Utilizing board games, information professionals teach critical thinking, visual literacy, and communication skills in a low-stakes environment, encouraging otherwise reluctant students to participate. Disabled individuals have the same needs and uses for information literacy, but most popular games are not designed with accessibility in mind. Lack of accessibility, rather than creating community and encouraging participations, further alienates already marginalized students. By combining the lowered stakes of board games and demonstrating consideration for disabled people, events such as these expand the audience for information professionals.
As games and gamification have become more intrinsically linked to both education and libraries, two librarians at a public university developed a tabletop gaming event to raise awareness of accessible and inclusive design in gaming. While games work very well in building communities, much of the tabletop gaming industry does little to mitigate exclusionary design. The vast majority of games use color alone to distinguish player pieces from each other despite the prevalence of distinct types of colorblindness. For example, approximately 8% of the male population experiences some form of colorblindness. The simple design change of adding shapes, textures or patterns would make these games accessible to color blind players.
Using their expertise in game design and human factors, the authors carefully reviewed and play-tested multiple games for inclusion in the event. While no individual game can be created or modified to have universal accessibility, playing games with an eye toward accessibility is the only way to determine which games have better design. Providing descriptions of what specific games do well (or poorly) along with tested modifications prompt players to consider how design can be improved for accessibility. Workshop attendees will play sample games used in the event and evaluate them for accessibility.
Successful gaming events or use of games in instruction requires partnerships. In this case, we developed partnerships with the Student Access Center and the University’s acculturation class.
In developing events like these, the greatest expense comes from building game collections. While more familiar board games are quite affordable, these are generally among the worst when it comes to accessible design. That said, certain companies have created modified versions, including large print, braille, and tactile modifications. While these do expand human diversity in playability, most of these are post-market modifications which increase costs by as much as 500%. With the rising prevalence and falling costs of 3D printing and makerspaces, replacing or modifying the pieces and parts of existing games is far more effective if the right facilities are available in your area.
Participants will work together in this active session to play, evaluate, and describe how various games meet or fail to meet accessibility standards. The authors will also share informational resources, including informational sites that will help in growing your own list of games suitable for playtesting, with factors such as popularity, time investment, complexity level, and design mechanics. 3D printing files are free or inexpensive, and multiple online communities devoted to accessibility in games can be found through both gaming and disabled perspectives.
