[s
Investigation.
Investigation time.
♪ [hip hop beat]
♪ ♪
Video games are everywhere,
but are they for everyone?
From pro to first time players
to girl gamers and bipod gamers
to those who game with disabilities
and to those who make the very games that we play.
I decided to figure it out.
Anyone who wanted to know, I'm a pro gamer.
♪ ♪
What's up? [laughs]
So let's investigate.
Do video games do enough to include everyone?
[rudimentary game sounds]
♪ ♪
Hi, I'm Steve Saylor, commonly known as the blind gamer.
I'm an accessibility advocate and consultant.
So that basically means I talk to video game studios
about how to make their games
as accessible for disabled players as possible.
With my glasses on, my vision is 20/200.
Which means that something that is 20 feet away
looks like it's 200 feet away.
Wop bop a loo bop ba lop bam boom!
Whoa! Did not see you there.
So what games have already started along that path
to becoming more inclusive and accessible?
Well there are definitely a few.
Last Of Us Part II
That's on
You can be able to play it
on
With a 3D audio I can literally hear where everything is.
And it's really amazing to be able to see
because there are over 60 plus accessibility options that are
designed for pretty much anybody with a disability
to be able to play.
There's also
Overcooked
version of the game
that just makes it more accessible to play.
Even
with
on the
accessibility options so that more people can be able to play.
I want to talk about
Some people say that that game
is the most accessible game ever.
And you had something to do with that.
Could you tell me a little bit more?
Yeah. So there was about seven or eight
consultants that were actually brought in
to
The Last Of Us.
We were asked to come in to the studio
to be able to play a version of the game
before the game ever came out.
And we were able to sort of give our feedback
on what they had so far.
And they made a really big effort into making
the game as accessible
right from the development standpoint.
So when we went in, I got to play the game early.
I got to try out a whole bunch of different things.
And they basically asked for my feedback on kind of
what can be done to be able to make the game more accessible.
I heard that
40 new skin tones into their game.
Is the definition of a game changer.
I like it more on this and -- [she gasps]
Oh, my gosh. This looks so good.
What do you think about that kind of diversity?
Honestly, I love that because
a lot of people are growing up,
they don't really get to see themselves that much
in kind of the things we get to do, whether it's
watching a TV show, movie, or even playing in video games.
And the fact that you can be able to, within
create essentially yourself,
I find that the ability to be able to, like, find
the right sort of skin tone or the right sort of
like character that looks exactly like you,
that makes you feel like that you're in a video game,
that is just so cool.
So they're separated, like warm, neutral, cool
and like miscellaneous skin tones now.
Oh, my goodness. So many more options.
So you were definitely at the front line
for pushing for inclusiveness in video games.
What's your end goal? What do you hope to accomplish?
I'm not finished until it gets to a point where
everybody can be able to play regardless if you have
a disability or you feel like you're not representative
in sort of like you're in a marginalized community,
which basically if you're Black, if you're Indigenous,
if you're a person of colour, if you're LGBTQ, regardless,
if you feel like you are accepted
and fully brought into the video game community,
that's where I feel like that my job is done.
It's going to take a while.
And I think like we're moving towards that
at a very rapid pace.
[game sounds]
[he exclaims]
I did it. I did the thing.
[swoosh]
After talking to Steve, it seems like video game developers
are paying attention to requests for better accessibility
and representation.
But I can think of another group that's had to struggle
to find a home in the gaming world:
women and girls.
And we're going to talk about that
in part two of our investigation.
So stay tuned for that.
But for now, I'm Elijah Sandiford for
Game over.
♪ ♪