Analysis: Accessibility of VR Games Could Be Better

Laura Meiser, Kristina Nagel, Kristina Nagel, Maria Rauschenberger

2024

Abstract

The rapid growth of the video game industry, including the niche of virtual reality (VR) gaming, highlights the significant market potential and demand for accessible gaming options. Despite many people with disabilities engaging in video games, a substantial part of this group finds current offerings inaccessible, thereby restricting their gaming experience. This study assesses the accessibility of popular VR games by applying a comprehensive set of guidelines adapted from existing guidelines. We analyzed the five top-rated VR-compatible games: Beat Saber, Tetris Effect: Connected, Half-Life: Alyx, Microsoft Flight Simulator (MFS), and Assetto Corsa. Our findings indicate that the overall accessibility of these games is not good, with only 42.36% of the accessibility tests passed on average. The MFS is a positive outlier with 74.71% of the tests passed, which may be attributed to Microsoft’s development of accessibility guidelines and controllers. Our study underscores the necessity for improved awareness and implementation of unified accessibility guidelines within the gaming industry. We also recommends some low-cost but high impact improvements for the tested games.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Meiser L., Nagel K. and Rauschenberger M. (2024). Analysis: Accessibility of VR Games Could Be Better. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Volume 1: WEBIST; ISBN 978-989-758-718-4, SciTePress, pages 358-362. DOI: 10.5220/0013038500003825

in Bibtex Style

@conference{webist24,
author={Laura Meiser and Kristina Nagel and Maria Rauschenberger},
title={Analysis: Accessibility of VR Games Could Be Better},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Volume 1: WEBIST},
year={2024},
pages={358-362},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013038500003825},
isbn={978-989-758-718-4},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Volume 1: WEBIST
TI - Analysis: Accessibility of VR Games Could Be Better
SN - 978-989-758-718-4
AU - Meiser L.
AU - Nagel K.
AU - Rauschenberger M.
PY - 2024
SP - 358
EP - 362
DO - 10.5220/0013038500003825
PB - SciTePress