that offers diverse representation, promotes acceptance, includes all learners, and counteracts stereotypes. Individual differences and attributes may include:

