MAMEWorld Forums - Programming - Accessibility Issues for Disabled Gamers

This is a very hopeful post, as it likely goes against current MAME philosphy, and Microsoft recommendations...

I work for the accessible gaming charity SpecialEffect, where we try to remove barriers that can disable people from being able to play.

MAME in the past has been a wonderful thing for accessible gaming, thanks to the reconfigurable control options, cheat modes and massively, its compatiblity with accessible gaming hardware and utilities.

Sadly, a big chunk of this accessibility went with the introduction of reading input devices RAW.

Such utilities that no longer work in MAME that once did include: Microsoft's "On Screen Keyboard"; "Track Mapper" which used to allow head-mouse users to play keyboard only games; "4 Noah" which enabled up to six buttons to be reduced down to a single key; And recently, the "Alt-Controller" utility used at EuroGamer this year, that allowed eye-gaze control over keyboard only game Track-Mania.

Now, I understand that RAW offers benefits for a number of multi-player games, and for ultimate purists, the original coin-op games never allowed you to use different control methods, but until recently, MAME offered a way to level the playing field for disabled gamers. And with Star ROMs in the past, or in PCB ownership - there is a legitimate way in too.

So, in a big plea-styley, is there any chance that MAME devs could offer an accessibility option that gives a way back in for these devices that use "scan codes" or "virtual keycodes" for modern computers? It would be an amazing add, and would re-open up games that a number of people used to play, but no longer can due to disability. It will also mean that if current MAME users were to become disabled in future life, they'll still be very likely to keep playing with a little support.

Barrie Ellis
Accessibility Technical Specialist - SpecialEffect.org.uk