When I came home from school today after doing my homework I was watching a few videos and I was reminded of something interesting. In some of the games you were able to catch a certain trio of legendary Pokemon, but in order to get to the areas where these Pokemon are you have to go through a few things involving a certain “code”. The interesting thing is that this “code” is in fact braille writing (though written out as the dots so you can visualize them). They were considerate enough to write out the braille alphabet since most people wouldn’t be familiar with the language. Though I understand complaints about how this would be tough for most sighted people because they would be unfamiliar with the system of dogs that make up the language for the blind I find it interesting. It’s a rather remote thing in the games being optional after-game material that you can unlock, but they went through the detail to make the braille spell out what they wanted. Thee is more to the puzzle than that, but being able to read the braille is essential for unlocking the Pokemon. Sign language and braille I find are usually rarely known by people who don’t need them (or in the case of sign language translators). It’s especially unlikely that a fully sighted ten year old would be able to read it (and of course a blind ten year old wouldn’t be playing Pokemon very easily if at all), but it’s almost nice that the Pokemon Company did this. I’m not sure how it’s written out (or if it is) in the Japanese release since I’ve never looked it up, but I know for the English version it’s there. I would assume it’s similar in other versions. I appreciate that they put the time and effort into making it accurate and bringing a language that is a “blind” language to people who can see so they can at least appreciate it to an extent (even if that means looking it up because even us blind people mix up letters, stupid i and e, r and w, d and f and j and h).

I remember when I had to learn braille at around that age and I hated it because it set me apart. It made me different than everyone because I was taken out of class in order to learn it. I was the only one who had to learn how to read it and write it (maybe I would have been happier being the only person who could have told them easily what to do when it came to that part), but I didn’t want it to set me apart. So it is nice to see that it’s used in a way that isn’t solely just so us blind can read

So if I ever look at videos where someone is playing through that part of the game I look at the braille and read it to myself so I know what it’s saying because even though I’m not familiar with contractions I do remember the letters (even though I mixed up i and e on a present I made someone who then told me a helpful trick to remember which one is which). But it’s a nice touch, and despite the frustraton it causes people who have to try and figure out what it’s saying I think it’s a nice homage to a language most sighted people would never come across.

At one point when trying too figure out what to do with my life (and I still might follow the idea because I was pretty good at the class I took) was computer science and specifically the idea of video game making. Part of this is my love for telling a story in writing or in games. So being able to have another venue for telling stories is always fun, but there is another reason. That reason is the fact that a lot of games are usually geared to being able to see (“I know you want me to press these buttons in succession, but you don’t even let me see them before they’re gone so let’s take a few times to get this right”).  So it was a thought of mine to make games that have ways for someone with vision loss to be able to play.

There was one game a few friends of mine told me about once that allowed a screen reader to read it, but sadly I found the game boring because for the most part it was just text on a screen with a small map on the bottom. The map wasn’t even very detailed just showing you what rooms were where with little boxes. For someone who can’t see this isn’t a big deal, but as someone who has some sight it wasn’t as fun.

So of course I had the thought “What if there was a game that was stimulating to people who can see, but also able to be played by people who have vision loss. I didn’t think it would be anything as exciting as a high action game, but there are various different types of games.

I play games myself and the most games I play are games where you follow a formula or games where there isn’t too much action. Games like Pokémon and my Yu-gi-oh game there aren’t much chances of things surprising me and I can take my time to read everything that’s involved in what’s going on (though sometimes I miss some things during Pokémon battles, but I get the general idea of what was going on so I don’t feel like I was losing anything). Other games like Siims 3 I sometimes have to get my magnifier out to read some of the things, but despite that it’s more of a game where I can just create my story and not have to worry as much about what’s going on. I do play some fighting games and they can get a bit out of hand sometimes if I have to press buttons, or pay attention (or one boss in one game that I have to let kill me because I just can’t beat them without running out of power even though I can easily avoid attacks, major rage!) but for the most part I push through those games. Another game that I slightly struggle with is when I play Minecraft because I love building, but sometimes the monsters come out of nowhere and startle me. When playing with my friends I tend to stay in an area where there is very little risk of running into anything (or having things sneak up on me). There was one time where I needed one of my friends to get on to get the monsters that were attacking me to go away before I logged on again because I was having a lot of trouble because I got disorientated and it was freaking me out. It was embarrassing! Still, I enjoy games but sometimes fine them hard to play sometimes.

I know it’s a possibility for games to be interactive, but still be helpful for people to play because I know Minecraft has the ability to write on screen what sounds are going on for people who have trouble hearing. I know hearing and seeing are very different things, but just think of it? If there were audio cues when you did a certain action. There are certainly ways.

Sometimes I enjoy watching videos of people playing games. I use that as “TV” from time to time and I enjoy the commentary of ertain people. A lot of the time when I watch them play a game I think “I love this game!” “I wish I had this game.” “Maybe I should play the game.” Though a lot of the time I realize that I probably wouldn’t actually be good at the games for various reasons so I tend to just watch the game be played.

But if games could be engaging for people who have sight, but also be passible enough that someone with little or no vision I think that would be a lot of fun for everyone involved.