AI-Powered Accessibility in Gaming for Georgia Tech

Summary

Over the last 15 years, accessibility in gaming has significantly improved, but these advancements are vulnerable to industry turbulence. There's a substantial, untapped market of visually impaired gamers, and the demand for visually accessible games is expected to grow with an aging gaming consumer base. To understand this gap, my research used interviews and participatory design sessions to explore the impact of disabilities on gaming and the potential of AI assistance. The findings stress three critical requirements for inclusive gaming: deep personalization, human connection, and the responsible, reliable implementation of AI. This points to actionable steps for developers, who must clarify feature effects, make accessibility more obvious, and only use AI when it provides genuine value while transparently communicating any uncertainty.

Role

UX Researcher

Team

3 Researchers

Timeline

January 2025 - May 2025

Tools

Dedoose, Zoom, Google Docs, Descript

Methods

Interview, Participatory Design

Design

Persona, Storyboarding

Background

Although accessibility in gaming has drastically improved in recent years, accessibility options are still not available in every game. Accessibility advancements can disappear as easily as they appear, and the turbulent gaming industry has exacerbated the issue.

accessibility stats

The demand for accessible games will only increase and the industry has the opportunity to accommodate a large, untapped market: Visually impaired gamers. Of the 216 million Americans who play games regularly, 8% have some form of visual impairment. How can we design accessible options for those users?

Blind professional gamer, Sven, playing street fighter

Defining the Problem

Currently, visually impaired gamers are limted by hard-coded accessibility accommondations that game developers have to spend additional resources to develop. This leads to many games lacking accessibility options and leaving visually impaired users to rely on their friends or family for assistance.


Now with the introduction of new advances in artificial Intelligence, we might be able to develop tools to make gaming more inclusive.

why conduct research?

How might we leverage AI to overcome the shortcomings of current accessibility features for visually impaired gamers?

Research Questions

Research Question
Rationale
1.
How do visually impaired gamers interact with games and how does it differ from seeing gamers?
Define the core behaviors and sensory differences needed to build inclusive designs.
2.
What are the failings of existing, hard-coded accommodations for visually impaired gamers?
Identify the limitations of current static solutions and justify the need for better ones.
3.
What barriers and pain-points do visually impaired gamers experience?
To uncover functional, emotional, and social obstacles that prevent full participation and enjoyment.
4.
What are gamers with and without disabilities' attitudes toward AI?
To assess user acceptance and potential concerns with AI accessibility solutions.
5.
Where can AI affordances provide the greatest accessibility improvements?
Pinpoint what design directions are most favorable to stakeholders.