"The Video Game Arena"
This project analyzes how the evolution of video game developments affects the ways humans interact and formations of space. The research is conducted through a timeline investigation where five major periods in time were observed. In each point, observations were focused on the space of activity, video game development, and visual evidence with collages that depicted the types gathering. The first period of time investigated was the space of arcades and the development of arcade games. The second period moves into the space of the family home with the development of home consoles. The third period was a full day event with the development of early-home computers and the creation of LAN networks. The fourth period investigated the bonding experience of the early 2000s with the developments of Wii and Xbox 360. The final period of interest is where we can play games anywhere at any time with the developments of mobile games and VR. After this investigation I reflected back onto people and spaces that were being depicted in the photographs found in the research and the collages. There I realized that a group of people were missing from these experiences. People with disabilities were not shown participating in early developments of video games. Researching this further, results showed that no developments have been made for accessible attachments in early developments. Even if an effort was made, it would be too expensive to afford or hard to find. Video games are entertainment, culture, and a way to socialize. For impairments, this goes even further where games mean therapy, pain relief, escapism and independence. This raised the question of how video game development can help to create a more inclusive future. Further research was needed to determine where video game development falls short in terms of accessibility and what improvements are currently being made. This research concluded that this is an issue of equity over equality as accessibility should not be seen as a one size fits all. Different disabilities lead to varying barriers in video games. Currently, there are a few organizations that are helping to close off barriers and bridge these gaps. This includes Ablegamers who is a nonprofit charity that aids input for future developments. They had a collaboration with Xbox where they created the Adaptive Controller in 2018 that helped a lot of people with disabilities to play video games easier. In order to create a more inclusive future, accessibility needs to be considered at the start of developments. With in-game features providing accessible options following the guidelines to accessibility, and with the development of controllers considering multiple disabilities.