Accessibility has been a hot topic on the internet since the late 1990s when the first Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) was published in 1999 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The gaming industry followed suit, but it took a while to develop standards as Ablegamers, founded in 2004, didn’t publish its Includification Guide until 2012. The extended reality (XR), though an emerging technology, has the opportunity to establish a set of guidelines early, which in many cases serves to expand the demographic reach and creates features that benefit all users.
“Designs that everyone can benefit from can create a profound impact for those with disabilities,” Google Accessibility Senior Program Manager, Christopher Patnoe said. “Most of these solutions are borrowed directly from progress the gaming industry has made.”
The team behind the Google Daydream is making accessibility a high priority with everything they do in VR, and is sharing their research for other designers at large. Patnoe explained how the Google team follows an “inclusion first” design process in what they call their “Saturday Morning Testing” method. This method involves checking that controls are simple, text is readable, all items are reachable, and audio is optional.
Features built into Google Earth VR highlight this approach. Some features include: the ability to rotate the view using a button instead of physically rotating a head, options to narrow the vision to an almost “tunnel vision” view in order to prevent motion sickness, allowing for adjustable height options, and custom control mapping and sensitivity options for dexterity issues.
In October 2019 Google Maps released a feature that allows full audio navigation. This detailed verbal navigation provides visually challenged users a way to benefit from wayfinding features, which are typically visually expressed. Using geolocation features, verbal announcements and continuous updates give guidance based on time-of-day or other environmental variables and present similar to the announcements we hear at crosswalks.
Google’s mantra of ‘inclusion first’ derives from a phenomenon known as the “Curb Cut Effect“. The curb ramps where a sidewalk meets a road have been federally required since 1990 to allow for people with mobility disabilities. The design was originally intended for a small percentage of the population, but it ultimately benefits many. Anyone from a delivery worker wielding a dolly, to cyclists, to tiny dogs with short legs now take advantage of this minor design improvement.
“The most important thing, said Ran Tao, a software engineer from Google’s AR Core team, “is to get feedback from real users and remain open-minded”
