It’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Thursday 20th May, and the Family Video Game Database is launching new video game accessibility tools with the support of its accessibility partner the VSC Rating Board.
The database now includes over 1200 games with all the information parents need to make an informed choice. PEGI ratings, loot boxes, in-game purchases, online players, and other interactions.
Over the last 12 months with support from Playability Initiative and other accessibility organizations the database has added 7500 video game accessibility datapoints so players can search for games on this basis too. The VSC’s additional support will enable the expansion of this effort so that today 500 games on the database now have accessibility data.
Ian Rice, Director General of the VSC Rating Board said: “Our mission is to make sure that parents have all the information they need to make informed decisions about the video games their families play.
The age ratings and content information we issue are an important piece of that, but we also know they are only part of the picture. The accessibility information provided on the Family Video Games Database will allow users to find games based not only on PEGI age suitability but also according to their accessibility requirements.
The VSC is proud to support this initiative as the Accessibility Partner, ensuring that video games continue to make a positive contribution to children’s and families’ lives across the UK.”
The database aims to help players discover games that suit their needs, as well as find alternatives to games that don’t yet have the required design or accessibility setting.
Ian Hamilton, co-director of GAconf and coordinator of Game Accessibility Guidelines said: “Information to make informed purchase decisions remains a continual and significant barrier for disabled people. It has been wonderful to see Family Video Game Database’s understanding of how this issue fits with their mission, and their ongoing commitment to find ways to break this barrier down.”
Andy Robertson, co-founder of the Family Video Game Database said: “It’s been a privilege to work with some amazing people to offer accessibility search on the database.
The new Accessibility Review page is the next step in leveraging this data to help people find amazing games to play. We’re a small team, and learning about this as we go, but with 5000 people visiting the site every day, the response to the Accessibility tools on the database has been humbling and exciting.”
The Accessibility Search tool uses this data to find games that meet specific accessibility requirements. Players simply enter their bespoke search criteria to find the matching games. This can be combined with PEGI, system, genre, and other search criteria to offer a highly tailored game search:
The Accessibility Review tool provides an analysis of the 1200 games on the database. It aims to detail Difficulty, Reading, Control, Navigation, Image, Audio, and Communication accessibility features. This not only makes it easier to assess whether a game is a good fit before purchase, but where a game has limited accessibility in a particular area the page offers similar games with stronger accessibility as an alternative purchase.
For example, the Kaze and The Wild Masks review suggests some similar games with more options to aid reading. The Spyro Reignited Trilogy review suggests some similar games with more difficulty options. The Valheim review suggests some similar games with more navigation aids.
