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It’s interesting this tech is for disabled people when Nintendo just assumed their players were disabled to begin with. They always played their games with thei

It’s interesting this tech is for disabled people when Nintendo just assumed their players were disabled to begin with. They always played their games with their left hand to simulate it. Software developers are pretty terrible in applying this kind of empathy in our UX. Assume your app is unusable and the user doesn’t know how to read or have hands. Hah.

rafram 2y ago
Left-handedness is a disability? What?
- neverokay 2y ago
  If you’re right handed, then yeah, playing with your left simulates a handicap. They designed a lot of their games around such handicaps.
  - Titan2189 2y ago
    They just had to swap out their tester every 6 weeks when they became ambidextrous
- n6h6 2y ago
  That isn't what they said, and it's probably not what they meant. What they probably meant was that Nintendo testers use their non-dominant hands to simulate someone who has no prior experience with video game controls. (Though I'm not sure exactly what that would mean. Maybe OP meant they use "backwards" controllers with all the buttons swapped?)
  - m463 2y ago
    It could be a reminder to developers that they should not assume that they should develop for one kind of player. I remember watching an episode of MKBHD where he played a racing game, and the hands on the wheel were white male hands (he is black). He just looked at the camera and said nothing, but sighed. I thought it was well done. personally I hate PC games that assume WASD, or don't let you remap keys, or make other asumptions that are pretty easy to figure out you shouldn't do.
    - neverokay 2y ago
      should not assume that they should develop for one kind of player. Or even better, if they accommodate the lowest common denominator, you actually can end up with better experiences for even experienced players. I’m looking at this tech in reverse. Sure it’s going to help the disabled, but it’s also going to enable entire new things in games. I fly around a helicopter a lot in Arma, and I’d love some simple solutions for head and eye tracking just with my web cam and it looks like most of this r&d is happening in the accessibility space, not in the game design space.
    - GaggiX 2y ago
      >I remember watching an episode of MKBHD where he played a racing game, and the hands on the wheel were white male hands (he is black). Is this actually a problem? Should every character you play be the same race and gender as you? Personally, I would not care.
      - neverokay 2y ago
        It depends how far they go. There are games where they insist I must play as a big titted whore even though I don’t identify as a woman and even if I was a woman, I’d opt for more subtle whoreness not the full whoreness some of these games insist I must role play.
        GaggiX 2y ago
        Some examples of games where you have to play as a "big titted whore"?
        neverokay 2y ago
        Sure, Black Desert Online. They insist you play a big titted whore. With magic and shit, for clarity’s sake.
        GaggiX 2y ago
        I've never seen this game before, but looking into it, they don't seem to insist on you playing as a "big titted whore", and to be honest, I wouldn't really care to play as a voluptuous woman ahah, I hope you don't call women whores just because of that.
- jaydeegee 2y ago
  As a lefty who has written on whiteboards and blackboards I'd say yes in possibly the smallest way possible.
sunshowers 2y ago
I think games are fundamentally different from other software in many ways. For example, games tend to revel in selectively sharing information (Tunic for example) in a way that regular software doesn't. It's hard to apply lessons from one to the other.
- TomatoCo 2y ago
  I can't recall which standup comedian it was, but he had a bit about games where they're the only form of entertainment that tests you. A song doesn't make you dance along to continue. A book doesn't quiz you on its themes and slam shut if you're wrong. For some games, being hard to play is their point. That's why accessibility is great to make games where that isn't their point more, uh, accessible. And maybe even those hard games should have accessibility, I haven't given that front enough thought yet.
serf 2y ago
>It’s interesting this tech is for disabled people when Nintendo just assumed their players were disabled to begin with. oh, that's why the N64 controller was designed that way, to accommodate those of us with three hands -- I get it now.

rafram 2y ago

Left-handedness is a disability? What?

neverokay 2y ago
If you’re right handed, then yeah, playing with your left simulates a handicap. They designed a lot of their games around such handicaps.
- Titan2189 2y ago
  They just had to swap out their tester every 6 weeks when they became ambidextrous
n6h6 2y ago
That isn't what they said, and it's probably not what they meant. What they probably meant was that Nintendo testers use their non-dominant hands to simulate someone who has no prior experience with video game controls. (Though I'm not sure exactly what that would mean. Maybe OP meant they use "backwards" controllers with all the buttons swapped?)
- m463 2y ago
  It could be a reminder to developers that they should not assume that they should develop for one kind of player. I remember watching an episode of MKBHD where he played a racing game, and the hands on the wheel were white male hands (he is black). He just looked at the camera and said nothing, but sighed. I thought it was well done. personally I hate PC games that assume WASD, or don't let you remap keys, or make other asumptions that are pretty easy to figure out you shouldn't do.
  - neverokay 2y ago
    should not assume that they should develop for one kind of player. Or even better, if they accommodate the lowest common denominator, you actually can end up with better experiences for even experienced players. I’m looking at this tech in reverse. Sure it’s going to help the disabled, but it’s also going to enable entire new things in games. I fly around a helicopter a lot in Arma, and I’d love some simple solutions for head and eye tracking just with my web cam and it looks like most of this r&d is happening in the accessibility space, not in the game design space.
  - GaggiX 2y ago
    >I remember watching an episode of MKBHD where he played a racing game, and the hands on the wheel were white male hands (he is black). Is this actually a problem? Should every character you play be the same race and gender as you? Personally, I would not care.
    - neverokay 2y ago
      It depends how far they go. There are games where they insist I must play as a big titted whore even though I don’t identify as a woman and even if I was a woman, I’d opt for more subtle whoreness not the full whoreness some of these games insist I must role play.
      - GaggiX 2y ago
        Some examples of games where you have to play as a "big titted whore"?
        neverokay 2y ago
        Sure, Black Desert Online. They insist you play a big titted whore. With magic and shit, for clarity’s sake.
        GaggiX 2y ago
        I've never seen this game before, but looking into it, they don't seem to insist on you playing as a "big titted whore", and to be honest, I wouldn't really care to play as a voluptuous woman ahah, I hope you don't call women whores just because of that.
jaydeegee 2y ago
As a lefty who has written on whiteboards and blackboards I'd say yes in possibly the smallest way possible.

sunshowers 2y ago

I think games are fundamentally different from other software in many ways. For example, games tend to revel in selectively sharing information (Tunic for example) in a way that regular software doesn't. It's hard to apply lessons from one to the other.

TomatoCo 2y ago
I can't recall which standup comedian it was, but he had a bit about games where they're the only form of entertainment that tests you. A song doesn't make you dance along to continue. A book doesn't quiz you on its themes and slam shut if you're wrong. For some games, being hard to play is their point. That's why accessibility is great to make games where that isn't their point more, uh, accessible. And maybe even those hard games should have accessibility, I haven't given that front enough thought yet.

serf 2y ago

>It’s interesting this tech is for disabled people when Nintendo just assumed their players were disabled to begin with. oh, that's why the N64 controller was designed that way, to accommodate those of us with three hands -- I get it now.